Nine environmental factors of 147 roadside soil samples were administered in Sichuan Basin of China and principal component analysis was conducted using the Pearson correlation matrix. The results show that the first four principal components whose eigenvalue is over 1.00 can be extracted. The first principal component which is consisted of rock type, soil type, weathering degree, and soil depth is the most important factor of all. The geographical position which is consisted of altitude, longitude, and latitude is included in the second and the third principal components. The fourth principal component shows that the terrain factor influences the rock slope stability. The hierarchy cluster shows that rock type and soil type play the maximum positive correlation, while the slope and the aspect present the maximum negative correlation.
We conducted 30-and 60-d greenhouse experiments to compare functional traits of Bromus tectorum (invasive annual grass) and four perennial bunchgrasses under well-watered or drought conditions. Even under drought, B. tectorum experienced significantly less stress (i.e., higher xylem pressure potential and greater shoot water content, water use per day and water-use efficiency) and biomass production than the perennial grasses after 30 d. However, after 60 d, its superiority was reduced under infrequent watering. Differences among perennial grasses were more pronounced for physiological traits under infrequent watering and for morphological traits under frequent watering. Elymus multisetus (fastgrowing species) had a higher transpiration rate, lower leaf temperature, and lower water-use efficiency than the other grasses after 30 d. In contrast, Pseudoroegneria spicata (slow-growing) had lower xylem pressure potential and higher leaf temperature than all other grasses under infrequent watering. Under frequent watering, shoot dry mass and specific leaf area of B. tectorum was matched by Elymus wawawaiensis (moderate-growing species). Our results indicate that multiple-species plantings or seedings are necessary to foster greater weed resistance against B. tectorum. We also emphasize that when choosing plant material for restoration, performance during both pulse (resource-rich) and inter-pulse (resource-poor) periods should be considered.
It is widely recognized that feedbacks exist between plant litter and plant community species composition, but this relationship is difficult to interpret over heterogeneous conditions typical of modified environments such as roadways. Given the need to expedite natural recovery of disturbed areas through restoration interventions, we characterized litter accumulation and nutrient content (i.e., organic carbon, total N, and P) and quantified their association with key plant species. Plant species cover and litter characteristics were sampled at 18 successional forest plant communities along major roadways in Sichuan Basin, western China. Variation in litter across communities was assessed with principal component analysis (PCA) and species with the highest correlation to PCA axes were determined with Pearson’s r coefficients. Plant communities with the longest time since road construction (i.e., 70 years) were distinctly different in litter total N and organic carbon compared to plant communities with a shorter disturbance history. We encountered 59 plant species across sampling plots, but only four rare species (i.e., frequency < 5) were strongly correlated with litter characteristics (p < 0.01); none of which were the most abundant where they occurred. These results highlight the importance of site-specific factors (i.e., geographic location, disturbance age) regulating plant litter across heavily disturbed landscapes and how litter characteristics and rare plant species are correlated.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.