scholarly journals Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes of soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Howard E. Epstein ◽  
Zhongmin Wen ◽  
Jie Zhao ◽  
Jingwei Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Ground Vegetation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Community Weighted Mean

Abstract. Climate change and human activities have caused a shift in vegetation composition and soil biogeochemical cycles of alpine wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau. The primary goal of this study was to test for associations between community-weighted mean (CWM) trait and functional diversity, and soil properties during wetland drying. We collected soil samples and investigated the above-ground vegetation in swamp, swamp meadow and typical meadow; four CWM trait values (specific leaf area, SLA; leaf dry matter content, LDMC; leaf area, LA; and mature plant height, MPH) for 42 common species were measured across the three habitats; three components of functional diversity (functional richness; functional evenness; and functional divergence) were also quantified in these sites. Our results showed that the drying of the wetland dramatically altered plant community and soil properties. There was a significant correlation between CWM of traits and soil properties, but not a significant correlation between functional diversity and soil properties. Our results further showed that CWM-LA, CWM-SLA and CWM-LDMC had positive correlations with soil readily available nutrients (available nitrogen, AN; available phosphorus, AP), but negative correlations with total soil nutrients (soil organic carbon, SOC; total nitrogen TN; and total phosphorus, TP). Our study demonstrated that simple, quantitative plant functional traits, but not functional diversity, are directly related to soil C / N properties, and likely play an important role in plant-soil interactions, and our results also suggest that functional identity of species may be more important than functional diversity in influencing ecosystem processes during wetland drying.

scholarly journals Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes in soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Howard E. Epstein ◽  
Zhongming Wen ◽  
Jie Zhao ◽  
Jingwei Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Functional Divergence ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Functional Richness ◽  
Community Weighted Mean

Abstract. Climate change and human activities have caused a shift in vegetation composition and soil biogeochemical cycles of alpine wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau. The primary goal of this study was to test for associations between community-weighted mean (CWM) traits, functional diversity, and soil properties during wetland drying. We collected soil samples and investigated the aboveground vegetation in swamp, swamp meadow, and typical meadow environments. Four CWM trait values (specific leaf area is SLA, leaf dry matter content is LDMC, leaf area is LA, and mature plant height is MPH) for 42 common species were measured across the three habitats; three components of functional diversity (functional richness, functional evenness, and functional divergence) were also quantified at these sites. Our results showed that the drying of the wetland dramatically altered plant community and soil properties. There was a significant correlation between CWM of traits and soil properties, but not a significant correlation between functional diversity and soil properties. Our results further showed that CWM-LA, CWM-SLA, and CWM-LDMC had positive correlations with soil readily available nutrients (available nitrogen, AN; available phosphorus, AP), but negative correlations with total soil nutrients (soil organic carbon is SOC, total nitrogen is TN, and total phosphorus is TP). Our study demonstrated that simple, quantitative plant functional traits, but not functional diversity, are directly related to soil C and N properties, and they likely play an important role in plant–soil interactions. Our results also suggest that functional identity of species may be more important than functional diversity in influencing ecosystem processes during wetland drying.

Community assembly processes along a sub-Mediterranean elevation gradient: analyzing the interdependence of trait community weighted mean and functional diversity

Plant Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 220 (12) ◽  
pp. 1139-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Bricca ◽  
Luisa Conti ◽  
Maria Federico Tardella ◽  
Andrea Catorci ◽  
Marco Iocchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Community Assembly ◽  
Elevation Gradient ◽  
Weighted Mean ◽  
Community Weighted Mean

scholarly journals Direct and indirect facilitation affect community productivity through changes in functional diversity in an alpine system

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangtai Wang ◽  
Richard Michalet ◽  
Lihua Meng ◽  
Xianhui Zhou ◽  
Shuyan Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Lateral Spread ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Indirect Facilitation

Abstract Background and Aims Facilitation is an important ecological process for plant community structure and functional composition. Although direct facilitation has accrued most of the evidence so far, indirect facilitation is ubiquitous in nature and it has an enormous potential to explain community structuring. In this study, we assess the effect of direct and indirect facilitation on community productivity via taxonomic and functional diversity. Methods In an alpine community on the Tibetan Plateau, we manipulated the presence of the shrub Dasiphora fruticosa and graminoids in a fenced meadow and a grazed meadow to quantify the effects of direct and indirect facilitation. We measured four plant traits: height, lateral spread, specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) of forbs; calculated two metrics of functional diversity [range of trait and community-weighted mean (CWM) of trait]; and assessed the responses of functional diversity to shrub facilitation. We used structural equation modelling to explore how shrubs directly and indirectly drove community productivity via taxonomic diversity and functional diversity. Key Results We found stronger effects from herbivore-mediated indirect facilitation than direct facilitation on productivity and taxonomic diversity, regardless of the presence of graminoids. For functional diversity, the range and CWM of height and SLA, rather than lateral spread and LDMC, generally increased due to direct and indirect facilitation. Moreover, we found that the range of traits played a primary role over taxonomic diversity and CWM of traits in terms of shrub effects on community productivity. Conclusions Our study reveals that the mechanism of shrub direct and indirect facilitation of community productivity in this alpine community is expanding the realized niche (i.e. expanding range of traits). Our findings indicate that facilitators might increase trait dispersion in the local community, which could alleviate the effect of environmental filters on trait values in harsh environments, thereby contributing to ecosystem functioning.

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

Linking functional diversity to ecological indicators: A tool to predict the anthropogenic effects on ecosystem functioning

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leticia Bonilla-Valencia ◽  
Silvia Castillo-Argüero ◽  
José Alejandro Zavala-Hurtado ◽  
Francisco Javier Espinosa-García ◽  
Roberto Lindig-Cisneros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Diversity ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Functional Divergence ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Ecological Indicators ◽  
Ecological Indicator ◽  
Dry Matter Content ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Functional Richness

Functional diversity is related to the maintenance of processes and functions in ecosystems. However, there is a lack of a conceptual framework that highlights the application of functional diversity as an ecological indicator. Therefore, we present a new initiative for motivating the development of ecological indicators based on functional diversity. We are interested in showing the challenges and solutions associated with these indicators. We integrated species assemblage theories and literature reviews. We considered plant traits related to ecosystem processes and functions (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, wood density, phenology, and seed mass) to show the application of a selection of functional diversity metrics that can be used as ecological indicators (i.e., Community Weighted-Mean, Functional Divergence, Functional Richness and Functional Evenness). We caution that functional diversity as an ecological indicator can be misinterpreted if species composition is unknown. Functional diversity values can be overrepresented by weed species (species established in disturbed sites) and do not maintain original processes and functions in ecosystems. Therefore, we searched for evidence to demonstrate that weed species are ecological indicators of functional diversity changes. We found support for two hypotheses that explain the effect of weed species on ecosystem function: functional homogenization and functional transformation. Likewise, we showed the application of some tools that can help study the anthropogenic effect on functional indicators. This review shows that the paradigm of addressing the effects of disturbances on ecosystem processes by using functional diversity as an ecological indicator can improve environmental evaluation, particularly in areas affected by human activities.

Soil cracking induced by overgrazing triggers the severe degradation or initiates the natural recovery of overgrazed alpine meadows on the Tibetan plateau?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujie Niu ◽  
Huimin Zhu ◽  
Siwei Yang ◽  
Jianwei Zhou ◽  
Bin Chu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Soil Properties ◽  
Soil Compaction ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Eastern Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Alpine Meadows ◽  
Patch Scale ◽  
Soil Cracking

<p>Soil cracking is an important feature of degraded terrestrial ecosystems, which cuts the closed and intact land, alters microtopography and also influences the dynamics of soil nutrients, water and heat, then further affect species distributions. Despite their importance, the patterns and causes of cracks related to overgrazing on alpine rangeland have rarely been reported previously, and the effects of cracks on soil properties and plant distributions are poorly understood. Therefore, we used a comprehensive cross-scale approach to investigate the distribution of crack-soil areas at the eastern Tibetan plateau (217 survey sites), then selected the grazing-induced parameter that was closely related to the cracks at a small scale, and quantified the effects of microtopography (raised areas and healed cracks) induced by cracking on the soil properties, and community composition at crack-mosaic patch from 2013-2018, then to evaluate the further roles of soil cracking on alpine rangelands. The results showed that cracks only formed in the alpine meadow after overstocking. The increased soil compaction under overgrazing was closely related to soil cracking. On crack patch scale, the healed cracks facilitated nutrient and water enrichment due to the increasing surface roughness, then improved the plant communities. To some extent, healed crack mosaics are good for the conservation of water and nutrients. We provide key and easy-to-measure indicators to prevent overgrazing and cracking: a residual biomass greater than 65 g/m<sup>2</sup> and a height greater than 6 cm, and the soil compaction should be lower than 1044.26 ± 188.88 kPa. We should pay more attention to crack phenomena to prevent severe degradation. Overgrazed alpine meadows should be treated in the early phase of cracking and it may be able to return to optimum conditions in healthy rangelands. Otherwise, soil cracking becomes the most critical turning point in the process of alpine rangeland severe degradation.</p>

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