Soil disturbance and disturbance intensity: Response of soil nutrient concentrations of alpine meadow to plateau pika bioturbation in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

Geoderma ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 307 ◽  
pp. 98-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Yu ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
Xiao Pan Pang ◽  
Qian Wang ◽  
Yu Pei Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Soil Disturbance ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Plateau Pika ◽  
Disturbance Intensity ◽  
Intensity Response

Plateau pika disturbances alter plant productivity and soil nutrients in alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Pan Pang ◽  
Zheng Gang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Total Biomass ◽  
Soil Factors ◽  
Plateau Pika ◽  
Disturbance Intensity ◽  
Number Of Plant Species

Plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is an endemic mammal in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and its activities create extensive disturbances on vegetation and soil of alpine meadow. Field surveys at two sites were conducted to determine the effects of plateau pika disturbances on important soil factors and plant biomass of vegetated land, and their relationships of the same alpine meadow type. Our study showed that plateau pika disturbances significantly increased soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, graminoid biomass and the number of plant species, and significantly decreased soil moisture and forb biomass, although they had no significant impacts on soil total phosphorus, soil total potassium and total biomass on vegetated land. Our study further showed that soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, graminoid biomass and the number of plant species were much higher at intermediate disturbance intensities than those at low and high disturbance intensities in the disturbed areas, and soil moisture showed a decreasing trend with the increase of disturbance intensity. Plateau pika disturbances altered the contribution of some important soil nutrients and moisture to plant biomass, and had different impact on the best models between plant biomass (total biomass, graminoid biomass and forb biomass) and predominant soil factors. Our results demonstrated that the optimal disturbance intensities of plateau pika were beneficial to alpine meadow. These results highlighted the influence of the presence of plateau pika and its disturbance intensity on key soil nutrients and plant productivity on vegetated land of the same alpine meadow type, which will help us better understand the role of plateau pika in the alpine meadow ecosystem.

Effects of plateau pika activities on seasonal plant biomass and soil properties in the alpine meadow ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feida Sun ◽  
Wenye Chen ◽  
Lin Liu ◽  
Wei Liu ◽  
Yimin Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Plateau Pika

Response of leaf traits of common plants in alpine meadow to plateau pika disturbance

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Pan Pang ◽  
Zheng Gang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Leaf Traits ◽  
Dry Mass ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen ◽  
Leaf Nitrogen Content ◽  
Plateau Pika ◽  
Alpine Meadows ◽  
Disturbance Intensity ◽  
Leaf Dry Mass ◽  
Kobresia Pygmaea

Leaf traits have been proven to reflect the adaptation of individual plants to disturbance environments in a grassland ecosystem. A field survey was conducted to investigate the effects of the disturbance intensity of plateau pika on the leaf traits of a dominant (Kobresia pygmaea) and two common plants (Elymus nutans and Anemone rivularis var. flore-minore) in an alpine meadow. This study indicated that the plateau pika disturbance enables the individuals of three plants to exhibit respective plasticity because the three plants had different leaf indices (LI) as the disturbance intensity increased. K. pygmaea, E. nutans and A. rivularis var. flore-minore had high specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry mass content (LDMC), and leaf nitrogen content (LNC) at relatively low, moderate, and high disturbance intensities of plateau pika, respectively. K. pygmaea, E. nutans and A. rivularis var. flore-minore suffered low nutrient stress at low, moderate and high disturbance intensities due to high N : P at corresponding disturbance intensities. These results indicated that K. pygmaea, E. nutans and A. rivularis var. flore-minore grew well at relatively low, moderate, and high disturbance intensity conditions, respectively, which contributed to the improvement of alpine meadows with a higher proportion of E. nutans at a moderate disturbance intensity or the deterioration of alpine meadows with a higher proportion of A. rivularis var. flore-minore at a high disturbance intensity. Our findings suggest that leaf traits are effective tools to explain how small burrowing herbivore disturbances often lead to the improvement or deterioration of alpine meadows under different disturbance intensities.

scholarly journals Effect of plateau pika presence on the ecosystem services of alpine meadows

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Chen ◽  
Huan Yang ◽  
Gensheng Bao ◽  
Xiaopan Pang ◽  
Zhenggang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Grassland Ecosystem ◽  
Plateau Pika ◽  
Mammalian Herbivores ◽  
Forage Availability ◽  
Disturbance Intensity ◽  
Alpine Regions

Abstract. The activity of small mammalian herbivores influences grassland ecosystem services in arid and semi-arid regions. This study took plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) as example animal to investigate the effect of small mammalian herbivores on meadow ecosystem services in alpine regions. In this study, a home-range scale was used measure the forage availability, water conservation, carbon sequestration and soil nutrient maintenance services (total nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) of topsoil layer; and a quadrat scale was used to assess the biodiversity conservation service of alpine meadows. This study showed that plateau pika presence led to lower forage availability and water conservation services, and led to higher biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, soil nitrogen and phosphorus maintenance services of meadow ecosystem, whereas it had no impact on soil potassium maintenance service of meadow ecosystem in alpine regions. This study further found that the forage availability, biodiversity conservation, and soil nutrient maintenance services of meadow ecosystem in alpine regions firstly increased, and later decreased as the disturbance intensity of plateau pikas increased, whereas the water conservation service tended to decrease with the increasing disturbance intensity of plateau pikas. These results not only present a possible pattern of plateau pikas influencing the ecosystem services of meadow ecosystem in alpine regions, and consummate the small mammalian herbivores in relation to grassland ecosystem services.

4Flowering Responses of Alpine Meadow Plant in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to Extreme Drought Imposed in Different Periods

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengxiang MOU ◽  
Geng SUN ◽  
Peng LUO ◽  
Zhiyuan WANG ◽  
Guangrong LUO
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Alpine Meadow ◽  
Extreme Drought

Prediction Results of Different Modeling Methods in Soil Nutrient Concentrations Based on Spectral Technology

2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
X.-Y. Li ◽  
P.-P. Fan ◽  
Y. Liu ◽  
G.-L. Hou ◽  
Q. Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Modeling Methods
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