How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?

NWIPB OpenIR

	How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?
	Huang Xiaotao; Luo Geping; Chen Chunbo; Peng Jian; Zhang Chujie; Zhou Huakun; Yao Buqing; Ma Zhen; Xi Xiaoyan
	2020
发表期刊	JOURNAL OF ARID LAND
摘要	Drought-prone grasslands provide a critical resource for the millions of people who are dependent on livestock for food security. However, this ecosystem is potentially vulnerable to climate change (e.g., precipitation) and human activity (e.g., grazing). Despite this, the influences of precipitation and grazing on ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands in the Tianshan Mountains remain relatively unexplored. Therefore, we conducted a systematic field investigation and a clipping experiment (simulating different intensities of grazing) in a drought-prone grassland on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains in China to examine the influences of precipitation and grazing on aboveground biomass (AGB), soil volumetric water content (SVWC), and precipitation use efficiency (PUE) during the period of 2014-2017. We obtained the meteorological and SVWC data using an HL20 Bowen ratio system and a PR2 soil profile hydrometer, respectively. We found that AGB was clearly affected by both the amount and seasonal pattern of precipitation, and that PUE may be relatively low in years with either low or excessive precipitation. The PUE values were generally higher in the rapid growing season (April-July) than in the entire growing season (April-October). Overall, moderate grazing can promote plant growth under water stress conditions. The SVWC value was higher in the clipped plots than in the unclipped plots in the rapid growing season (April-July), but it was lower in the clipped plots than in the unclipped plots in the slow growing season (August-October). Our findings can enhance the understanding of the ecological effects of precipitation and grazing in drought-prone grasslands and provide data that will support the effective local grassland management.
关键词	climate change human activity aboveground biomass precipitation use efficiency soil volumetric water content water stress
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://210.75.249.4/handle/363003/60252
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	Huang Xiaotao,Luo Geping,Chen Chunbo,et al. How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?[J]. JOURNAL OF ARID LAND,2020.
APA	Huang Xiaotao.,Luo Geping.,Chen Chunbo.,Peng Jian.,Zhang Chujie.,...&Xi Xiaoyan.(2020).How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?.JOURNAL OF ARID LAND.
MLA	Huang Xiaotao,et al."How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?".JOURNAL OF ARID LAND (2020).