Controlling factors of plant community composition with respect to the slope aspect gradient in the Qilian Mountains

Abstract

Slope aspect can affect soil temperature and soil type distribution, which, in turn, is likely to influence plant community composition. Three Qilian mountains, located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China, with four distinct slope aspects including south‐facing (SF), southwest‐facing (SW), northwest‐facing (NW), and north‐facing (NF) slope aspects, were studied to investigate the impact of slope aspect on plant assemblages. The results indicated that the environmental conditions were favorable under the NF and NW slope aspects as the soil water, soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil total nitrogen (STN) contents were significantly higher, and soil temperature (ST) and soil bulk density (SBD) were significantly lower than under the SF and SW aspects. Under all slope aspects, however, SOC, STN, and soil total phosphate in the top 0.2 m of topsoil accounted for about 60% of its total quantity, to a soil depth of 0.6 m. The plant communities on the SF and SW slopes were found to be primarily composed of Poa pratensis, Potentilla anrisena, and Carex aridula. In contrast, the plant community on the NW slope was mainly composed of Kobresia humilis, Carex crebra, and Potentilla bifurca, while on the NF slope it was mainly composed of Picea crassifolia, Carex scabrirostris, and Polygonum macrophyllum. The order of the influence of environmental factors on species distributions was ST > SBD > sand > STN. Results suggest that the slope aspect has an important role in the regulation of the soil environment and plant assemblages and that ST and SBD were the main factors influencing plant community composition. Furthermore, evidence from this study suggests that these mountains will become increasingly vulnerable to global warming. Thus, the plant community composition on these mountains must be monitored continuously in order to allow for strategic adaptive management.

Integrating Habitat Suitability and the Near-Nature Restoration Priorities into Revegetation Plans Based on Potential Vegetation Distribution

“…In addition to considering the impact of meteorology data on species distribution, this paper also combined with the actual complex topographic factors in the LPC, which exert an indirect effect on species distribution. According to Qin and Liu, the redistribution of resources by topographic factors in the LPC affected species distribution, and our results were also consistent with their observations [49,50]. Our results have also shown that slope aspect (SloA) and SloD significantly affected more than 50% of the 60 species studied (Figure 3).…”

Using Leaf Ecological Stoichiometry to Direct the Management of Ligularia virgaurea on the Northeast Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

“…After the fresh soil samples were weighed (W 1 ), they were dried in an oven at 105 °C to a constant weight, W 2 (g). Gravimetric soil water content (SWC) was calculated as (Qin et al, 2019):…”

Do Spatially Structured Soil Variables Influence the Plant Diversity in Tabuk Arid Region, Saudi Arabia?

“…Studying composition of plant communities is the cornerstone in classic ecological studies, since the structure of the communities is subjected to local and regional factors, as well as to biotic and abiotic factors [5][6][7]. The response of the plant communities to environmental and spatial variables is complex [8], resulting in ambiguities in understanding dispersion, adaptation and distribution of plants under different scenarios [9,10].…”