Litter accumulation alters the abiotic environment and drives community successional changes in two fenced grasslands in Inner Mongolia

Hou, Dongjie; He, Wei‐Ming; Changcheng, Liu; Qiao, Xiaojuan; Guo, Ke

doi:10.1002/ece3.5469

Cited by 23 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Thirdly, grazing influence nutrient resorption by altering plant phenology, leaf chemistry, and the timing of litterfall which determines the amount of organic matter that is returned back into the soil (Chapman et al, 2006). Moreover, long-term grazing reduces the accumulation of litter, which leads to a reduction in soil water content (Hou et al, 2019). The change in soil water content has an important effect on plant N and P concentrations (Bai et al, 2012) which regulate plant nutrient resorption (Minoletti & Boerner, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different responses of plant N and P resorption to overgrazing in three dominant species in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China

Wang

Jimoh

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Nutrient resorption from senesced leaves is an important mechanism for nutrient conservation in plants. However, little is known about the effect of grazing on plant nutrient resorption from senesced leaves, especially in semiarid ecosystems. Here, we evaluated the effects of grazing on N and P resorption in the three most dominant grass species in a typical steppe in northern China. We identified the key pathways of grazing-induced effects on N and P resorption efficiency. Grazing increased N and P concentrations in the green leaves of Leymus chinensis and Stipa grandis but not in Cleistogenes squarossa. Both L. chinensis and S. grandis exhibited an increasing trend of leaf N resorption, whereas C. squarrosa recorded a decline in both leaf N and P resorption efficiency under grazing. Structural equation models showed that grazing is the primary driver of the changes in N resorption efficiency of the three dominant grass species. For L. chinensis, the P concentration in green and senesced leaves increased the P resorption efficiency, whereas the senesced leaf P concentration played an important role in the P resorption efficiency of C. squarrosa. Grazing directly drove the change in P resorption efficiency of S. grandis. Our results suggest that large variations in nutrient resorption patterns among plant species depend on leaf nutritional status and nutrient-use strategies under overgrazing, and indicate that overgrazing may have indirect effects on plant-mediated nutrient cycling via inducing shifts in the dominance of the three plant species.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different responses of plant N and P resorption to overgrazing in three dominant species in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China

Wang

Jimoh

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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“…At the same time, this model can provide some effective support when the local government formulates an enclosure policy for ecological restoration. For some studies on litter and canopy interception [12,17,19,22,23,29,30,34], as well as studies on water flux at the vegetation-soil interface [14,19,48,53], these models can be used as an auxiliary method to predict the maximum WHC of litter. So as to make more reasonable scientific assumptions.…”

Section: Water-holding Model Of Littermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study has found that under low-intensity rainfall, the interception rate of litter has an increase of more than 10% compared with that under normal rainfall [21,22]. During drought periods in semi-arid grasslands, the majority of rainfall is small-intensity, which also makes litter accumulation have a greater rainfall interception effect [23]. Less rainfall entering the soil means less water is available to plants, which makes the inhibition of seed germination [14,24] and reduces community diversity [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water-Holding Characteristics of Litter in Meadow Steppes with Different Years of Fencing in Inner Mongolia, China

Xie

2020

Water

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As a main restoration measure to address degraded grasslands, the installation of fences is often accompanied by accumulation of organic litter. This accumulated litter is a layer of physical moisture which intercepts rainfall and may inhibit plant growth and development. One of the important means to judge a reasonable length of time of fencing (the time a fence is present) is through assessing the water-holding mechanism and capacity of the litter. In this study, four meadows in the Chinese Hulunbuir grassland with different years of fencing duration were investigated in order to obtain data on organic community and litter accumulation. A soaking method was used to study water-holding characteristics of the litter and was divided into three parts of stem, leaves and decomposed parts as a means to summarize the water-holding mechanism within the litter. The results showed that: (1) Compared with the light grazing meadows, the diversity and uniformity of communities in meadows of fencing displayed a downward trend, while the accumulation of litter increased. (2) The stems, leaves, and decomposed components of litter in different communities showed a highly positive linear correlation with their maximum water-holding capacity (WHC). This indicates that the stem/leaf mass ratio and decomposition degree of litter are key factors in regulating WHC. (3) Based on this understanding, we established a model based on stem and leaf mass to predict the water-holding potential of litter in real world situations.

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“…Within each fenced grassland, three blocks (50 × 22 m) were established and the distance between two blocks was 200 m. In each block, the half of block (50 × 10 m) was randomly assigned as the litter removal treatment and the other half (50 × 10 m) was the control treatment, separated by a 2-m buffer. All the litter (mainly including dead, aboveground leaves, and stems of plants) in the litter removal treatment was cut near the soil surface and removed at the end of the growing season in late October 2014-2016 (Hou et al 2019). The all litter in the control treatment was retained throughout the experiment.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil temperature in the daytime and nighttime was indicated by the mean soil temperature between 6:00 am-6:00 pm and 6:00 pm-6:00 am (local time), respectively (Xia et al 2010). The effects of litter accumulation on soil temperature were indicated by the soil temperature difference between the control treatment and the litter removal treatment, calculated by the following equation (Hou et al 2019):…”

Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric effects of litter accumulation on soil temperature and dominant plant species in fenced grasslands

et al. 2020

Self Cite

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Excess litter accumulates on the soil surface of fenced grasslands and alters the abiotic environment and plant population dynamics. However, little is known about the effect of litter accumulation on the interaction between environmental factors and plant population characteristics in fenced grasslands, especially over different time scales. We applied a three-year litter removal experiment to two kinds of fenced grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China. We measured soil temperature in situ and plant phenology and population characteristics of three dominant species (Stipa grandis, S. krylovii, and Leymus chinensis). During the growing season, litter accumulation (i.e., the control) significantly decreased soil temperature, with a larger effect in the daytime than at night. The diurnal negative effect gradually weakened across the growing season, whereas the negative effect in the nighttime shifted to a positive effect on soil temperature in the late growing season. The decreased soil temperature delayed plant phenology, with longer delays in S. grandis and S. krylovii than L. chinensis. Litter accumulation also significantly increased the height, cover, root biomass, and relative dominance of L. chinensis but decreased cover, density, root biomass, and relative dominance of both Stipa, driving replacement of S. grandis or S. krylovii by L. chinensis in two grasslands. Our findings emphasize the critical function of litter in grassland management and provide a new insight to elucidating the mechanism of how litter accumulation regulates the abiotic environment, community composition and structure, and successional change in fenced grasslands.

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Litter accumulation alters the abiotic environment and drives community successional changes in two fenced grasslands in Inner Mongolia

Cited by 23 publications

References 42 publications

Different responses of plant N and P resorption to overgrazing in three dominant species in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China

Different responses of plant N and P resorption to overgrazing in three dominant species in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China

Water-Holding Characteristics of Litter in Meadow Steppes with Different Years of Fencing in Inner Mongolia, China

Asymmetric effects of litter accumulation on soil temperature and dominant plant species in fenced grasslands

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