Spatial and climatic patterns of the relative abundance of poisonous vs. non-poisonous plants across the Northern Tibetan Plateau

Wu, Jianshuang; Yang, Peiguo; Zhang, Xianzhou; Shen, Zhenxi; Yu, Chengqun

doi:10.1007/s10661-015-4707-z

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(67 reference statements)

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“…In our study, N fixation in the alpine meadow (0.236 g N/m 2 ) was 4.7 times higher than N fixation in the alpine steppe (0.050 g N/m 2 , including the alpine meadow steppe and the steppe), and 2.7 times higher than N fixation in the alpine desert (0.089 g N/m 2 ). Legume plants are widely distributed across the grassland ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau, and they are generally considered as poisonous weeds due to their toxicity and inedibility for livestock (Wu, Yang, Zhang, Shen, & Yu, ). However, N fixed by the legume plants is a key N input directly from the atmosphere in natural ecosystems, and their contribution to soil N should not be ignored.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen economy of alpine plants on the north Tibetan Plateau: Nitrogen conservation by resorption rather than open sources through biological symbiotic fixation

Zong

Song

Zhao

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Nitrogen (N) is one of the most important factors limiting plant productivity, and N fixation by legume species is an important source of N input into ecosystems. Meanwhile, N resorption from senescent plant tissues conserves nutrients taken up in the current season, which may alleviate ecosystem N limitation. N fixation was assessed by the 15N dilution technique in four types of alpine grasslands along the precipitation and soil nutrient gradients. The N resorption efficiency (NRE) was also measured in these alpine grasslands. The aboveground biomass in the alpine meadow was 4–6 times higher than in the alpine meadow steppe, alpine steppe, and alpine desert steppe. However, the proportion of legume species to community biomass in the alpine steppe and the alpine desert steppe was significantly higher than the proportion in the alpine meadow. N fixation by the legume plants in the alpine meadow was 0.236 g N/m2, which was significantly higher than N fixation in other alpine grasslands (0.041 to 0.089 g N/m2). The NRE in the alpine meadows was lower than in the other three alpine grasslands. Both the aboveground biomass and N fixation of the legume plants showed decreasing trends with the decline of precipitation and soil N gradients from east to west, while the NRE of alpine plants showed increasing trends along the gradients, which indicates that alpine plants enhance the NRE to adapt to the increasing droughts and nutrient‐poor environments. The opposite trends of N fixation and NRE along the precipitation and soil nutrient gradients indicate that alpine plants adapt to precipitation and soil nutrient limitation by promoting NRE (conservative nutrient use by alpine plants) rather than biological N fixation (open sources by legume plants) on the north Tibetan Plateau.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen economy of alpine plants on the north Tibetan Plateau: Nitrogen conservation by resorption rather than open sources through biological symbiotic fixation

Zong

Song

Zhao

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…On the Tibetan Plateau, alpine grasslands are sensitive and vulnerable to both natural and anthropogenic disturbances 11 . Degradation of alpine grasslands is mainly attributed to climate warming and overgrazing there 12 13 14 15 16 . For example, Piao et al .…”

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confidence: 99%

Plant functional trait diversity regulates the nonlinear response of productivity to regional climate change in Tibetan alpine grasslands

Wurst

Zhang

2016

Sci Rep

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The biodiversity-productivity relationship is still under debate for alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. We know little about direct and indirect effects of biotic and abiotic drivers on this relationship, especially in regard to plant functional trait diversity. Here, we examine how aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and precipitation use efficiency (PUE) respond to climate, soil and community structure across alpine grasslands on the Northern Tibetan Plateau. We found that both ANPP and PUE showed nonlinear patterns along water availability and site altitude variation, which together accounted for 80.3% and 68.8% of variation in ANPP and PUE, respectively, by optimal generalized additive models. Functional trait divergence (FTD) and community weighted mean (CWM) of plant functional traits were as important as plant species diversity (PSD) for explaining the nonlinear productivity-climate relationship. These findings were confirmed by results from principal component analyses and structural equation models. We also found that FTD was negatively correlated with PSD across different alpine grasslands. Our results implicate: first, the combinatorial influences of temperature and precipitation gradients are important for predicting alpine grassland dynamics; second, the convergence and divergence of plant functional traits may have the potential to elucidate the effect of plant diversity on ecosystem functionality.

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“…In addition to the carbon and nitrogen substrates that represent microbial growth, root compounds have multiple effects on inter-root microbes by acting as signaling agents, inducers, stimulants, inhibitors and repellents [7], thereby regulating soil conditions for themselves and other plants, including their own offspring. The interaction between rhizosphere microorganisms and rhizosphere exudates is considered a 'novel weapon' of poisonous plant species to adapt to degraded grassland and may be an important mechanism in allowing them to spread [8,9,10,11,12,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction between root exudates and rhizosphere microorganisms facilitates the expansion of poisonous plant species in degraded grassland

Wang

Jia

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background The interaction between rhizosphere microorganisms and rhizosphere exudates is considered a ‘novel weapon’ for poisonous plants’ colonization, but the relationship between them in facilitating the expansion of poisonous plants in degraded or barren land is poorly understood. We examined this relationship in different degradation levels of alpine grasslands on the Tibetan plateau (3,700 m a.s.l) by determining the composition of root exudates, soil physical and chemical properties, rhizosphere microbial diversity and carbon metabolism of the main poisonous and non-poisonous plant species. Results Soil nutrients, including total organic carbon, total nitrogen and available phosphorous, diversity of microorganisms and microbial carbon metabolism were greater in the rhizosphere of poisonous than in non-poisonous plant species (P < 0.05). The distribution of bacteria and root exudates were plant species specific. Soil microbial communities were affected by habitat and plant species in degraded grassland, and more so for bacteria than fungi. The cell growth and death pathway for the poisonous species Ligularia virgaurea was greater than for other poisonous species (P < 0.05), and the difference increased with an increase in grassland degradation and a decrease in soil nutrients (P < 0.05), which could explain how L. virgaurea became the dominant poisonous species in degraded alpine grassland. The roots of L. virgaurea exudated such compounds as alkaloids, lupinic acid, terpenes, artemisinin, and coumarin, which were correlated positively with different bacteria in different habitats. Conclusion It was concluded that poisonous plant species adapted to degraded grassland through the interaction of root exudates and rhizosphere microorganisms, which facilitated their expansion in degraded alpine grassland.

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Spatial and climatic patterns of the relative abundance of poisonous vs. non-poisonous plants across the Northern Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 15 publications

References 37 publications

Nitrogen economy of alpine plants on the north Tibetan Plateau: Nitrogen conservation by resorption rather than open sources through biological symbiotic fixation

Nitrogen economy of alpine plants on the north Tibetan Plateau: Nitrogen conservation by resorption rather than open sources through biological symbiotic fixation

Plant functional trait diversity regulates the nonlinear response of productivity to regional climate change in Tibetan alpine grasslands

Interaction between root exudates and rhizosphere microorganisms facilitates the expansion of poisonous plant species in degraded grassland

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