Plant coverage is more sensitive than species diversity in indicating the dynamics of the above-ground biomass along a precipitation gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Qin, Xiujuan; Sun, Jian; Wang, Xiaodan

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2017.09.013

Cited by 31 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Similar to the change in community coverage, the decrease in aboveground biomass along the desertification degree was also the most visible change. This result is consistent with results from other studies (Qin, Sun, & Wang, ; Shu et al, ; Wei et al, ). An increase in bare land caused by the increase in desertification could directly result in a reduction in community cover and aboveground biomass.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Soil properties rather than plant production strongly impact soil bacterial community diversity along a desertification gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Zong

Shi

2020

Grassland Science

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Grassland desertification is an important environmental issue that has detrimental impacts on the sustainable development of grasslands and human residential environments. Soil microbial community structure might dramatically change during desertification processes because microorganisms are one of the major drivers of ecological processes through their interactions with plants and soil. However, knowledge on the driving factors of microbial diversity changes during the desertification process in alpine grasslands is still lacking. Using a spatial sequence instead of a time successional sequence method, five desertification gradients in alpine steppe were chosen to investigate the changes in soil properties, plants and microbial communities during grassland desertification and to determine the factors that drive microbial community changes. Community coverage, species diversity indices and aboveground biomass gradually decreased from potential to severely heavy desertification gradients (HDs), while species richness and belowground biomass showed unimodal patterns (p < .05). Soil water content and total nitrogen showed gradual decreasing trends, while soil bulk density and gravel content showed opposite trends (p < .05). In addition, both the Shannon diversity index and the Chao1 richness index of soil bacteria increased gradually. The structural equation model showed that of the factors, soil total nitrogen (82.3% of total effect) and soil bulk density (41.4% of total effect) were the most important soil factors affecting soil bacterial diversity. However, community aboveground (43.4% of total effect) and belowground production (13.9% of total effect) were not the primary factors affecting soil microbial diversity. This result suggests that soil microbial diversity during grassland desertification is primarily driven by changes in soil properties, and the effects of vegetation composition and production are relatively small. These findings contribute to the mechanistic understanding of soil microbial diversity by linking changes in soil properties and plant production during desertification processes in alpine ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Soil properties rather than plant production strongly impact soil bacterial community diversity along a desertification gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Zong

Shi

2020

Grassland Science

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“…Vegetation cover is a direct quantitative index, reflecting vegetation growth conditions, and is a key parameter in the estimation and monitoring of ecosystems and their functions, especially when remote-sensing methods are used, and particularly on the expansive grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau [1]. Important cover-related parameters and functions include aboveground biomass [2][3][4][5], evapotranspiration [6] and leaf area index [7]. In addition, plant coverage and its changes over time have been directly used as indicators of grassland degradation, soil erosion [8][9][10] and desertification [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of Alpine Grassland Cover Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Multi-Factor Methods: A Case Study in the East of Tibetan Plateau, China

et al. 2018

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Grassland cover and its temporal changes are key parameters in the estimation and monitoring of ecosystems and their functions, especially via remote sensing. However, the most suitable model for estimating grassland cover and the differences between models has rarely been studied in alpine meadow grasslands. In this study, field measurements of grassland cover in Gannan Prefecture, from 2014 to 2016, were acquired using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology. Single-factor parametric and multi-factor parametric/non-parametric cover inversion models were then constructed based on 14 factors related to grassland cover, and the dynamic variation of the annual maximum cover was analyzed. The results show that (1) nine out of 14 factors (longitude, latitude, elevation, the concentrations of clay and sand in the surface and bottom soils, temperature, precipitation, enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)) exert a significant effect on grassland cover in the study area. The logarithmic model based on EVI presents the best performance, with an R 2 and RMSE of 0.52 and 16.96%, respectively. Single-factor grassland cover inversion models account for only 1-49% of the variation in cover during the growth season. (2) The optimum grassland cover inversion model is the artificial neural network (BP-ANN), with an R 2 and RMSE of 0.72 and 13.38%, and SDs of 0.062% and 1.615%, respectively. Both the accuracy and the stability of the BP-ANN model are higher than those of the single-factor parametric models and multi-factor parametric/non-parametric models. (3) The annual maximum cover in Gannan Prefecture presents an increasing trend over 60.60% of the entire study area, while 36.54% is presently stable and 2.86% exhibits a decreasing trend.

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“…This finding can be primarily attributed to the sensitivity of plants to environmental stress (Hoover, Duniway, & Belnap, ). Generally, the height and cover of plants (especially those in arid and semi‐arid regions) are much more sensitive than other traits under conditions of stress (Qin, Sun, & Wang, ). On the individual level, some important leaf traits associated with the height and cover of herbaceous plants (e.g., number of leaves, leaf area and leaf length) can shrink under drought conditions due to the morphological plasticity to reduce water loss (Rodiyati, Arisoesilaningsih, Isagi, & Nakagoshi, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation reduction alters herbaceous community structure and composition in a savanna

Jin

Liu

et al. 2019

J Vegetation Science

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Questions In the changing climate scenario, the decline in precipitation is expected to alter water availability for plants, which in turn affects plant community structure and composition. The responses of community composition and structure to declines in precipitation are well documented in other biomes but remain understudied in water‐limited savannas. Location A savanna ecosystem in southwest China. Methods We used a four‐year (2014–2017) precipitation manipulation experiment to examine changes in herbaceous community composition and structure across the species, functional group and community levels under precipitation reduction. Results Precipitation reduction significantly decreased the average height and percentage cover of the herbaceous community, while increasing species richness and the Pielou evenness index. Precipitation reduction significantly decreased average height, percentage cover and relative abundance of graminoids and perennials, but increased those of forbs and annuals. Precipitation reduction prompted a shift in the dominant species of the herbaceous community towards Fimbristylis monostachya. Conclusions The results show that precipitation reduction changed the composition and structure of the herbaceous community of this savanna. Furthermore, they provide strong evidence that changes in herbaceous community structure and composition in response to the intensity and duration of precipitation reduction in this savanna exhibited relatively low thresholds, which suggests that the herbaceous community's response to a decline in precipitation was essentially nonlinear. These findings imply that even relatively small declines in precipitation may stimulate shifts in plant community structure and composition and affect the function and stability of savanna ecosystems.

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Plant coverage is more sensitive than species diversity in indicating the dynamics of the above-ground biomass along a precipitation gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 31 publications

References 73 publications

Soil properties rather than plant production strongly impact soil bacterial community diversity along a desertification gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Soil properties rather than plant production strongly impact soil bacterial community diversity along a desertification gradient on the Tibetan Plateau

Modeling of Alpine Grassland Cover Based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology and Multi-Factor Methods: A Case Study in the East of Tibetan Plateau, China

Precipitation reduction alters herbaceous community structure and composition in a savanna

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