Community Characteristics and Leaf Stoichiometric Traits of Desert Ecosystems Regulated by Precipitation and Soil in an Arid Area of China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15470965 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xiaolong Zhang (0000-0002-0417-0002, Beijing Botanical Garden), Tianyu Guan (0000-0002-5091-8093, Beijing Botanical Garden), Jihua Zhou (0000-0001-6425-6855, Beijing Botanical Garden), Wentao Cai (0000-0002-5071-0655, Beijing Botanical Garden), Nannan Gao (0000-0003-3397-1703, Beijing Botanical Garden), Hui Du (0000-0003-1725-8123, Beijing Botanical Garden), Lianhe Jiang (Beijing Botanical Garden), Liming Lai (0000-0001-6527-1598, Beijing Botanical Garden), Yuanrun Zheng (0000-0002-2050-1967, Beijing Botanical Garden, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 109-109 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601 |
| Publisher | Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3390/ijerph15010109 |
| PMID | 29320458 |
| OpenAlex | W2783336223 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 63 |
Precipitation is a key environmental factor determining plant community structure and function. Knowledge of how community characteristics and leaf stoichiometric traits respond to variation in precipitation is crucial for assessing the effects of global changes on terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we measured community characteristics, leaf stoichiometric traits, and soil properties along a precipitation gradient (35-209 mm) in a desert ecosystem of Northwest China to explore the drivers of these factors. With increasing precipitation, species richness, aboveground biomass, community coverage, foliage projective cover (FPC), and leaf area index (LAI) all significantly increased, while community height decreased. The hyperarid desert plants were characterized by lower leaf carbon (C) and nitrogen/phosphorus (N/P) levels, and stable N and P, and these parameters did not change significantly with precipitation. The growth of desert plants was limited more by N than P. Soil properties, rather than precipitation, were the main drivers of desert plant leaf stoichiometric traits, whereas precipitation made the biggest contribution to vegetation structure and function. These results test the importance of precipitation in regulating plant community structure and composition together with soil properties, and provide further insights into the adaptive strategy of communities at regional scale in response to global climate change
Agronomy · Arid · Biology · Biomass (ecology · Community structure · Ecosystem · Geography · Leaf area index · Plant community · Precipitation · Species richness · Terrestrial ecosystem · Vegetation (pathology · Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies · Environmental Science · Plant and animal studies · Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics · Ecology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |