Vegetation distribution along mountain environmental gradient predicts shifts in plant community response to climate change in alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Niu, Yujie; Yang, Siwei; Zhou, Jianwei; Chu, Bin; Ma, Shaolin; Zhu, Huimin; Hua, Limin

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.390

Cited by 65 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The number of species observed in each quadrat was calculated as species richness, and the number of individuals per species in the quadrat was counted as the species abundance. The coverage, height, frequency of each species was also recorded (Niu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant diversity is closely related to the density of zokor mounds in three alpine rangelands on the Tibetan Plateau

Niu

Zhou

Yang

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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Background Plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) is a subterranean rodent endemic to the Tibetan Plateau. This species has been generally viewed as a pest in China due to the competition for food with livestock and also causing soil erosion. As a result, plateau zokor has been the target of widespread poisoning or trapping campaigns designed to control or eliminate it since 1970s. But there is little research on the effect of plateau zokor on plant diversity in alpine rangelands. Therefore, objectively evaluating the positive effects of the plateau zokors disturbance on their living environment and plant communities is of great significance to understand the function of plateau zokor in alpine ecosystem. Methods Here, we selected three rangelands (alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine shrub meadow) in which plateau zokors are typically distributed on the Tibetan Plateau, and five zokor mound density gradients were selected in each rangeland type to study the effects of the mounds on soil moisture and temperature related to plant species diversity. Results The results showed that, with the mound density increasing, the soil temperature decreased significantly in all three rangeland types, and the soil moisture significantly increased in all three rangeland types. In the alpine meadow, both the plant diversity and cumulative species richness increased significantly with increasing mound density. The increase in broad-leaved forbs is the main reason for the increase of plant diversity in the alpine meadow disturbed by zokor mounds. In the alpine steppe, the plant diversity decreased significantly with increasing mound density, while the cumulative species richness initially decreased and then increased. In the alpine shrub meadow, the plant diversity first increased and then decreased with increasing mound density as did the cumulative species richness. In conclusion, plateau zokor mounds dominated the distribution of soil moisture and temperature and significantly affected plant diversity in these three rangelands on Tibetan Plateau; the results further deepen our understanding toward a co-evolved process.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant diversity is closely related to the density of zokor mounds in three alpine rangelands on the Tibetan Plateau

Niu

Zhou

Yang

et al. 2019

PeerJ

Self Cite

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“…The fixed long‐term study area of the experiment is located on the north‐eastern Tibetan Plateau (37°06′–37°15′N, 102°35′–102°44′E), with an approximate altitude of 2,870–2,980 m. During the past 5 years, the mean annual temperature was 0.83°C, and the mean annual precipitation in the study area was 463 mm (Niu et al, ). The precipitation is mainly distributed from June–September, which accounts for 82.3% of the total rainfall, and the highest rainfall intensity in the rainy season is 16.5 mm day −1 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overgrazing leads to soil cracking that later triggers the severe degradation of alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau

et al. 2019

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Soil cracking is an important process and feature of degradation in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the patterns and causes of cracks related to alpine rangeland overgrazing have not been reported. In this study, we used a multiscale approach to investigate the distribution of soil-cracking areas at a landscape scale (217 survey sites), selected the grazing-induced parameter that was closely related to the cracks at a small scale (2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017), and evaluated the water infiltration due to mosaic cracking at a microscale. The results showed that cracks only formed in the alpine meadow after overstocking. Soil compaction and water content explained 89.0% of the total variance in the crack characteristics, and soil compaction was closely related to cracking. The initial infiltration rate and steady infiltration rate of the healed cracks were significantly higher than those in the raised areas in the centre of the mosaic crack patches (p < .001). We propose a new model of alpine meadow degradation considering the cracking phenomenon due to overgrazing and provide key and easy-to-measure indicators to prevent overgrazing and cracking: a residual biomass greater than 65 g m −2 and a height greater than 6 cm, and the soil compaction should be lower than 1,044.26 ± 188.88 kPa. These safeguard thresholds warn rangeland managers to reduce the stocking rate or improve grazing management.We suggest that the cracking stage of alpine rangelands is the most critical turning point in the process of rangeland degradation and that rangeland managers should pay more attention to crack phenomena to prevent severe degradation.

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“…In small relief mountain region, precipitation and lithology began to play an important role. On the one hand, it is possibly influenced by weaken human activities; on the other hand, the mountain microclimate changes frequently and changeable [42], and the lithology condition are relatively complex. Middle relief mountain region.…”

Section: Comprehensive Analysis Of the Dominant Factors And Interactimentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Analysis of the Influencing Factors and Their Interactions in Runoff Generation in a Karst Basin of Southwestern China

Hou

Gao

2020

Water

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The unique geological conditions of karst regions create highly heterogeneous habitat characteristics, and the addition of human disturbance results in rocky desertification. Water and soil loss are the core questions, and moreover, runoff is the key factor in this process. To further investigate these problems, a typical karst peak cluster depression in southwestern China was selected for this study. Based on the optimal simulation of the runoff yield and flow in this area, the factor detectors and interaction detectors in the geographical detector method were used to quantitatively analyze the factors influencing runoff and their interactions for different geomorphic types. The results show that: (1) the three main factors influencing the total river runoff, surface runoff, and groundwater are landscape fragmentation, land use type, and precipitation, but the ranking of these main influencing factors in each geomorphic type region exists different; (2) the dominant factor in the relatively higher elevation regions is precipitation; (3) the interaction detector results reveal that the interactions between factors enhance the overall influence of a single factor on the runoff generation in all of the geomorphic type regions, including two interaction types of nonlinear enhancement and bifactor enhancement; and (4) the interactions between the factors in the middle elevation plain, middle elevation terrace, and middle relief mountain regions are stronger than those in the middle elevation hill and small relief mountain regions. Quantitative analysis of the factors influencing runoff in karst areas cannot only promote optimization of the water and soil services, but it also provides a scientific basis for improving the comprehensive treatment of rocky desertification.

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Vegetation distribution along mountain environmental gradient predicts shifts in plant community response to climate change in alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 65 publications

References 35 publications

Plant diversity is closely related to the density of zokor mounds in three alpine rangelands on the Tibetan Plateau

Plant diversity is closely related to the density of zokor mounds in three alpine rangelands on the Tibetan Plateau

Overgrazing leads to soil cracking that later triggers the severe degradation of alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau

Quantitative Analysis of the Influencing Factors and Their Interactions in Runoff Generation in a Karst Basin of Southwestern China

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