A six-year grazing exclusion changed plant species diversity of a Stipa breviflora desert steppe community, northern China

被引:12
|
作者
Wang, Xing [2 ]
Yang, Xinguo [1 ]
Wang, Lei [1 ]
Chen, Lin [1 ]
Song, Naiping [1 ,2 ]
Gu, Junlong [1 ]
Xue, Yi [1 ]
机构
[1] Ningxia Univ, United Ctr Ecol Res & Bioresource Exploitat Weste, Minst Educ, Key Lab Restorat & Reconstract Degraded Ecosyst N, Yinchuan, Peoples R China
[2] Ningxia Univ, Sch Agr, Yinchuan, Peoples R China
来源
PEERJ | 2018年 / 6卷
基金
中国国家自然科学基金;
关键词
Species-area curve; Spatial heterogeneity; Diversity patterns; Variance partitioning; SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY; BETA-DIVERSITY; RICHNESS; SCALE; VEGETATION; GRASSLAND; RESPONSES; CURVES; LAND; PRODUCTIVITY;
D O I
10.7717/peerj.4359
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
Excluding grazers is one of most efficient ways to restore degraded grasslands in desert-steppe communities, but may negatively affect the recovery of plant species diversity. However, diversity differences between grazed and fenced grasslands in desert-steppe are poorly known. In a Stipa breviflora desert steppe community in Northern China, we established six plots to examine spatial patterns of plant species diversity under grazed and fenced conditions, respectively. We addressed three aspects of species diversity: (1) The logistic, exponential and power models were used to describe the species-area curve (SAR). Species richness, abundance and Shannon diversity values change differently with increasing sampling areas inside and outside of the fence. The best fitted model for SAR was the logistic model. Excluding grazers had a significant impact on the shape of SAR. (2) Variograms was applied to examine the spatial characteristics of plant species diversity. We found strong spatial autocorrelations in the diversity variables both inside and outside the fence. After grazing exclusion, the spatial heterogeneity decreased in species richness, increased in abundance and did not change in Shannon diversity. (3) We used variance partitioning to determine the relative contributions of spatial and environmental factors to plant species diversity patterns. Environmental factors explained the largest proportion of variation in species diversity, while spatial factors contributed little. Our results suggest that grazing enclosures decreased species diversity patterns and the spatial pattern of the S. breviflora desert steppe community was predictable.
引用
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页数:18
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