This study aimed to determine if the succession of Nitraria Tangutorum nebkhas could change soil nutrients in the Jilantai desert, Inner Mongolia. Four succession stages including rudimental stage (RUD), developing stage (DEV), stabilizing stage (STA) and degrading stage (DEG) were regarded as succession patterns. We collected 588 soil profile samples within a 0-100 cm depth from different succession stages of N. tangutorum nebkhas. We determined the vertical distributions of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and their densities to 1 m depth. The results indicated that soil depths and successional stages had significantly impact on SOC and soil organic carbon density (SOCD), and soil depths had significant impact on TN and soil nitrogen density (SND). SOCD showed firstly increased and then decreased, and SND showed an increasing trend with the succession of N. tangutorum nebkhas. SOCD and SND showed as the following order: STA (860.60 g/m 2 ) >DEG (753.00 g/m 2 )>DEV (737.60 g/m 2 )>RUG (678.18 g/m 2 ) and DEG (83.75 g/m 2 )>STA (83.68 g/m 2 )>DEV (83.06 g/m 2 )>RUG (73.42 g/m 2 ), respectively. The stratification ratios (SR) of SOC and TN gradually decreased with soil depth in different succession stages, and there was no significant difference in SRs of SOC and TN for each succession stage. Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that soil depth, silt content, soil water content (SWC) and successional stage directly drove SOCD and SND of N. tangutorum nebkhas. Therefore, understanding the vertical distribution of the SOC and TN at different succession stages has great significance for accurately estimating the SOCD and SND storage in the desert areas.
Nebkhas play a tremendous role in maintaining the ecological functions of deserts and in slowing land desertification processes. Numerous nebkhas are distributed in the northwestern edge of the Ulan Buh desert, Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas are the most typical dunes in this area. However, our knowledge of the effect of those factors on the succession of nebkhas, including their succession in different sandy land types, is limited. The goal of this study was to reveal their factors influencing the morphological characteristics of N. tangutorum nebkhas in different sandy land types (shifting sandy land, semi-fixed sandy land, and fixed sandy land) in the Ulan Buh desert. Our results showed the densities of N. tangutorum nebkhas were 34, 51, and 77 dunes per ha in the shifting, semi-fixed, and fixed sandy lands, respectively. The density of N. tangutorum nebkhas gradually increased and N. tangutorum nebkhas started to degenerate with the increasing fixation of sandy land. The successional stage had significant effects on all the morphological characteristics, and sandy land types had significant effects on the length (L), height (H), volume (V), horizontal scale (D) and ratio of width to height (H/W). Almost all of the morphological parameters of N. tangutorum nebkhas were correlated at different successional stages, indicating a strong interrelationship among the morphological parameters of nebkhas. The successional stages of N. tangutorum nebkhas had significant effects on the density of branch (M), height (h), coverage (C), deadwood rate (DR), and length of new branches (LB) of the N. tangutorum shrub. The M, h, C, and LB first increased and then decreased, and DR increased with the succession of N. tangutorum nebkhas. These results indicated that we should focus on nebkhas succession to ensure the ecological stability of oases in a dessert.
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