Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 96 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Agronomy |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 30 Dec 2023 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Abstract
Desertification reversal is globally significant for the sustainable development of land resources. However, the mechanisms of desertification reversal at the level of plant community are still unclear. We hypothesized that desertification reversal has clear effects on plant community composition, plant functional types (PFTs), and other vegetation characteristics, including plant diversity and biomass, and their changes in the early stages of reversal are more dramatic than in later stages. We investigated the vegetation of four to five different stages of desertification reversal at each of seven large study sites in southwestern Mu Us Sandy Land, China. The results show that the dominant species in very severe desertification areas were replaced by perennial grasses in potential desertification areas. The importance values of annual forbs and perennial sub-shrubs decreased dramatically (from 42.59 and 32.98 to 22.13 and 5.54, respectively), whereas those of perennial grasses and perennial forbs increased prominently (from 13.26 and 2.71 to 53.94 and 11.79, respectively) with the reversal of desertification. Desertification reversal increased the complexity of plant community composition by increasing plant species in each PFT, and C3 plants replaced C4 plants to become the dominant PFT with reversal. Plant species richness and species diversity rose overall, and aboveground plant biomass significantly (p < 0.05) increased with the reversal of desertification. Most vegetation characteristics changed more strikingly in the early stages of desertification reversal than in later stages. Our results indicate that the type and composition of the plant community were dramatically affected by desertification reversal. Anthropogenic measures are more applicable to being employed in early stages than in later stages, and Amaranthaceae C4 plants are suggested to be planted in mobile dunes for the acceleration of desertification reversal. This study is useful for designing strategies of land management and ecological restoration in arid and semiarid regions.
Keywords
- C plant, ecosystem restoration, plant functional type, restoration strategy, species diversity, species importance value
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Agronomy and Crop Science
Sustainable Development Goals
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Agronomy, Vol. 14, No. 1, 96, 2024.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Desertification Reversal Promotes the Complexity of Plant Community by Increasing Plant Species Diversity of Each Plant Functional Type
AU - Qiu, Kaiyang
AU - Li, Zhigang
AU - Xie, Yingzhong
AU - Xu, Dongmei
AU - He, Chen
AU - Pott, Richard
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (grant number 2016YFC0500505), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31160484), and the China Scholarship Council (CSC).
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Desertification reversal is globally significant for the sustainable development of land resources. However, the mechanisms of desertification reversal at the level of plant community are still unclear. We hypothesized that desertification reversal has clear effects on plant community composition, plant functional types (PFTs), and other vegetation characteristics, including plant diversity and biomass, and their changes in the early stages of reversal are more dramatic than in later stages. We investigated the vegetation of four to five different stages of desertification reversal at each of seven large study sites in southwestern Mu Us Sandy Land, China. The results show that the dominant species in very severe desertification areas were replaced by perennial grasses in potential desertification areas. The importance values of annual forbs and perennial sub-shrubs decreased dramatically (from 42.59 and 32.98 to 22.13 and 5.54, respectively), whereas those of perennial grasses and perennial forbs increased prominently (from 13.26 and 2.71 to 53.94 and 11.79, respectively) with the reversal of desertification. Desertification reversal increased the complexity of plant community composition by increasing plant species in each PFT, and C3 plants replaced C4 plants to become the dominant PFT with reversal. Plant species richness and species diversity rose overall, and aboveground plant biomass significantly (p < 0.05) increased with the reversal of desertification. Most vegetation characteristics changed more strikingly in the early stages of desertification reversal than in later stages. Our results indicate that the type and composition of the plant community were dramatically affected by desertification reversal. Anthropogenic measures are more applicable to being employed in early stages than in later stages, and Amaranthaceae C4 plants are suggested to be planted in mobile dunes for the acceleration of desertification reversal. This study is useful for designing strategies of land management and ecological restoration in arid and semiarid regions.
AB - Desertification reversal is globally significant for the sustainable development of land resources. However, the mechanisms of desertification reversal at the level of plant community are still unclear. We hypothesized that desertification reversal has clear effects on plant community composition, plant functional types (PFTs), and other vegetation characteristics, including plant diversity and biomass, and their changes in the early stages of reversal are more dramatic than in later stages. We investigated the vegetation of four to five different stages of desertification reversal at each of seven large study sites in southwestern Mu Us Sandy Land, China. The results show that the dominant species in very severe desertification areas were replaced by perennial grasses in potential desertification areas. The importance values of annual forbs and perennial sub-shrubs decreased dramatically (from 42.59 and 32.98 to 22.13 and 5.54, respectively), whereas those of perennial grasses and perennial forbs increased prominently (from 13.26 and 2.71 to 53.94 and 11.79, respectively) with the reversal of desertification. Desertification reversal increased the complexity of plant community composition by increasing plant species in each PFT, and C3 plants replaced C4 plants to become the dominant PFT with reversal. Plant species richness and species diversity rose overall, and aboveground plant biomass significantly (p < 0.05) increased with the reversal of desertification. Most vegetation characteristics changed more strikingly in the early stages of desertification reversal than in later stages. Our results indicate that the type and composition of the plant community were dramatically affected by desertification reversal. Anthropogenic measures are more applicable to being employed in early stages than in later stages, and Amaranthaceae C4 plants are suggested to be planted in mobile dunes for the acceleration of desertification reversal. This study is useful for designing strategies of land management and ecological restoration in arid and semiarid regions.
KW - C plant
KW - ecosystem restoration
KW - plant functional type
KW - restoration strategy
KW - species diversity
KW - species importance value
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183150327&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/agronomy14010096
DO - 10.3390/agronomy14010096
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85183150327
VL - 14
JO - Agronomy
JF - Agronomy
SN - 2073-4395
IS - 1
M1 - 96
ER -