Effects of plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) on alpine meadow phytocoenosium and analysis of the strategy it uses to expand habitat

High-density plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) disturbance is one of the main causes of alpine meadow degradation. The response of phytocoenosium to the disturbance of plateau pika may reflect its habitat expanding strategy. We used quadrat sampling method to investigate vegetation height, coverage, and aboveground biomass of non-pika area (NA), transition area (TA), and pika-active area (AA) distributed continuously in alpine meadow located in Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous County of Qinghai Province in 2011 and 2012. The results showed that, from NA to AA (i) vegetation coverage, height, and above-ground biomass decreased (P < 0.01). (ii) While the number of plant species decreased from 41 to 30, and species diversity decreased significantly (P < 0.05), evenness of the alpine meadow showed no significant variations. (iii) Dominant species changed from grasses to weeds. (iv) While plants in TA showed no obvious difference in height between 2011 and 2012, coverage reduced significantly (P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that (i) plateau pikas disturbance on alpine meadow will change plant community structure and composition, directly leading to degeneration of alpine meadow. Additionally, (ii) plateau pikas expand their habitat by altering plant coverage firstly.     

天祝高寒珠芽蓼草甸群落的热值和营养成分的初步研究

 本文报告了甘肃天祝高寒珠芽蓼(Polygonum viviparum)草甸群落地上及地下四部分生物量的热值和营养成分动态，并对其放牧利用的价值进行了总的评价。 6—9月现存量的热值平均为18330焦／克干物质，或20279焦／克去灰分物质，较立枯物+凋落物、活根、死根的平均值为大；死根略大于活根。在珠芽蓼及其他大多数植物种子成熟期的8月下旬，现存量的热值最大，其他三部分的热值变化也有其各自的特点。现存量6—9月的平均营养成分以绝对干重计为：粗蛋白13.52%，粗脂肪2.25，粗纤维22.99，无氮浸出物51.88，粗灰分9.61(其中钙1.627，磷0.164)；在时间变化上四部分各有其特点。根据地形、植物组成、产量、易食性、适口性、热值和营养成分等综合条件，认为珠芽蓼草甸是良好的放牧地。     

Characteristics of net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) from August to October of Alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, China

The Alpine meadow is one of the vegetation types widely distributed on the Tibetan Plateau in China with an area of about 1.2 million square kilometers. The Damxung rangeland station, located in the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau, is covered with an typical vegetation. The continuous carbon flux data (from August to middle October, 2003) measured with the open-path eddy covariance system was used to analyze the diurnal variation pattern of net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange (NEE) and its relationship with the environmental factors, such as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), precipitation, and temperature. Results showed that NEE presented obvious diurnal variation pattern with single-peak of diurnal maximum carbon assimilation at 11: 00–12: 00 (local time) with an average of −0.268 mg CO₂·m⁻²·s⁻¹, i.e., −6.08 μmol CO₂·m⁻²·s⁻¹. During the daytime, NEE fitted fairly well with PAR in a rectangular hyperbola function with the apparent quantum yield (0.020 3 μmol CO₂ μmol⁻¹ PAR) and maximum ecosystem assimilation (9.741 1 μmol CO₂·m⁻²·s⁻¹). During the night-time, NEE showed a good exponential relation with the soil temperature at 5 cm depth. __________ Translated from Acta Ecologica Sinica 2005, 25(8): 1948–1952 [译自: 生态学报, 2005, 25(8): 1948–1952]     

高原鼢鼠土丘对矮嵩草草甸植被演替及土壤营养元素的作用

本文研究了矮蒿草草甸上高原酚鼠土丘的出现率及其对植被的覆盖状况,土丘高度的下降及其直径的变化,土丘植物地上生物量和土丘营养元素含量。高原鼢鼠土丘出现率为242个/只/年,合土壤干重为1023.82公斤/只/年,对植被的覆盖面积高达22.53平方米/只/年。土丘在地表滞留时间约1年,处于不同演替阶段植被区域内出现的土丘,其植物地上生物量间的差异显著。5月前,在原生植被区出现的土丘,经4个月后,土丘边缘形成环状富草区,士丘边缘至中心区形成环状贫草区,而土丘中心仍处于无草状况。在次生植被区上的土丘则无此现象。新土丘除速效钾的含量与对照区无显著差异外,速效氮、磷的含量显著地高于对照区。旧土丘土壤中的速效氮、磷、钾含量均低于新土丘,但氮、磷的含量仍高于对照区。     

增氮对青藏高原东缘高寒草甸土壤甲烷吸收的早期影响

研究大气氮沉降对青藏高原高寒草甸土壤CH4吸收的影响,对于揭示氮素调节土壤CH4吸收的机制和评价氮沉降增加背景下大气CH4收支平衡至关重要.通过构建多形态、低剂量的增氮控制试验,测定土壤CH4净交换通量和相关土壤理化性质,分析高寒草甸土壤CH4通量变化特征及其主要驱动因子.研究结果表明:自然状态下高寒草甸土壤是大气CH4汇,CH4平均吸收量为(35.40±1.92) μg· m-2· h-1.土壤CH4吸收主要受水分驱动,其次为土壤NH4+-N和NO3-N含量.NH4+-N抑制CH4吸收,NO3--N促进CH4吸收;不同剂量氮素输入对土壤CH4吸收影响也不尽相同,低氮处理促进土壤CH4吸收,而中氮和高氮处理抑制土壤CH4吸收.结果显示青藏高原高寒草甸土壤是重要的大气CH4汇,在未来大气氮沉降加倍的情景下CH4汇功能增强,但当氮沉降量增加两倍以上时CH4汇功能将会减弱.     

青海海北地区高山蒿草草甸植物群落的结构特征及其分布格局

对高山草甸主要植物群落结构特征及其分布格局的研究结果表明，矮嵩草草甸植物群落的丰富度最大，隶属１８科，４３属４５种，呈多优势种植物群落；小嵩草草甸居中，隶属１１科，３０属３５种，小嵩草（Ｋｏｂｒｅｓｉａｐｙｇｍａｅａ）为优势种；藏嵩草沼泽化草甸最小，隶属９科，２１属２３种，藏嵩草（Ｋ．ｔｉｂｅｔｉｃａ）为优势种。其中，有９个种群为３个群落中的共有种，分别占矮嵩草草甸、小嵩草草甸和藏嵩草沼泽化草甸总种数的２０．００％、２５．７１％和３９．１３％。它们在水分资源位上的生态位宽度较大。３个植物群落类型的种－面积关系呈对数曲线分布，群落的最小样方面积为０．２５ｍ２或０．５ｍ２较适宜。种－多度分布呈对数正态分布，其分布模型的表达式如下：Ｓ（Ｒ）＝Ｓ０ｅ－（ａ２Ｒ     

Effects of grazing disturbance on plant diversity,community structure and direction of succession in an alpine meadow on Tibet Plateau,China

To elucidate the effects of grazing intensity and grazing time on plant diversity and community structure, as well as the successional differentiation in an alpine meadow, a controlled grazing trial, with six grazing intensities on an alpine meadow was conducted in the eastern Qilian Mountain region for four years. Using species accumulation curves, RDA ordination and variance decomposition, we analyzed the changes in proportion of dominant species, richness, abundance, as well as the life forms of plant communities under grazing disturbance. Both the grazing intensity and grazing time had a significant effect on these dominant species, richness, abundance, as well as the life forms in the plant community (P < 0.01). More detailed results showed that: (1) The richness and abundance of plant species were highest in the light grazing plot, and these increased as time passed. In the heavy grazing plot, the abundance of plant species decreased as time passed, but the richness of these species did not change significantly. (2) The abundance of Gramineae and Umbelliferae were negatively and significantly correlated with the duration of grazing treatments, whereas Plantaginaceae and Geraniaceae were positively and significantly correlated with the grazing intensity. Over time, the abundance of bunch-type plants decreased and other life forms of plants have increased. With the increase in grazing intensity, the plants' abundance with the rosette type did not change, but other life forms of plants decreased. The results of variance decomposition indicated that grazing disturbance has had greater effects on life forms and plant populations, followed by the changes in the dominant species and their abundance, with lesser effects on the richness of the species. Grazing intensity had a greater effect than the duration of the grazing treatment had. The results of PCA showed that the climax community in both the lowest and the highest grazing intensity plots had changed over time. In the sample plots with light grazing intensity, the plant community changed to an Elymus nutans + Poa crymophila community, but later changed to a Melilotoides ruthenicus + Kobresia humilis community under heavy grazing.     

Interspecific dominance and asymmetric competition with respect to nesting habitats between two snowfinch species in a high-altitude extreme environment

Interference competition over shared resources is expected to be intensive in harsh environments between phylogenetically and morphologically similar species. We document interspecific dominance and nest habitat selection by two pika-burrow nesting Montifringilla species, white-rumped snowfinches M. taczanowskii (WRS), and rufous-necked snowfinches M. ruficollis (RNS), which commonly inhabit alpine meadows in the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Relative to the critical point (<0.60) for coexistence, high overlaps (0.68–0.86) between the two species in egg-laying date, nest site distribution and nesting burrow attributes suggested strong interspecific competition over these niches. This is also predicted by the ratios of inter-species body mass (1.4) and linear dimensions (1.1–1.2) below the minimum value (2.0 and 1.3) for stable coexistence of closely related species. Larger-sized WRS was behaviorally dominant over pikas and over small-sized RNS. Being dominant, WRS established nesting territories in areas with moderately steep slopes from which they required most of the food resources during the breeding season; in contrast, RNS exhibited no territoriality and had to nest at margins between WRS’s territories and fed at dispersed sites. For the same reason, WRS mainly used active, and RNS used inactive, pika burrows. The asymmetric competition over nesting habitats could contribute to the relatively high nesting success and breeding density of the superior species. We argue that there is a spectrum in interspecific competition strength, from stable coexistence to complete exclusion along a gradient of increased environmental harshness, and the guild of the two snowfinch species is at a mediate position of the spectrum.     

高寒草甸矮嵩草种群的放牧中构件种群的反应特性

研究了不同放牧强度下高寒矮嵩草草甸建群种矮嵩草 (Kobresia humilis)构件种群的数量在放牧第四年 (1991年 )和停牧 1年后 (1993年 )的季节动态特性与反应。结果表明 ,随放牧强度增加 ,矮嵩草每分株中分蘖和叶片的数量增加 ,累积存活叶片数达到最大值的时间推迟。在各放牧处理下 ,分蘖数、生殖枝数和累积总叶数具有相同的季节动态过程。分蘖出生率分别在 5月中下旬和 8月下旬各有 1个高峰期 ,死亡率高峰在生长季末。叶片出生率和死亡率的周期与分蘖同步 ,叶片出生率和死亡率大小的变化也同步。矮嵩草分蘖和叶片群体的存活曲线类型分属“Deevey I”型和“阶梯”形 ,且不受放牧强度的影响。停牧 1年后 ,矮嵩草分蘖和叶片群体在放牧强度处理间的数量差异仍然存在     

高原鼢鼠对高寒草甸群落特征及演替的影响

研究结果表明，高原鼢鼠种群密度与植物地上生物量呈极显著的负相关关系，与双子叶植物在地上生物量中所占百分比的数值呈极显著的正相关关系，草地次生植被面积随高原鼢鼠种群密度增加而显著增加，土丘覆盖植物的恢复速率则随高原鼢鼠种群密度增加而显著地降低，植物群落组成的种数与种群密度呈显著的负相关关系，单子叶植物重要值随高原鼢鼠种群密度的增加而显著下降，双子叶直根类植物与高原鼢鼠种群密度不存在显著的相关性，双子