Vegetation attributes and soil properties of alpine grassland in different degradation stages on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China: a meta-analysis

She, Yandi; Zhang, Zhonghua; Ma, Li; Xu, Wenhua; Huang, Xiaotao; Zhou, Huakun

doi:10.1007/s12517-021-09400-5

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In this study, with the density increase of P. kansuensis, soil moisture was significantly lower than that of the CK patches, which could be attributed to the increase in water demand after the increase in population density and community richness of P. kansuensis. In addition, it is also related to the enhanced evapotranspiration and infiltration caused by the reduction of the thickness and density of the grasses with the Weed invasion, which is consistent with the results of a meta-analysis [26]. The soil pH value has an overall upward trend with the density increase of P. kansuensis.…”

Section: Soil Physicochemical Propertiessupporting

confidence: 87%

“…In the process of alpine grassland degradation, the total community coverage is usually regarded as an essential indicator of the degradation stage [26], as is the emergence and expansion of some poisonous weeds [27,28]. In our study, however, we found that in the process of P. kansuensis expansion, the total community coverage did not change significantly, but the community composition and structure had changed.…”

Section: Community Characteristics and Biomasscontrasting

confidence: 75%

“…The soil NO 3 − •N decreased significantly during the population expansion of P. kansuensis, indicating that the expansion enhanced its productivity and absorbed more abundant nitrogen [38], which caused more easily absorbed NO 3 − •N to become the primary source of nitrogen nutrients [39]. It is basically consistent with characteristics of available nitrogen changing with the degradation gradient [28] and the results of a meta-analysis [26]. Soil TP did not change significantly during the expansion.…”

Section: Soil Physicochemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…Among them, the richness index and Shannon-Weiner index increased significantly, indicating that the community was in a moderate degradation stage [12]. The growth and spread of the Weed group, P. kansuensis included, led to an increase of species number in the community, which reflected the rise and fall of different populations in the process of degradation and succession [12,26]. In terms of plant biomass, the AGB and BGB of the HD patches were reduced by 37.05% and 13.99% compared with the CK patches, respectively, which is consistent with previous research results [10,29,30], indicating that species richness and diversity indexes may temporarily increase after the invasion, but their biomass declines slowly.…”

Section: Community Characteristics and Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The soil pH value has an overall upward trend with the density increase of P. kansuensis. However, the change is not significant, indicating that the pH is not significantly influenced by the process of population expansion [10,12,26]. In contrast, a study found that the pH increased significantly in a grassland invaded by Stellera chamaejasme [35], which may be related to the difference in interspecific association between different dominant species in various grasslands.…”

Section: Soil Physicochemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Pedicularis kansuensis Expansion on Plant Community Characteristics and Soil Nutrients in an Alpine Grassland

Qin

Wei

et al. 2022

Plants

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Pedicularis kansuensis is an indicator species of grassland degradation. Its population expansion dramatically impacts the production and service function of the grassland ecosystem, but the effects and mechanisms of the expansion are still unclear. In order to understand the ecological effects of P. kansuensis, three P. kansuensis patches of different densities were selected in an alpine grassland, and species diversity indexes, biomasses, soil physicochemical properties, and the mechanism among them were analyzed. The results showed that P. kansuensis expansion increased the richness index, the Shannon–Wiener index significantly, and the aboveground biomass ratio (ABR) of the Weed group (p < 0.05), but reduced the total biomass of the community and the ABR of the Gramineae and Cyperaceae decreased insignificantly (p > 0.05); soil moisture, soil AOC, and NO3−·N decreased significantly (p < 0.05), while soil pH and total soil nutrients did not change significantly, and available phosphorus (AP) decreased at first and then increased (p < 0.05). The structural equation model (SEM) showed that P. kansuensis expansion had a significant positive effect on the community richness index, and a significant negative effect followed on the soil AOC from the increase of the index; the increase of pH had a significant negative effect on the soil AOC, NO3−·N, and AP. It indicated that P. kansuensis expansion resulted in the increase of species richness, the ABR of the Weed group, and the community’s water demand, which promoted the over-utilization of soil available nutrients in turn, and finally caused the decline of soil quality. This study elucidated a possible mechanism of poisonous weeds expansion, and provided a scientific and theoretical basis for grassland management.

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Section: Soil Physicochemical Propertiessupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Community Characteristics and Biomasscontrasting

confidence: 75%

Section: Soil Physicochemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 62%

Section: Community Characteristics and Biomassmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Soil Physicochemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Pedicularis kansuensis Expansion on Plant Community Characteristics and Soil Nutrients in an Alpine Grassland

Qin

Wei

et al. 2022

Plants

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Soil organic carbon stock responded more sensitively to degradation in alpine meadows than in alpine steppes on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Zhang

Zhan

et al. 2022

Land Degrad Dev

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Grassland degradation is commonly thought to cause soil organic carbon (SOC) change, and the response of SOC stock to degradation is highly dependent on grassland type. However, the effects of grassland type on changes in SOC stocks with grassland degradation over broad geographic scales remain unclear. Here, we explored the probably different responses of SOC stocks to grassland degradation for alpine meadows and alpine steppes based on 58 peer‐reviewed publications regarding the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that SOC stock consistently decreased with increasing degradation levels in both alpine meadows and steppes, whereas the magnitudes of reduction of SOC stock in alpine meadows were significantly larger than those in alpine steppes (p < 0.05). The variations in SOC stock were significantly positively correlated with variations in aboveground biomass in the alpine steppes only (p < 0.05) but were significantly positively correlated with variations in belowground biomass in both alpine meadows and alpine steppes (p < 0.01). The relationships between change rates of SOC stock with initial SOC stock and mean annual precipitation were both significantly negative during the lightly and moderately degraded stages, while the negative relationship became nonsignificant for the heavily degraded stage (p > 0.05). These findings suggest that soil organic carbon stock responded more sensitively to degradation in alpine meadows with higher initial SOC stock and annual mean precipitation than in alpine steppes. Our study might have significant implications for future sustainable management practices for carbon sequestration of alpine grasslands on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau.

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Soil fertility thresholds driven by sand content indicate drylands degradation phases on the Tibetan Plateau

Cai

Wang

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Understanding the process of dryland degradation is crucial to combating desertification and maintaining land sustainability. To identify important indicators of dryland degradation, we conducted a field survey of 46 drylands spanning an aridity gradient across the Tibetan Plateau. Our random forest model suggested that soil sand content was the most important predictor of variation in soil fertility (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus). Most soil fertility showed a nonlinear and abrupt decline with increasing soil sand content, and displayed three sequential thresholds. First, soil organic carbon sharply decreased beyond a soil sand content threshold of 47%. Second, exceeding a subsequent threshold of 70%, the total nitrogen and light fraction carbon declined dramatically with increasing soil sand content. Finally, soil heavy fraction carbon, inorganic carbon, and total carbon were drastically reduced when the soil sand content exceeded 80%. The three soil fertility thresholds along the gradient of the soil sand content indicated a sequence of dryland degradation phases. Our findings provide an approach for detecting the severity of dryland degradation and suggest vulnerable areas of degradation on the Tibetan Plateau.

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Vegetation attributes and soil properties of alpine grassland in different degradation stages on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China: a meta-analysis

Cited by 10 publications

References 41 publications

Effects of Pedicularis kansuensis Expansion on Plant Community Characteristics and Soil Nutrients in an Alpine Grassland

Effects of Pedicularis kansuensis Expansion on Plant Community Characteristics and Soil Nutrients in an Alpine Grassland

Soil organic carbon stock responded more sensitively to degradation in alpine meadows than in alpine steppes on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Soil fertility thresholds driven by sand content indicate drylands degradation phases on the Tibetan Plateau

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