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Plant Community Traits Respond to Grazing Exclusion Duration in Alpine Meadow and Alpine Steppe on the Tibetan Plateau.

ABSTRACT: Grazing exclusion has been a primary ecological restoration practice since the implement of "Returning Grazing Land to Grassland" program in China. However, the debates on the effectiveness of grazing exclusion have kept for decades. To date, there has been still a poor understand of vegetation restoration with grazing exclusion duration in alpine meadows and alpine steppes, limiting the sustainable management of grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau. We collected data from previous studies and field surveys and conducted a meta-analysis to explore vegetation restoration with grazing exclusion durations in alpine meadows and alpine steppes. Our results showed that aboveground biomass significantly increased with short-term grazing exclusion (1-4 years) in alpine meadows, while medium-term grazing exclusion (5-8 years) in alpine steppes (P < 0.05). By contrast, belowground biomass significantly increased with medium-term grazing exclusion in alpine meadows, while short-term grazing exclusion in alpine steppes (P < 0.05). Long-term grazing exclusion significantly increased belowground biomass in both alpine meadows and alpine steppes. medium-tern, and long-term grazing exclusion (> 8 years) significantly increased species richness in alpine meadows (P < 0.05). Only long-term GE significantly increased Shannon-Wiener index in plant communities of alpine steppes. The efficiency of vegetation restoration in terms of productivity and diversity gradually decreased with increasing grazing exclusion duration. Precipitation significantly positively affected plant productivity restoration, suggesting that precipitation may be an important factor driving the differential responses of vegetation to grazing exclusion duration in alpine meadows and alpine steppes. Considering the effectiveness and efficiency of grazing exclusion for vegetation restoration, medium-term grazing exclusion are recommended for alpine meadows and alpine steppes.

SUBMITTER: Zhan T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9291246 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Background and Aims:There is no knowledge of winter plant phenology and its controlling factors on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Thus, we conducted a 4 year winter phenology and growth dynamics study in the alpine meadow on the eastern QTP. Methods:From November 2013 to March 2017, the phenology of the 'winter-growth' and 'winter-green' species was recorded every 5 d. In November-February from 2014 to 2015, the above-ground biomass (AGB) in random plots was calculated to distinguish different growth patterns among winter growing species. The percentage of winter abundance relative to the summer population for forbs and the percentage of absolute coverage for grasses (W/S) were calculated to describe the importance of the winter population to the summer population. The soil moisture (SM) and soil temperature (ST) were used to explore the controlling factors on the AGB. Pearson's correlation analysis between winter phenology data and environmental variables, including air temperature (Tair), snow cover fraction (SCF), SM and ST, was used to investigate the factors affecting winter phenology during November-February from 2014 to 2017. Key Results:There were 107 species in total in the sites, including ten 'winter-growth' species and four 'winter-green' species. Among the 'winter-green' species, Festuca ovina and Deschampsia cespitosa were the dominant species in the sites. The 'winter-growth' species grew new leaves or ramets or transitioned to reproductive growth. Gentiana spathulifolia even flowered in winter. 'Winter-growth' made important contributions to the annual AGB, e.g. winter growth of G. spathulifolia accounted for 23.26 % of its annual AGB, while 14.74 % of the annual AGB of G. crassuloides was from winter growth. In addition, winter warming and snowfall reduction under global climate change on the eastern QTP may decrease the AGB increment of the 'winter-growth' and delay the green-up onset date of 'winter-green' species. Also, winter warming and snowfall reduction may advance the first flowering date of 'winter-growth' species. Conclusions:In contrast to previous views that plants on the QTP were generally considered to remain dormant in winter, our study revealed that alpine meadow plants had strong winter growth which suggested the importance of re-evaluating the dynamics of ecosystem function of alpine meadow, including its contribution to the global carbon balance. It was also shown that soil moisture availability is more important than warmer temperature in controlling the green-up onset of 'winter-green' species on the eastern QTP, which contrasts with the traditional view that warmer winters could advance green-up. As snowmelt is the only source of soil water in winter, the prediction of the green-up trend may be further complicated by snowfall variation in winter.

Project description:BACKGROUND: GeoChip 3.0, a microbial functional gene array, containing ~28,000 oligonucleotide probes and targeting ~57,000 sequences from 292 functional gene families, provided a powerful tool for researching microbial community structure in natural environments. The alpine meadow is a dominant plant community in the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, hence it is important to profile the unique geographical flora and assess the response of the microbial communities to environmental variables. In this study, Geochip 3.0 was employed to understand the microbial functional gene diversity and structure, and metabolic potential and the major environmental factors in shaping microbial communities structure of alpine meadow soil in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. RESULTS: A total of 6143 microbial functional genes involved in carbon degradation, carbon fixation, methane oxidation and production, nitrogen cycling, phosphorus utilization, sulphur cycling, organic remediation, metal resistance, energy process and other category were detected in six soil samples and high diversity was observed. Interestingly, most of the detected genes associated with carbon degradation were derived from cultivated organisms. To identify major environmental factors in shaping microbial communities, Mantel test and CCA Statistical analyses were performed. The results indicated that altitude, C/N, pH and soil organic carbon were significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with the microbial functional structure and a total of 80.97% of the variation was significantly explained by altitude, C/N and pH. The C/N contributed 38.2% to microbial functional gene variation, which is in accordance with the hierarchical clustering of overall microbial functional genes. CONCLUSIONS: High overall functional genes and phylogenetic diversity of the alpine meadow soil microbial communities existed in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Most of the genes involved in carbon degradation were derived from characterized microbial groups. Microbial composition and structures variation were significantly impacted by local environmental conditions, and soil C/N is the most important factor to impact the microbial structure in alpine meadow in Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.

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Plant Community Traits Respond to Grazing Exclusion Duration in Alpine Meadow and Alpine Steppe on the Tibetan Plateau.

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