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Effects of Sand Dune Stabilization on the Spatial Pattern of Artemisia ordosica Population in Mu Us Desert, Northwest China.

ABSTRACT: Vegetation patterns are strongly influenced by sand mobility in desert ecosystems. However, little is known about the spatial patterns of Artemisia ordosica, a dominant shrub in the Mu Us desert of Northwest China, in relation to sand fixation. The aim of this study was to investigate and contrast the effects of sand dune stabilization on the population and spatial distribution of this desert shrub. Spatial autocorrelation, semi-variance analysis, and point-pattern analysis were used jointly in this study to investigate the spatial patterns of A. ordosica populations on dunes in Yanchi County of Ningxia, China. The results showed that the spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity declined gradually, and the distance between the clustered individuals shortened following sand dune fixation. Seedlings were more aggregated than adults in all stage of dune stabilization, and both were more aggregated on shifting sand dunes separately. Spatial associations of the seedlings with the adults were mostly positive at distances of 0-5 m in shifting sand dunes, and the spatial association changed from positive to neutral in semi-fixed sand dunes. The seedlings were spaced in an almost random pattern around the adults, and their distances from the adults did not seem to affect their locations in semi-fixed sand dunes. Furthermore, spatial associations of the seedlings with the adults were negative in the fixed sand dune. These findings demonstrate that sand stabilization is an important factor affecting the spatial patterns of A. ordosica populations in the Mu Us desert. These findings suggest that, strong association between individuals may be the mechanism to explain the spatial pattern formation at preliminary stage of dune fixation. Sand dune stabilization can change the spatial pattern of shrub population by weakening the spatial association between native shrub individuals, which may affect the development direction of desert shrubs.

SUBMITTER: Zhang J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4477905 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Acclimation strategies in xerophytic plants to stressed environmental conditions vary with temporal scales. Our understanding of environmentally-induced variation in photosystem II (PSII) processes as a function of temporal scales is limited, as most studies have thus far been based on short-term, laboratory-controlled experiments. In a study of PSII processes, we acquired near-continuous, field-based measurements of PSII-energy partitioning in a dominant desert-shrub species, namely Artemisia ordosica, over a six-year period from 2012-2017. Continuous-wavelet transformation (CWT) and wavelet coherence analyses (WTC) were employed to examine the role of environmental variables in controlling the variation in the three main PSII-energy allocation pathways, i.e., photochemical efficiency and regulated and non-regulated thermal dissipation, i.e., Φ PSII, Φ NPQ, and Φ NO, respectively, across a time-frequency domain from hours to years. Convergent cross mapping (CCM) was subsequently used to isolate cause-and-effect interactions in PSII-energy partitioning response. The CWT method revealed that the three PSII-energy allocation pathways all had distinct daily periodicities, oscillating abruptly at intermediate timescales from days to weeks. On a diurnal scale, WTC revealed that all three pathways were influenced by photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), air temperature (T a), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). By comparing associated time lags for the three forms of energy partitioning at diurnal scales, revealed that the sensitivity of response was more acutely influenced by PAR, declining thereafter with the other environmental variables, such that the order of influence was greatest for T a, followed by VPD, and then soil water content (SWC). PSII-energy partitioning on a seasonal scale, in contrast, displayed greater variability among the different environmental variables, e.g., Φ PSII and Φ NO being more predisposed to changes in T a, and Φ NPQ to changes in VPD. CCM confirmed the causal relationship between pairings of PSII-energy allocation pathways, according to shrub phenology. A. ordosica is shown to have an innate ability to (i) repair damaged PSII-photochemical apparatus (maximum quantum yield of PSII photochemistry, with F v/F m > 0.78), and (ii) acclimatize to excessive PAR, dry-air conditions, and prolonged drought. A. ordosica is relatively sensitive to extreme temperature and exhibits photoinhibition.

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Effects of Sand Dune Stabilization on the Spatial Pattern of Artemisia ordosica Population in Mu Us Desert, Northwest China.

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