Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow

Litter has been shown to alter the structure and functions of grassland ecosystems, and a knowledge of the effects of litter is essential for understanding the dynamics of ecosystem multifunctionality. However, relatively little is known about the effects of plant litter on ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine meadows. A three-year field experiment was conducted to explore how litter manipulation affects ecosystem multifunctionality. The plant litter treatments that were applied consisted of a range of litter mass levels and three dominant plant species, in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results showed that litter mass manipulation had a negative effect on ecosystem multifunctionality and most individual ecosystem functions (species richness, plant cover, and above-ground biomass) but had a positive effect on plant functional group evenness. In particular, the study found that low or medium amounts of litter (≤200gm−2) were beneficial in maintaining a high level of ecosystem multifunctionality. Furthermore, a structural equation model revealed that ecosystem multifunctionality was driven by indirect effects of litter mass manipulation on plant functional group evenness, plant cover, and species richness. These results suggest that litter-induced effects may be a major factor in determining grassland ecosystem multifunctionality, and they indicate the potential importance of grassland management strategies that regulate the dynamics of litter accumulation.

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Habitat, food, and small mammal community structure in Namaqualand

Koedoe ◽

10.4102/koedoe.v49i1.103 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

M. Van Deventer ◽

J.A.J. Nel

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Food Availability ◽

Small Mammal ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Plant Litter ◽

Shrub Cover ◽

Habitat Features ◽

Habitat Differences ◽

Elephant Shrew ◽

Density And Biomass

The effect of habitat differences and food availability on small mammal (rodent and elephant shrew) species richness, diversity, density and biomass was investigated in Namaqualand, South Africa. Species richness in the three habitats sampled, namely Upland Succulent Karoo, Dry Riverine Shrub and North-western Mountain Renosterveld was low, with only 2–4 species per habitat. Rodents trapped were predominantly Gerbillurus paeba and Aethomys namaquensis, with fewer Mus minutoides and Petromyscus sp. The only non-rodent was the elephant shrew Elephantulus edwardii. Ten habitat features, the percentage of total plant cover, tree cover, shrub cover, grass cover, plant litter, total basal cover, sand, gravel or rock cover, and the dominant plant height were recorded at 30 randomly chosen points on five sampling grids in each habitat. Small mammal density and biomass was significantly correlated with food availability (green foliage cover, seeds, and relative density and biomass of insects). Species richness and diversity of small mammals were significantly correlated with shrub cover. Numbers and biomass of specific species correlated significantly with different habitat features in each case.

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Effects of plant functional group removal on community structure, diversity and production in Alpine meadow

Acta Ecologica Sinica ◽

10.5846/stxb202004220959 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

Author(s):

姜林，胡骥，杨振安，詹伟，赵川，朱单，何奕忻，陈槐，彭长辉 JIANG Lin

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Functional Group ◽

Alpine Meadow ◽

Plant Functional Group ◽

Structure Diversity

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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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Differential responses of soil bacteria, fungi, archaea and protists to plant species richness and plant functional group identity

Molecular Ecology ◽

10.1111/mec.14175 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (15) ◽

pp. 4085-4098 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

Sigrid Dassen ◽

Roeland Cortois ◽

Henk Martens ◽

Mattias de Hollander ◽

George A. Kowalchuk ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Plant Species ◽

Soil Bacteria ◽

Group Identity ◽

Functional Group ◽

Plant Species Richness ◽

Plant Functional Group ◽

Differential Responses

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Small-scale species richness and its spatial variation in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Ecological Research ◽

10.1007/s11284-007-0423-7 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 23 (4) ◽

pp. 657-663 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Jun Chen ◽

Yasuo Yamamura ◽

Yoshimichi Hori ◽

Masae Shiyomi ◽

Taisuke Yasuda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Spatial Variation ◽

Alpine Meadow ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Small Scale ◽

Qinghai Tibet Plateau

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Dynamical changes of diversity and community assembly during recovery from a plant functional group removal experiment in the alpine meadow

Biodiversity Science ◽

10.17520/biods.2018060 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (7) ◽

pp. 655-666

Author(s):

Dexin Sun ◽

◽

Xiang Liu ◽

Shurong Zhou

Keyword(s):

Community Assembly ◽

Functional Group ◽

Alpine Meadow ◽

Removal Experiment ◽

Plant Functional Group

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Permafrost Degradation Leads to Biomass and Species Richness Decreases on the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Plants ◽

10.3390/plants9111453 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 1453

Author(s):

Xiaoying Jin ◽

Huijun Jin ◽

Xiaodong Wu ◽

Dongliang Luo ◽

Sheng Yu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Water Content ◽

Soil Water ◽

Active Layer ◽

Plant Cover ◽

Vegetation Indices ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Ground Biomass ◽

Below Ground ◽

Qinghai Tibet Plateau

Degradation of permafrost with a thin overlying active layer can greatly affect vegetation via changes in the soil water and nutrient regimes within the active layer, while little is known about the presence or absence of such effects in areas with a deep active layer. Here, we selected the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as the study area. We examined the vegetation communities and biomass along an active layer thickness (ALT) gradient from 0.6 to 3.5 m. Our results showed that plant cover, below-ground biomass, species richness, and relative sedge cover declined with the deepening active layer, while the evenness, and relative forb cover showed a contrary trend. The vegetation indices and the dissimilarity of vegetation composition exhibited significant changes when the ALT was greater than 2.0 m. The vegetation indices (plant cover, below-ground biomass, evenness index, relative forb cover and relative sedge cover) were closely associated with soil water content, soil pH, texture and nutrient content. Soil water content played a key role in the ALT–vegetation relationship, especially at depths of 30–40 cm. Our results suggest that when the ALT is greater than 2.0 m, the presence of underlying permafrost still benefits vegetation growth via maintaining adequate soil water contents at 30–40 cm depth. Furthermore, the degradation of permafrost may lead to declines of vegetation cover and below-ground biomass with a shift in vegetation species.

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Impact of Grazing Intensity on Plant Functional Groups richness, Biomass and Diversity in Hulunbuir Meadow Steppe, China

10.1101/2021.05.24.445414 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

YOUSIF ZAINELABDEEN

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Functional Groups ◽

Aboveground Biomass ◽

Functional Group ◽

Grazing Intensity ◽

Livestock Grazing ◽

Community Diversity ◽

Plant Functional Groups ◽

Tall Grass ◽

Plant Functional Group

Livestock grazing is one of the major human activities that cause a change in plant community structure and composition. We studied the effect of different grazing intensities (light, moderate, heavy, and no grazing) on aboveground biomass, species richness, and plant functional group (PFG) diversity. The light, moderate, heavy, and no grazing treatments correspond to 0.23, 0.46, 0.92, and 0.00 Animal Units ha-1 respectively. A total of 78 species classified into eight PFGs (perennial tall grass, perennial short grass, shrubs, legumes, Liliaceae herb, annual/biennial plant, perennial tall forbs and perennial short forbs) were identified. We found that the total species richness increased under light and moderate grazing intensity. However, the responses of each PFG to grazing differed. As grazing intensity increased, so did the richness of short species (perennial short grass, perennial short grass and legume) in the community. The richness of shrub is unaffected by grazing. With increasing grazing intensity, the aboveground biomass of perennial tall grass and perennial tall forbs decreased significantly, while that of annual/biennial plant functional groups increased. The community diversity and evenness of annual/biennial plants increased significantly with grazing intensity. We concluded that heavy grazing has negative impacts on plant functional group richness and aboveground biomass.

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