Quantitative classification and environmental interpretation of plant communities on the Ningxia typical steppe after 1-21 years of restoration

doi:10.11686/cyxb2017404

Abstract

Abstract: Studying the classification and succession of plant communities at different timepoints after restoration is important for the design of successful strategies to restore degraded grasslands. This study was conducted at an abandoned grassland in the typical steppe of south Ningxia. We analyzed the diversity of grassland plant communities at different times after restoration (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 20 and 21 years). We used Two-way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) to calculate the number of classification groups, and used Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) for the classification and ordination of grassland plant communities. We also evaluated the relationship between soil factors and succession time in the plant communities. The results showed that: 1) The Shannon-Wiener’s index, Patrick’s index, and above-ground biomass growth fluctuated with increasing years of restoration. 2) The 12 sampled plots with different years of restoration were divided into five types based on the TWINSPAN and DCA matching analysis. 3) The vegetation succession was as follows: Artemisia scoparia+Setaria viridis+Poa pratensis community; Leymus secalinus+Elymus dahuricus community; Stipa bungeana+L. secalinus community; L. secalinus+Vicia sepium community; S. bungeana+L. secalinus+E. dahuricus community. 4) The soil environment of grassland plants changed over time after restoration, with higher total phosphorus (P) and soil organic carbon (SOC) at the early establishment stage, higher soil available P and soil total nitrogen (N) contents at the intermediate succession stage, and higher soil available potassium (P) and SOC at the post-restoration stage. These changes were related to the plants TWINSPAN classification groups at different restoration times. We concluded that the succession sequence of the grassland plant community was optimized, the structure of grassland communities became more stable, and the ecological environment improved with increasing duration of grassland restoration.

Key words: typical steppe in Ningxia, abandoned grassland, succession series, environmental interpretation

NIE Ming-he, SHEN Yan, RAO Li-xian. Quantitative classification and environmental interpretation of plant communities on the Ningxia typical steppe after 1-21 years of restoration[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2018, 27(8): 11-20.

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