Vegetation Characteristics and Response to the Soil Properties of Three Medicinal Plant Communities in Altay Prefecture, China

Abstract

Plant communities and their environments are a vital part of synecology research. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of three typical medicinal perennial herbs, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Rheum altaicum, and Ferula sinkiangensis, and examined their response to local soil properties in Altay Prefecture, China. A total of 29 species belonging to 15 families and 25 genera were recorded. In terms of the target medicinal plants, the importance value was low and community structures were exceedingly simple. Quantitative classification based on WARD cluster analysis suggested that each medicinal plant can be classified into one of three types: annual herbaceous, perennial herbaceous, and subshrub or shrub. Interestingly, the plants gradually transformed from exhibiting nonresistance to xerophytes or halophytes. An investigation of the soil properties beneath the medicinal plants showed that nutrients in black soil were much more abundant than those in sandy and saline soil. Except for leaching phenomenon, the nutrient contents in the soil surface layer (0–10 cm) were higher than those in deep layers (10–20 cm and 20–40 cm), and to some extent, the nutrient contents were inversely proportional to the depth of the soil. The redundancy analysis (RDA) results of the medicinal plants and their relationship with soil properties indicated that the main soil variables impacting the distribution of G. uralensis were available potassium (AK), aspect (ASP), soil moisture (SM), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP); SM, electric conductivity (EC), elevation (ELE), ASP, pH value (pH), available nitrogen (AN), soil organic content (SOC), and the carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio had positive effects on the distribution of R. altaicum. F. sinkiangensis grew better in habitats with high contents of SM, EC, TN, AN, available phosphorus (AP), total potassium (TK), and AK. This study aimed at providing effective suggestions for artificial cultivation, conservation, and resilience of Chinese medicinal plants.

Current Resource Status and Evaluation of Population Dynamic Characteristics of the Endangered Semi-mangrove Species Dolichandrone spathacea for Its Conservation on Hainan Island, China

“…Additionally, all four of the D. spathacea populations possessed a large number of young individuals and 3-4 species of other dominant trees in the community, implying that competition for light, water, and nutrients might exist within and among the various species. Indeed, our previous study on the ecological patterns of three kinds of terrestrial medicinal plants in Altay Prefecture, China, also found that competition was one of the most important factors that crucially determined the ecological niche of a species [35]. In this work, the higher D. spathacea population mortality rate in the early age class may be a result of the enhanced intraspecific and interspecific competition.…”

“…Among the investigated 284 D. spathacea trees on Hainan Island, their age classes were as follows: There were 58, 188, and 38 young, middle, and old individuals, accounting for 20.42%, 66.20%, and 13.38% of the population, respectively (Figure 2). Specifically, the numbers of young individuals in the D. spathacea populations of Bamen Gulf (Wenchang), Qiexin Estuary (Wanning), Qingmei Harbor (Sanya), and Tielu Harbor (Sanya) only accounted for 29.61% (45), 0% (0), 8.16% (4), and 24.32% (9), while the numbers of middle individuals accounted for up to 56.58% (86), 76.90% (35), 83.67% (41), and 70.27% (26) in the four above-mentioned populations (Figure 2). The numbers of old individuals in these D. spathacea populations were the fewest, occupying only a proportion of 13.82% (21), 23.91% (11), 8.16% (4), and 5.41% (2), respectively (Figure 2).…”

Studying the species distribution of rhubarbs (Rheum L.) in Kazakhstan

“…Rhubarb has wide practical applications as fodder and medicinal plants. [2][3][4][5][6]. Rheum compactum and R. wittrokii are included in the Red Book of Kazakhstan (2014) [7] and have the status: Category III -rare species, with declining numbers R. altaicum is a relict and endemic of Eastern Kazakhstan [8].…”

Evaluating and Correcting Temperature and Precipitation Grid Products in the Arid Region of Altay, China

“…The complex topography of this region leads to pronounced spatial variations in climate. Precipitation in the lower altitudes ranges from 200 to 300 mm, while the high-altitude mountainous areas receive over 600 mm of rainfall [6]. Precipitation increases with elevation, while temperatures decrease, resulting in significant vertical gradient changes.…”