Rotational grazing promotes grassland aboveground plant biomass and its temporal stability under changing weather conditions on the Qinghai‐Tibetan plateau

To predict the consequences of environmental change on the biodiversity of alpine wetlands, it is necessary to understand the relationship between soil properties and vegetation biodiversity. In this study, we investigated spatial patterns of aboveground vegetation biomass, cover, species diversity, and their relationships with soil properties in the alpine wetlands of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Furthermore, the relative contribution of soil properties to vegetation biomass, cover, and species diversity were compared using principal component analysis and multiple regression analysis. Generally, the relationship between plant biomass, coverage, diversity, and soil nutrients was linear or unimodal. Soil pH, bulk density and organic carbon were also significantly correlated to plant diversity. The soil attributes differed in their relative contribution to changes in plant productivity and diversity. pH had the highest contribution to vegetation biomass and species richness, while total nitrogen was the highest contributor to vegetation cover and nitrogen–phosphorus ratio (N:P) was the highest contributor to diversity. Both vegetation productivity and diversity were closely related to soil properties, and soil pH and the N:P ratio play particularly important roles in wetland vegetation biomass, cover, and diversity.

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Phosphorus additions have no impact on plant biomass or soil nitrogen in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

Applied Soil Ecology ◽

10.1016/j.apsoil.2016.04.020 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 106 ◽

pp. 18-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Yongheng Gao ◽

David J. Cooper ◽

Xingxing Ma

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Soil Nitrogen ◽

Alpine Meadow ◽

Plant Biomass

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The relationships between plant diversity, plant cover, plant biomass and soil fertility vary with grassland type on Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment ◽

10.1016/j.agee.2019.106659 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 286 ◽

pp. 106659 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Moses Fayiah ◽

Shikui Dong ◽

Yu Li ◽

Yudan Xu ◽

Xiaoxia Gao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Soil Fertility ◽

Plant Diversity ◽

Plant Biomass ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Grassland Type

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Simulating landscape-scale effects of fuels treatments in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf09125 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 20 (3) ◽

pp. 364 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

Alexandra D. Syphard ◽

Robert M. Scheller ◽

Brendan C. Ward ◽

Wayne D. Spencer ◽

James R. Strittholt

Keyword(s):

Sierra Nevada ◽

Prescribed Fire ◽

Plant Biomass ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Scale Effects ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Landscape Scale ◽

Fire Weather ◽

Fuels Management ◽

Fuels Treatments

In many coniferous forests of the western United States, wildland fuel accumulation and projected climate conditions increase the likelihood that fires will become larger and more intense. Fuels treatments and prescribed fire are widely recommended, but there is uncertainty regarding their ability to reduce the severity of subsequent fires at a landscape scale. Our objective was to investigate the interactions among landscape-scale fire regimes, fuels treatments and fire weather in the southern Sierra Nevada, California. We used a spatially dynamic model of wildfire, succession and fuels management to simulate long-term (50 years), broad-scale (across 2.2 × 106 ha) effects of fuels treatments. We simulated thin-from-below treatments followed by prescribed fire under current weather conditions and under more severe weather. Simulated fuels management minimised the mortality of large, old trees, maintained total landscape plant biomass and extended fire rotation, but effects varied based on elevation, type of treatment and fire regime. The simulated area treated had a greater effect than treatment intensity, and effects were strongest where more fires intersected treatments and when simulated weather conditions were more severe. In conclusion, fuels treatments in conifer forests potentially minimise the ecological effects of high-severity fire at a landscape scale provided that 8% of the landscape is treated every 5 years, especially if future fire weather conditions are more severe than those in recent years.

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Monitoring glacial thickness changes in the Tibetan Plateau derived from ICESat data

Science and Technology Development Journal ◽

10.32508/stdj.v19i2.677 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 19 (2) ◽

pp. 130-137

Author(s):

Vu Hien Phan ◽

Roderik Lindenbergh ◽

Massimo Menenti

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Average Rate ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Mountain Range ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Thickness Change ◽

Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission ◽

Elevation Changes ◽

Water Mass Balance ◽

The Impact

Monitoring glacier changes is essential for estimating the water mass balance of the Tibetan Plateau. Recent research indicates that glaciers at individual regions on the Tibetan Plateau and surroundings are shrinking and thinning during the last decades. Studies considering large regions often ignored however the impact of locally varying weather conditions and terrain characteristics on glacial evolution, i.e. the impact of orographic precipitation and variation in solar radiation. Our hypothesis is therefore that adjacent glaciers of opposite orientation change in a different way. In this study, we exploit Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat)/ Geoscience Laser Altimetry System (GLAS) data in combination with the NASA Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model (DEM) and the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) glacier mask to estimate glacial thickness change trends between 2003 and 2009 on the whole Tibetan Plateau. The results show that 90 glacial areas could be distinguished. Most of observed glacial areas on the Tibetan Plateau are thinning, except for some glaciers in the Northwest. In general, glacial elevations on the whole Tibetan Plateau decreased at an average rate of -0.17 ± 0.47 meters per year (m a-1) between 2003 and 2009, taking together glaciers of any size, distribution, and location of the observed glacial area. Moreover, the results show that glacial elevation changes indeed strongly depend on the relative position in a mountain range.

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Dominant Plant Functional Group Determine the Response of the Temporal Stability of Plant Community Biomass to 9-Year Warming on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Frontiers in Plant Science ◽

10.3389/fpls.2021.704138 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Chengyang Li ◽

Chimin Lai ◽

Fei Peng ◽

Xian Xue ◽

Quangang You ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Plant Community ◽

Functional Group ◽

Alpine Meadow ◽

Temporal Stability ◽

Ecosystem Responses ◽

Moisture Condition ◽

Soil Moisture Condition ◽

Plant Functional Group ◽

Significant Change

Ecosystem stability characterizes ecosystem responses to natural and anthropogenic disturbance and affects the feedback between ecosystem and climate. A 9-year warming experiment (2010–2018) was conducted to examine how climatic warming and its interaction with the soil moisture condition impact the temporal stability of plant community aboveground biomass (AGB) of an alpine meadow in the central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Under a warming environment, the AGB percentage of grasses and forbs significantly increased but that of sedges decreased regardless of the soil water availability in the experimental plots. The warming effects on plant AGB varied with annual precipitation. In the dry condition, the AGB showed no significant change under warming in the normal and relatively wet years, but it significantly decreased in relatively drought years (16% in 2013 and 12% in 2015). In the wet condition, the AGB showed no significant change under warming in the normal and relatively drought years, while it significantly increased in relatively wet years (12% in 2018). Warming significantly decreased the temporal stability of AGB of plant community and sedges. Species richness remained stable even under the warming treatment in both the dry and wet conditions. The temporal stability of AGB of sedges (dominant plant functional group) explained 66.69% variance of the temporal stability of plant community AGB. Our findings highlight that the temporal stability of plant community AGB is largely regulated by the dominant plant functional group of alpine meadow that has a relatively low species diversity.

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