Effect of snow-cover duration on plant species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Chen, Wennian; Wu, Yan; Wu, Ning; Luo, Peng

doi:10.1007/s11629-008-0182-0

Cited by 28 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…As the climate scenarios used as basis for our predictions were coarse, we did not include varying changes in snow cover duration along the altitudinal gradient (discussed in the ''Materials and methods'' section). Snow cover depth and duration have been reported to have a significant effect on species richness, with the highest levels at intermediate levels (Chen et al 2008;Carbognani et al 2012), as was also shown in our study. However, when predicting future vegetation distribution, our results showed that at altitudes above 1,200 m, species richness decreased compared to current richness in areas of medium snow cover duration, which may indicate a higher risk for species requiring a certain moisture level.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Alpine vegetation along multiple environmental gradients and possible consequences of climate change

Wehn

Lundemo

Holten³

2014

Alp Botany

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Alpine plant communities are being subject to climate change, resulting in the need for plants to adapt to new conditions. In this study, we investigated changes in vascular plant diversity along a coast-inland gradient in central Norway. At four different mountains, species were registered in 100 m 2 plots, laid out from the forest line to the summit. In addition, plots were grouped into snow cover duration (short, medium, and long) and aspect (North, South, East, and West). We documented richness and spatial turnover of species and functional groups (trees and tall shrubs, dwarf shrubs, herbs, graminoids, and seedless plants) along the different gradients using glm and RDA. Thereafter, we included variables from climate scenario models in the derived glm's to estimate how species richness and the distribution of these groups could be impacted by future climate change. Our results show that there are significant changes in species and functional groups along the regional gradient. Further, also local variation due to altitude and snow cover duration influenced species distribution and composition. Predictions of future vegetation showed an increase in species richness compared to present, with most changes occurring in areas of long and medium snow cover duration. We predicted the main changes to occur at lower altitudes. Here, dwarf shrubs and graminoids were expected to increase the most in number of species, whereas species of trees and tall shrubs were expected to increase the most in proportion.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Alpine vegetation along multiple environmental gradients and possible consequences of climate change

Wehn

Lundemo

Holten³

2014

Alp Botany

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“…The soil belongs to the mountain brown meadow group. Vegetation is the alpine meadow type (Chen, 2008). …”

Section: Site Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plant Traits and Biomass Allocation of Gentiana Hexaphylla on Different Slope Aspects at the Eastern Margin of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Xue¹

2018

Appl. Ecol. Env. Res.

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Abstract. The growth, biomass partitioning and reproduction of alpine Gentiana hexaphylla species in local microclimates have important ecological significance in the study of the adaptation strategies of alpine plants. At the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China we set up eight sample positions surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 4000 m and subsequently transplanted and measured the indices of growth, biomass allocation and reproduction of Gentiana hexaphylla to investigate the adaptation strategies in different slope aspects. Our results showed that slope aspects significantly affected the survival and reproduction strategies of Gentiana hexaphylla. Plants growing on sunny slopes tend to reproduce sexually, and those growing on shady slope are inclined to reproduce asexually. Along the circumference of the mountain, from slope S to slope SW, the growth of plant height from the early vegetation stage to the full bloom stage showed a wave shape and biomass accumulation showed a "W"-like pattern. The adaption strategy of Gentiana hexaphylla has a stronger correlation with soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen and phosphorus than with light intensity, soil annual temperature and soil water content. Our results will help to understand the physiological adaptation of Gentiana hexaphylla in different slope aspects and explore the rule of plant functions and character responses to various habitats, so as to reveal the life cycle strategy.

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“…Mean annual rainfall is 718 mm; 72% of it is in July and August. Snow cover ranges from 0 to 60 cm [13,14]. Soils are silt loam inceptisols with pH 5.54-5.94 and organic matter content 41.5-60.0 g/kg of dry soil.…”

Section: General Characteristics Of the Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf functional traits of plants of alpine pastures at the Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Elumeeva

Онипченко

2015

Moscow Univ. Biol.Sci. Bull.

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Abstract-Original data on leaf functional traits (leaf area and specific leaf area, SLA) in 80 vascular plant species in alpine plant communities of the Eastern Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (Sichuan, China) are repre sented. Mean SLA was 192 ± 6 cm 2 /g, and mean leaf area was 2.38 ± 0.23 cm 2 . The highest mean SLA was observed in loose turf grasses and the lowest SLA was in the group of sedges and rushes; shrubs also had quite a low SLA. Among forbs, erosulate plants had higher SLA than rosette forming species. Our results mostly confirm leaf trait patterns for other regions.

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Effect of snow-cover duration on plant species diversity of alpine meadows on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 28 publications

References 33 publications

Alpine vegetation along multiple environmental gradients and possible consequences of climate change

Alpine vegetation along multiple environmental gradients and possible consequences of climate change

Plant Traits and Biomass Allocation of Gentiana Hexaphylla on Different Slope Aspects at the Eastern Margin of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Leaf functional traits of plants of alpine pastures at the Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

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