Response of plant community structure and biomass to long-term nutrient addition in a Stipa baicalensis steppe

doi:10.11686/cyxb2021272

Abstract

Abstract:

The symptoms of Stipa baicalensis steppe degradation are decreases in plant diversity and soil nutrient loss caused by long-term overgrazing. However， it remains unclear whether returning lost nutrients could improve the community diversity and productivity of S. baicalensis steppe and restore the original vegetation. Therefore， in a long-term experiment， effects of N， P and K additions （100 kg·ha^-1·yr^-1） and various nutrient combination treatments were evaluated in 2010 in an S. baicalensis steppe located at Ewenki Banner， Hulunbuir City， Inner Mongolia. The results for three consecutive years （2017-2019） showed that： 1） Long-term addition of N， NK， NP and NPK significantly increased the relative importance value of Gramineae species （P<0.05）， decreased the relative importance value of forbs， and changed the dominant species from forbs to grasses. 2） N， NK， NP and NPK additions significantly increased the aboveground biomass of the community and of Gramineae （P<0.05）， and decreased the aboveground biomass of forbs （P<0.05）， while P enhanced the aboveground biomass of Leguminosae （P<0.05）. Plant biomass was more sensitive to nutrient addition in years with adequate precipitation. 3） Simpson index， Shannon-Wiener index， Pielou index and species richness decreased with the addition of NK， NP and NPK （P<0.05）. In conclusion， N is the most important limiting factor for aboveground biomass and species diversity in a S. baicalensis steppe community， P is the second most limiting factor after N， and K is the least limiting of the three. The effects of N， P and K combinations on the S. baicalensis steppe primary vegetation community were greater in years with adequate precipitation than in years with drought.

Key words: community structure, species diversity, plant functional groups, nutrient addition, Stipa baicalensis steppe

Jun-yan LU, Mei HONG, Bayinnamula ZHAO, Wuyingga ZHAO, Wen-dong WANG, Shang-fei MA, Dian-lin YANG. Response of plant community structure and biomass to long-term nutrient addition in a Stipa baicalensis steppe[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2022, 31(4): 22-31.

Figures/Tables 6

References 38

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功能群Group	处理Treatment	2017	2018	2019
禾本科 Gramineae	CK	18.86±0.47d	85.59±0.80d	92.31±7.76d
	N	43.84±14.93abc	140.55±28.88c	235.84±2.38c
	P	22.61±0.15cd	75.10±1.76d	86.63±1.07d
	K	23.30±4.44cd	84.39±26.50d	85.74±13.52d
	NK	28.87±4.68bcd	200.01±7.12b	376.89±40.93b
	NP	48.19±21.07ab	284.81±7.11a	413.71±28.49b
	PK	21.09±0.76cd	136.01±42.89c	145.75±79.76d
	NPK	52.31±22.44a	219.84±43.72b	647.87±55.66a
杂类草 Forbs	CK	41.57±22.47a	62.74±2.95a	69.10±0.10a
	N	29.15±12.57ab	63.04±24.32a	42.18±5.78c
	P	31.25±10.01ab	65.10±3.08a	59.54±2.78ab
	K	19.98±5.05b	69.55±18.40a	55.94±12.32b
	NK	22.59±0.57ab	54.94±13.92ab	19.83±2.33e
	NP	19.08±2.03b	47.48±8.17ab	24.67±5.40de
	PK	30.78±4.11ab	37.80±5.61b	34.29±10.86cd
	NPK	27.55±2.18ab	50.08±9.22ab	12.07±7.14e
豆科 Leguminosae	CK	11.57±5.77a	2.92±1.23b	4.72±1.24b
	N	6.55±5.53abc	1.05±0.17cd	3.79±0.53b
	P	8.25±0.46ab	15.22±1.53a	12.11±9.57a
	K	5.62±3.31abc	0.57±0.29d	4.34±0.80b
	NK	5.50±4.02abc	2.46±0.60bc	3.21±1.74b
	NP	2.17±2.06bc	0.65±0.12d	0.22±0.23b
	PK	2.71±0.01bc	2.06±1.41bcd	1.43±0.23b
	NPK	0.72±0.12c	1.00±0.15cd	0.55±0.07b
群落 Community	CK	72.01±26.27a	151.25±4.96d	166.12±9.09d
	N	79.54±33.03a	204.63±4.72c	281.81±7.64c
	P	62.10±10.61a	155.42±2.85d	158.28±11.28d
	K	48.90±12.43a	154.50±8.39d	146.01±2.00d
	NK	56.96±1.23a	257.40±7.40b	399.93±40.34b
	NP	69.44±25.16a	332.94±0.95a	438.60±34.12b
	PK	54.58±3.35a	175.87±35.87cd	181.47±68.68d
	NPK	80.58±20.38a	270.91±34.65b	660.48±48.46a

功能群Group	处理Treatment	2017	2018	2019
禾本科 Gramineae	CK	18.86±0.47d	85.59±0.80d	92.31±7.76d
	N	43.84±14.93abc	140.55±28.88c	235.84±2.38c
	P	22.61±0.15cd	75.10±1.76d	86.63±1.07d
	K	23.30±4.44cd	84.39±26.50d	85.74±13.52d
	NK	28.87±4.68bcd	200.01±7.12b	376.89±40.93b
	NP	48.19±21.07ab	284.81±7.11a	413.71±28.49b
	PK	21.09±0.76cd	136.01±42.89c	145.75±79.76d
	NPK	52.31±22.44a	219.84±43.72b	647.87±55.66a
杂类草 Forbs	CK	41.57±22.47a	62.74±2.95a	69.10±0.10a
	N	29.15±12.57ab	63.04±24.32a	42.18±5.78c
	P	31.25±10.01ab	65.10±3.08a	59.54±2.78ab
	K	19.98±5.05b	69.55±18.40a	55.94±12.32b
	NK	22.59±0.57ab	54.94±13.92ab	19.83±2.33e
	NP	19.08±2.03b	47.48±8.17ab	24.67±5.40de
	PK	30.78±4.11ab	37.80±5.61b	34.29±10.86cd
	NPK	27.55±2.18ab	50.08±9.22ab	12.07±7.14e
豆科 Leguminosae	CK	11.57±5.77a	2.92±1.23b	4.72±1.24b
	N	6.55±5.53abc	1.05±0.17cd	3.79±0.53b
	P	8.25±0.46ab	15.22±1.53a	12.11±9.57a
	K	5.62±3.31abc	0.57±0.29d	4.34±0.80b
	NK	5.50±4.02abc	2.46±0.60bc	3.21±1.74b
	NP	2.17±2.06bc	0.65±0.12d	0.22±0.23b
	PK	2.71±0.01bc	2.06±1.41bcd	1.43±0.23b
	NPK	0.72±0.12c	1.00±0.15cd	0.55±0.07b
群落 Community	CK	72.01±26.27a	151.25±4.96d	166.12±9.09d
	N	79.54±33.03a	204.63±4.72c	281.81±7.64c
	P	62.10±10.61a	155.42±2.85d	158.28±11.28d
	K	48.90±12.43a	154.50±8.39d	146.01±2.00d
	NK	56.96±1.23a	257.40±7.40b	399.93±40.34b
	NP	69.44±25.16a	332.94±0.95a	438.60±34.12b
	PK	54.58±3.35a	175.87±35.87cd	181.47±68.68d
	NPK	80.58±20.38a	270.91±34.65b	660.48±48.46a

变异来源 Variance source	群落 Community	禾本科 Gramineae	杂类草 Forbs	豆科 Leguminosae
N	319.62**	525.89**	32.20**	28.74**
P	78.40**	86.85**	14.55**	0.41
K	26.59**	35.86**	16.89**	23.01**
NK	20.20**	9.48*	2.13	20.73**
NP	49.93**	47.18**	0.10	12.93**
PK	2.97	1.92	0.13	6.82
NPK	0.11**	2.87	4.34*	6.13*
年际 Years （Y）	163.24**	399.39**	46.86**	3.60*
N×Y	52.82**	172.81**	11.32**	0.07
P×Y	3.98	27.47**	2.82	8.46**
K×Y	5.61**	26.59**	3.02	0.10
NK×Y	6.29**	21.25**	0.38	0.86
NP×Y	4.93	17.45**	0.21	1.86
PK×Y	1.61	6.05**	3.24*	1.78
NPK×Y	0.66	7.23**	2.31	1.95

变异来源 Variance source	群落 Community	禾本科 Gramineae	杂类草 Forbs	豆科 Leguminosae
N	319.62**	525.89**	32.20**	28.74**
P	78.40**	86.85**	14.55**	0.41
K	26.59**	35.86**	16.89**	23.01**
NK	20.20**	9.48*	2.13	20.73**
NP	49.93**	47.18**	0.10	12.93**
PK	2.97	1.92	0.13	6.82
NPK	0.11**	2.87	4.34*	6.13*
年际 Years （Y）	163.24**	399.39**	46.86**	3.60*
N×Y	52.82**	172.81**	11.32**	0.07
P×Y	3.98	27.47**	2.82	8.46**
K×Y	5.61**	26.59**	3.02	0.10
NK×Y	6.29**	21.25**	0.38	0.86
NP×Y	4.93	17.45**	0.21	1.86
PK×Y	1.61	6.05**	3.24*	1.78
NPK×Y	0.66	7.23**	2.31	1.95

变异来源 Variance source	物种丰富度 Species richness	优势度指数 Simpson index	多样性指数 Shannon-Wiener index	均匀度指数 Pielou index
N	69.85**	194.01**	229.26**	161.14**
P	1.08	17.26**	56.31**	24.74**
K	3.10	38.82**	33.03**	45.33**
NK	1.08	6.60*	5.16*	14.63**
NP	10.88**	13.56**	40.91**	7.75**
PK	7.59**	0.75	0.04	5.88*
NPK	1.08	18.99**	18.79**	13.28**
年际 Years （Y）	6.10**	14.15**	52.93**	12.70**
N×Y	5.84**	39.21**	85.45**	45.27**
P×Y	0.70	22.42**	52.29**	27.24**
K×Y	4.35*	2.49	2.57	2.70
NK×Y	0.10	0.69	0.44	1.92
NP×Y	1.73	1.44	3.41*	3.74*
PK×Y	0.71	0.04	3.18	0.34
NPK×Y	1.18	2.08	3.45*	3.42*