Cyclic formation of zokor mounds promotes plant diversity and renews plant communities in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau

Niu, Yujie; Yang, Siwei; Zhu, Huimin; Zhou, Jianwei; Chu, Bin; Ma, Shaolin; Hua, Rui; Hua, Limin

doi:10.1007/s11104-019-04302-8

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The rapid growth of plateau pika populations has broken the original ecological balance, resulting in the fragmentation of the grassland landscape and a decline in grassland productivity [ 38 ]. At present, rodent prevention and control methods using drugs are often used, which focuses on reducing the density and total number of rodents by eliminating the species from the local ecosystem within a certain period of time and in a particular region [ 39 ]. However, such an approach ignores their function and role in the grassland ecosystem, thus destroying the original constraint relationship of the grassland ecosystem, which is not conducive to the maintenance of biodiversity and creates more favorable habitat conditions for the occurrence of rodent damage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alarm Calling in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae): Evidence from Field Observations and Simulated Predator and Playback Experiments

Hua

Bao

et al. 2023

Animals

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Acoustic communication plays a vital role in passing or sharing information between individuals. Identifying the biological meaning of vocal signals is crucial in understanding the survival strategies of animals. However, there are many challenges in identifying the true meaning of such signals. The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a call-producing mammal endemic to the Qinghai–Tibet plateau (QTP) and considered a keystone species owing to its multiple benefits in alpine rangeland ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that plateau pikas emit alarm calls as part of their daily activities. However, only field observations have been used to identify these alarm calls of the plateau pika, with no attempts at using playback experiments. Here, we report the alarm calling of plateau pikas through field observations as well as simulated predator and playback experiments in the Eastern QTP from 2021 to 2022. We found that both female and male adults emitted alarm calls, the signals of which comprised only one syllable, with a duration of 0.1–0.3 s. There were no differences in the characteristics between the observed alarm calls and those made in response to the simulated predator. The duration of the alarm call response varied with altitude, with plateau pikas living at higher altitudes responding at shorter durations than those at lower altitudes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alarm Calling in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae): Evidence from Field Observations and Simulated Predator and Playback Experiments

Hua

Bao

et al. 2023

Animals

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“…The area around a burrow offers varied microhabitats and each can support a different plant community (Ballová et al, 2019 ; Sasaki et al, 2013 ). Hence, an increase in plant biodiversity and species richness on the landscape level can occur (Ballová et al, 2019 ; La et al, 2003 ; Lindtner et al, 2018 ; Niu et al, 2020 ; Valkó et al, 2020 ). Feces, urine, and animal carcasses (in the case of predators) increase soil nutrient content around the burrow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem engineers in the extreme: The modest impact of marmots on vegetation cover and plant nitrogen and phosphorus content in a cold, extremely arid mountain environment

Chibowski

Zegarek

Zarzycka

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Burrowing mammals strongly impact plant communities. One of the main effects is accelerating nutrient cycling and thus promoting plant growth. This mechanism is well-studied in grasslands and alpine habitats, but less is known about this phenomenon in arid, cold mountain environments. We studied ecosystem engineering by longtailed marmots (Marmota caudata) by measuring the content of plant nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as nitrogen stable isotopes in plant biomass and marmot feces in a distance gradient up to 20 m from marmot burrows in an extremely arid glacier valley in Eastern Pamir, Tajikistan. We also captured aerial images of the area inhabited by marmots to study the spatial distribution of vegetation. There was a weak relationship between the presence of burrows and vegetation cover on soil not covered by burrow material. Burrow mounds were not colonized by plants, as opposed to other studies, where mounds are often microhabitats that enhance plant diversity. A significant increase in N and P in aboveground green plant biomass in the proximity of burrows was found in one out of six studied plant species. Contrary to our expectations, stable N isotopes did not give further insight into N routing. We assume that plant growth is strongly limited by water availability, which prevents them from utilizing the local increase in nutrients, certainly provided by marmot activity. The results are contrary to numerous studies, which showed that the role of burrowing animals as ecosystem engineers increases with increasing abiotic stress, including aridity. This shows a lack of this type of study at the end of the gradient of abiotic factors.

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“…Plateau zokor ( Eospalax baileyi Thomas, 1911) is a common subterranean herbivorous mammal native to alpine grasslands in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (Tang et al, 2010; Zhang et al, 2014; Liu et al, 2022), a grassland that sustains yak and Tibetan sheep production (Yang et al, 2019) and is also the habitat of some endemic species (Chen et al, 2022). Plateau zokors, with 15–25 cm length and 200–480 g weight, usually spend almost their entire lifetime underground (Chu et al, 2020; Niu et al, 2020) and, similar to pocket gophers in prairies (Steuter et al, 1995), feed on plant below‐ground tissues in extensive foraging tunnels at depths of 3–20 cm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of foraging tunnels created by plateau zokors on plant above‐ground biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs in alpine grasslands

Yang,

Duan,

et al. 2023

Applied Vegetation Science

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QuestionForaging‐tunnel disturbances created by herbivorous mammals can influence the above‐ground plant biomass of grassland communities. The plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) was considered a focal animal for investigating the effect of foraging‐tunnel disturbances created by herbivorous mammals on the above‐ground biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs. Here, we ask how foraging‐tunnel disturbances created by plateau zokors influences above‐ground plant biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs in alpine grasslands.LocationThe study was conducted at three sites of alpine grasslands in the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, China.MethodsIn this study, all vascular plants were divided into graminoids and forbs, and 30 paired quadrats were randomly selected from each site. In total, 90 tunnel quadrats and 90 non‐tunnel quadrats were surveyed and sampled.ResultsThis study showed that foraging‐tunnel disturbances decreased the plant species richness of the grassland community and forbs by 16.5% and 17.7% respectively, whereas the response of graminoid species richness to foraging‐tunnel disturbance was different among the three sites, in which foraging‐tunnel disturbance decreased the graminoid species richness at Maqu and Xiahe sites and had no impact on the graminoid species richness at Tianzhu site. Regarding forbs, some legumes identified in the non‐tunnel quadrats were not observed in the tunnel quadrats. The foraging‐tunnel disturbances resulted in an above‐ground plant biomass decrease of 21.9% in the grassland community, 27.3% in forbs, and 17.2% in graminoids respectively. The percentage of graminoids in the above‐ground plant biomass increased from 50.4% in non‐tunnel quadrats to 55.5% in tunnel quadrats, a relative increase of 10.1% from the initial percentage.ConclusionsThese results indicate that the foraging‐tunnel disturbances seemed to improve the forage availability for livestock in tunnel quadrats due to a higher relative proportion of graminoids in the grassland plant community, despite a decrease in graminoid biomass. However, the tunnels not only decreased the above‐ground plant biomass and species richness of forbs, but also might have a negative impact on soil nitrogen input because of the absence of some legumes. The findings of this study suggest that reseeding some legumes is an effective approach to maintaining plant diversity and soil fertility, which can compensate for the negative effect of foraging‐tunnel disturbance on alpine grasslands.

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Cyclic formation of zokor mounds promotes plant diversity and renews plant communities in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 15 publications

References 37 publications

Alarm Calling in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae): Evidence from Field Observations and Simulated Predator and Playback Experiments

Alarm Calling in Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae): Evidence from Field Observations and Simulated Predator and Playback Experiments

Ecosystem engineers in the extreme: The modest impact of marmots on vegetation cover and plant nitrogen and phosphorus content in a cold, extremely arid mountain environment

Effects of foraging tunnels created by plateau zokors on plant above‐ground biomass and species richness of graminoids and forbs in alpine grasslands

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