Response of the plant community and soil water status to alpine Kobresia meadow degradation gradients on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

NWIPB OpenIR

	Response of the plant community and soil water status to alpine Kobresia meadow degradation gradients on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China
	Li, Jing ; Zhang, Fawei ; Lin, Li ; Li, Hongqin ; Du, Yangong ; Li, Yikang ; Cao, Guangmin
	2015-07-01
发表期刊	ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH
摘要	Degradation of alpine Kobresia meadow in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is a serious problem, but its effect on the plant community and soil water status is not fully understood. We chose four homogeneous sites with < 20, 20-70, 70-90, and > 90 % absolute abundance of palatable grasses, and classified them as degradation gradient categories of poor, fair, good, and excellent, respectively. The lowest aboveground biomass and infiltration rate, and the highest root biomass, thickness of mattic epipedon, topsoil (< 10 cm) organic matter content and volumetric ratio of root/soil all occurred in fair plots. There was little fluctuation in plant community diversity and topsoil bulk density among the degradation gradients. Results of non-metric multidimensional scaling suggested that vegetation dynamics along degradation processes were non-equilibrium in the alpine Kobresia meadow. The effects of degradation on soil water content and retention were the highest in the top layer (> 10 cm). The minimum topsoil water content and maximum topsoil water retention both occurred in fair plots, indicating asynchrony between soil water content and holding capacity along degradation gradients, which likely resulted in a non-equilibrium plant community pattern through physiological desiccation and nutrient deficits. Our findings should be highly informative for threshold-based management of the degraded alpine Kobresia meadow in the future.; Degradation of alpine Kobresia meadow in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is a serious problem, but its effect on the plant community and soil water status is not fully understood. We chose four homogeneous sites with < 20, 20-70, 70-90, and > 90 % absolute abundance of palatable grasses, and classified them as degradation gradient categories of poor, fair, good, and excellent, respectively. The lowest aboveground biomass and infiltration rate, and the highest root biomass, thickness of mattic epipedon, topsoil (< 10 cm) organic matter content and volumetric ratio of root/soil all occurred in fair plots. There was little fluctuation in plant community diversity and topsoil bulk density among the degradation gradients. Results of non-metric multidimensional scaling suggested that vegetation dynamics along degradation processes were non-equilibrium in the alpine Kobresia meadow. The effects of degradation on soil water content and retention were the highest in the top layer (> 10 cm). The minimum topsoil water content and maximum topsoil water retention both occurred in fair plots, indicating asynchrony between soil water content and holding capacity along degradation gradients, which likely resulted in a non-equilibrium plant community pattern through physiological desiccation and nutrient deficits. Our findings should be highly informative for threshold-based management of the degraded alpine Kobresia meadow in the future.
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://210.75.249.4/handle/363003/22418
专题	中国科学院西北高原生物研究所
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Li, Jing,Zhang, Fawei,Lin, Li,et al. Response of the plant community and soil water status to alpine Kobresia meadow degradation gradients on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China[J]. ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH,2015.
APA	Li, Jing.,Zhang, Fawei.,Lin, Li.,Li, Hongqin.,Du, Yangong.,...&Cao, Guangmin.(2015).Response of the plant community and soil water status to alpine Kobresia meadow degradation gradients on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China.ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH.
MLA	Li, Jing,et al."Response of the plant community and soil water status to alpine Kobresia meadow degradation gradients on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China".ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH (2015).