Shrub‐encroached grassland as an alternative stable state in semiarid steppe regions

Evidence from community stability and assembly

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21647784
AutoresGuang Hao (0000-0002-4346-7765, College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Nan Yang (0000-0001-6681-6836, College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Ke Dong (0000-0002-9773-6350, College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Yujuan Xu (College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Xinfeng Ding (College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Xinjian Shi (0000-0002-6142-7150, College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Lei Chen (0009-0003-4632-4932, College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China), Jinlong Wang (0009-0003-1126-0641, College of Agronomy & Resources and Environment Tianjin Agricultural University Tianjin 300384 PR China), Nianxi Zhao (0000-0002-0161-4974, College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China, autor de correspondencia), Yubao Gao (College of Life Science Nankai University Tianjin 300071 PR China)
Año2021
Volumen32
Número10
Páginas3142-3153
Fecha de publicación2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.3975
OpenAlexW3157142727
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas63

Understanding community restoration state and assembly mechanisms is helpful to assess restoration measures and predict community dynamics. In order to explore the effects of fencing duration and shrub cover on community stability and assembly, we investigated the community information and assessed the assembly mechanisms in plots using shrub cover of Caragana microphylla within each of the three sites fenced since 1979, 1983, and 2003 in a semiarid steppe region of China. Community composition was different among various fencing duration or shrub cover treatments. Shrub cover had a positive effect, and fencing duration had a negative effect on community stability, and both had indirect effects via regulating vegetation cover. Both shrub cover and fencing duration influenced phylogenetic structure directly and negatively, and indirectly via regulating Simpson's diversity and vegetation cover. Considering that the functional traits were phylogenetically convergent, community assembly mechanisms assessed by the values of phylogenetic structure shifted from stochasticity to competitive exclusion with the increase of shrub cover and fencing duration, and competitive exclusion dominated community assembly in the plots of low or high shrub cover in the site of fencing since 1979. The responses of community stability and community assembly to the changes of shrub cover and fencing duration suggest that the shrub‐encroached grassland is an alternative stable community state in semiarid steppe regions. Therefore, it is essential to distinguish shrub‐encroached grasslands from non‐encroached degraded grasslands when formulating relevant conservation and management measures in similar regions

Agroforestry · Biology · Community structure · Ecological succession · Fencing · Geography · Grassland · Plant community · Shrub · Steppe · Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies · Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies · Environmental Science · Plant and animal studies · Ecology