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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2023, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (2): 1-14.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2022080

   

Effects of fencing enclosure on interspecific associations in a Savanna grassland community in China’s arid-hot valley region

Guang-xiong HE1,2,3,4(), Zheng-tao SHI1, Bang-guo YAN2,3,4, Hao-zhou YANG2,3,4, Yi SUN2,3,4, Yan-dan WANG2,3,4, Jian-lin YU2,3,4, Run-lian HE2,3,4, Liang-tao SHI2,3,4, Hai-dong FANG2,3,4()   

  1. 1.Department of Geography,Yunnan Normal University,Kunming 650500,China
    2.Institute of Tropical Eco-agricultural Sciences,Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences,Yuanmou 651300,China
    3.Yuanmou Dry-hot Valley Botanical Garden,Yuanmou 651300,China
    4.National Soil and Water Conservation Science and Technology Demonstration Park of Yunnan Yuanmou Jinlei,Yuanmou 651300,China
  • Received:2022-02-18 Revised:2022-06-06 Online:2023-02-20 Published:2022-12-01
  • Contact: Hai-dong FANG

Abstract:

This research studied the effects of fencing enclosure on interspecific associations in a Savanna grassland plant community. Fencing enclosure and disturbed areas were set up and maintained for 20 years to facilitate investigation of vegetation and water and soil conservation techniques in the arid-hot valley region surrounding the Jinsha River, and 25 dominant species from the two zones were selected as marker plants to calculate interspecific association indexes using the variance ratio (VR) method, chi-square testing, Jaccard index and Spearman rank correlational methods. Findings included the following. Enclosure resulted in obvious changes in the community composition and structure and nurtured the growth of native herbs such as like Cymlopogon goeringii (Cg), and promoted the establishment of more lignified species such as Barleria cristata (Bc), Pistacia weinmanniifolia (Pw)and Gaultheria forrestii (Gf), while inhibiting annual species, weed species and alien species, resulting in the emergence of a plant community dominated by constructive species. The overall interspecific association of Savanna grassland community in arid-hot valley was mainly positive, and enclosure facilitated the formation of more complex interspecific associations within the plant community. In disturbed areas, a strong positive association between annual species, weed species and alien species was strongly evident and a high resource competition or mutual ecological exclusion was stronger among community species, resulting in a single dominant species community represented by Heteropogon contortus (Hc). Overall the interspecific relationships in the enclosed area showed a significant positive association, with the formation of a positive association among leguminous species, lignified species and native species, while the positive and negative correlations among dominant species was also strengthened after enclosure. These results suggest that fencing enclosure has a significant effect on the relationship between dominant species in Savanna grassland from the arid-hot valley zone, affecting the species composition and functional group structure of the plant community. The resulting enhancement of the interaction between dominant species appears to be ecologically important.

Key words: interspecific association, interspecies relationship, ecological groups, enclosure