Niche and interspecific association of dominant plant species in artificial plant communities， the coal gangue dump of the Ningdong coal base， Middle East Ningxia

doi:10.11686/cyxb2024078

Abstract

Abstract:

Ecological restoration is an important part of mining operations. The aim of this study was to analyze the plant community at the initial stage of ecological restoration in the gangue yard at the Ningdong coal base， with an overall goal to establish a stable artificial vegetation ecosystem on the coal gangue hills. The aboveground vegetation was sampled using a quadrat method， and the importance values of shrubs and grasses were calculated. The niche width， niche similarity， niche overlap， and variance ratio were calculated. Chi-squared and Spearman’s correlation analyses were used to explore the interspecific associations among， and correlations between， dominant species in the plant community in the mining area. The results showed that there were 44 species of shrubs and grasses in the study area， belonging to nine families and 36 genera. The main plant families were Poaceae， Fabaceae， Asteraceae， and Amaranthaceae. The niche width and importance value rankings of shrub species were not completely consistent， but the overall trend was consistent， with Oxytropis aciphylla and Caragana korshinskii being the dominant species. The niche width and importance value rankings of herbaceous species were consistent， with Grubovia dasyphylla and Medicago sativa being the dominant species. The variance ratio of the overall association between shrubs and herbaceous plants was greater than one. There was a significant positive association among shrub species， whereas the association among herbaceous species was not significant. In conclusion， the plant community in the ecological restoration area is in the early or middle stage of succession， with weak interspecific competition. When designing an ecological restoration strategy for the Ningdong coal base， plants positively associated with dominant species should be selected to form a stable plant community structure， thereby improving the efficiency of ecological restoration in this mining area.

Key words: niche, interspecific association, dominant plant species, gangue dump, Ningdong

Xiao-lei HOU, Chun-li WU, Ya-yuan DENG, Wen-zhang MA, Ting-ning ZHAO, Wen-jie ZENG, Zi-han GONG, Zhi-yuan LU, Guo-wei WU. Niche and interspecific association of dominant plant species in artificial plant communities， the coal gangue dump of the Ningdong coal base， Middle East Ningxia[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2025, 34(1): 1-16.

Figures/Tables 14

Fig.1 The overview of the study area

Table 1 Basic information of the investigated coal gangue hills

矿区 Mining area	纬度 Latitude （N）	经度 Longitude （E）	平均海拔 Average altitude （m）	恢复年限 Restoration period （a）
Ⅰ	38°02′23″	106°41′24″	1276	4
Ⅱ	38°02′37″	106°37′34″	1292	4
Ⅲ	37°57′47″	106°43′03″	1329	2
Ⅳ	37°49′47″	106°43′16″	1376	3
Ⅴ	37°55′43″	106°31′28″	1339	2
Ⅵ	37°59′31″	106°35′10″	1331	4

Table 2 Plant community composition

序号 Number	科 Family	植物物种数Number of plant species
		灌木 Bush	草本Herb
		灌木 Bush	一年生Annual	一年生及二年生Annual and biennial	多年生Perennial	藤本Vine
1	豆科Fabaceae	4	-	1	5	-
2	禾本科Poaceae	-	4	-	6	-
3	菊科Asteraceae	1	1	1	6	-
4	苋科Amaranthaceae	1	7	-	-	-
5	柽柳科Tamaricaceae	2	-	-	-	-
6	夹竹桃科Apocynaceae	1	-	-	-	1
7	白刺科Nitrariaceae	-	-	-	1	-
8	葫芦科Cucurbitaceae	-	-	-	-	1
9	紫葳科Bignoniaceae	-	-	-	1	-

Fig.2 The water ecological type of plants

Table 3 The important value and niche breadth of shrub dominant plants

编号 Number	物种缩写 Species abbreviation	物种 Species name	重要值 Importance value （%）	生态位宽度Niche breadth
编号 Number	物种缩写 Species abbreviation	物种 Species name	重要值 Importance value （%）	Levins	Shannon
1	OA	猫头刺O. aciphylla	25.5	8.47	2.32
2	RS	红砂R. songarica	0.9	1.30	0.39
3	AO	黑沙蒿A. ordosica	6.6	2.70	1.15
4	CK	柠条锦鸡儿C. korshinskii	22.9	5.79	1.83
5	TG	红花多枝柽柳T. gallica	5.9	1.98	0.80
6	HA	梭梭Haloxylon ammodendron	1.6	1.77	0.63
7	AV	罗布麻A. venetum	0.3	1.31	0.40
8	CF	羊柴C. fruticosum	6.8	1.43	0.48

Table 4 The important value and niche breadth of herb dominant plants

编号 Number	物种缩写 Species abbreviation	物种 Species name	重要值 Importance value （%）	生态位宽度Niche breadth
编号 Number	物种缩写 Species abbreviation	物种 Species name	重要值 Importance value （%）	Levins	Shannon
1	PM	稷P. miliaceum	4.0	1.99	0.75
2	CAL	藜C. album	3.6	5.42	1.98
3	GD	雾冰藜G. dasyphylla	18.7	10.84	2.48
4	IS	蓼子朴Inula salsoloides	3.5	5.75	1.87
5	SC	猪毛菜S. collina	1.3	2.76	1.05
6	MS	紫花苜蓿M. sativa	18.4	8.88	2.35
7	CV	虎尾草C. virgata	4.5	4.26	1.64
8	CE	拂子茅C. epigeios	7.6	3.65	1.42
9	SV	狗尾草S. viridis	8.8	4.52	1.76
10	CM	蒙古虫实C. mongolicum	0.7	3.70	1.35
11	CAC	尖头叶藜C. acuminatum	1.4	1.82	0.69
12	CC	鹅绒藤C. chinense	1.2	3.57	1.42
13	LT	乳苣Lactuca tatarica	2.0	3.60	1.37
14	PA	芦苇P. australis	4.9	5.45	1.83
15	AA	黄花蒿Artemisia annua	3.6	3.76	1.55
16	AF	冷蒿Artemisia frigida	0.3	1.99	0.69
17	AC	茵陈蒿Artemisia capillaris	2.7	1.03	0.08
18	HAR	白茎盐生草H. arachnoideus	1.2	3.69	1.46
19	SS	苦马豆Sphaerophysa salsula	0.4	1.38	0.45
20	AM	草木樨状黄耆Astragalus melilotoides	0.4	1.15	0.25

Fig.3 The niche similarity ratio （a） and overlap value （b） of dominant shrub layer

Fig.4 The niche similarity ratio （a） and overlap value （b） of dominant herb layer

Table 5 Total species association of community in mining ecological restoration area

生长型

Growth form

样方数

Number of plots

方差比

Variance ratio

统计量

Statistic （W）

χ²临界值

Marginal value

［χ $0.95 (d f) 2$ ， χ $0.05 (d f) 2$ ］

结果

Results

显著正联结Significant positive association

不显著正联结Non-significant positive association