Desertification Reversal Promotes the Complexity of Plant Community by Increasing Plant Species Diversity of Each Plant Functional Type

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Kaiyang Qiu
  • Zhigang Li
  • Yingzhong Xie
  • Dongmei Xu
  • Chen He
  • Richard Pott

Research Organisations

External Research Organisations

  • Ningxia University
  • Henan University of Science and Technology
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number96
Number of pages17
JournalAgronomy
Volume14
Issue number1
Early online date30 Dec 2023
Publication statusPublished - 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

Sustainable Development Goals

Cite this

Desertification Reversal Promotes the Complexity of Plant Community by Increasing Plant Species Diversity of Each Plant Functional Type. / Qiu, Kaiyang; Li, Zhigang; Xie, Yingzhong et al.
In: Agronomy, Vol. 14, No. 1, 96, 2024.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Qiu K, Li Z, Xie Y, Xu D, He C, Pott R. Desertification Reversal Promotes the Complexity of Plant Community by Increasing Plant Species Diversity of Each Plant Functional Type. Agronomy. 2024;14(1):96. Epub 2023 Dec 30. doi: 10.3390/agronomy14010096
Qiu, Kaiyang ; Li, Zhigang ; Xie, Yingzhong et al. / Desertification Reversal Promotes the Complexity of Plant Community by Increasing Plant Species Diversity of Each Plant Functional Type. In: Agronomy. 2024 ; Vol. 14, No. 1.
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title = "Desertification Reversal Promotes the Complexity of Plant Community by Increasing Plant Species Diversity of Each Plant Functional Type",
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.",
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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).

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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.

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