Genetic diversity and population structure of Swertia tetraptera (Gentianaceae), an endemic species of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Swertia tetraptera Maxim is an annual alpine herb endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Its populations are locally scattered as isolated patches throughout this region. Genetic variation within and among thirty-four populations of this species was assessed using ISSR fingerprinting with 10 primers. High levels of genetic diversity exist within species (P = 98.9%, I = 0.3475; He = 0.2227), while the within-population diversity is low (P = 32.7%, I = 0.177; He = 0.12). High levels of genetic differentiation were detected among populations based on various statistics, including Nei’s genetic diversity analysis (G_ST = 0.4608), Bayesian analysis (θ^B = 0.476) and AMOVA (F_ST = 0.57). That is, populations shared low levels of genetic identity (I = 0.2622–0.0966). This genetic structure was probably due to severe genetic drift, breeding system and limited gene flow. The observed genetic structure of the populations implies that different populations across the distribution range of the species should be sampled to maintain high genetic diversity when a conservation strategy is implemented.     

Examining differences in phylogenetic composition enhances understanding of the phylogenetic structure of the shrub community in the northeastern Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Periodic climatic oscillations and species dispersal during the postglacial period are two important causes of plant assemblage and distribution on the Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau (QTP). To improve our understanding of the bio‐geological histories of shrub communities on the QTP, we tested two hypotheses. First, the intensity of climatic oscillations played a filtering role during community structuring. Second, species dispersal during the postglacial period contributed to the recovery of species and phylogenetic diversity and the emergence of phylogenetic overdispersion. To test these hypotheses, we investigated and compared the shrub communities in the alpine and desert habitats of the northeastern QTP. Notably, we observed higher levels of species and phylogenetic diversity in the alpine habitat than in the desert habitat, leading to phylogenetic overdispersion in the alpine shrub communities versus phylogenetic clustering in the desert shrub communities. This phylogenetic overdispersion increased with greater climate anomalies. These results suggest that (a) although climate anomalies strongly affect shrub communities, these phenomena do not act as a filter for shrub community structuring, and (b) species dispersal increases phylogenetic diversity and overdispersion in a community. Moreover, our investigation of the phylogenetic community composition revealed a larger number of plant clades in the alpine shrub communities than in the desert shrub communities, which provided insights into plant clade‐level differences in the phylogenetic structures of alpine and desert shrub communities in the northeastern QTP.     

Genetic diversity in endangered Notopterygium forbesii Boissieu based on intraspecies sequence variation of chloroplast DNA and implications for conservation

A thorough understanding of the levels and partitioning of genetic variation across populations and geographical regions of endangered species is a prerequisite to ensure effective conservation and/or restoration activities. Here, we examined chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) trnH-psbA intergenic spacer sequences variation within Notopterygium forbesii, an endangered and endemic perennial herb in China. Sequence data obtained from 141 individuals in 14 populations revealed twenty-two haplotypes. A high level of haplotype diversity (Hd = 0.81) and low level of nucleotide diversity (Pi = 0.0047) were detected. Low genetic differentiation among populations and also among regions was consistently indicated by both hierarchical analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) and the structure of a neighbor-joining tree. Low level of population differentiation between populations or between regions in cpDNA sequences may be due to effects of the abundance of ancestral haplotype sharing and the high number of private haplotypes fixed for each population. Based on our results, we proposed some conservation strategies.     

Precipitation and nitrogen addition enhance biomass allocation to aboveground in an alpine steppe

There are two important allocation hypotheses in plant biomass allocation: allometric and isometric. We tested these two hypotheses in an alpine steppe using plant biomass allocation under nitrogen (N) addition and precipitation (Precip) changes at a community level. An in situ field manipulation experiment was conducted to examine the two hypotheses and the responses of the biomass to N addition (10 g N m^?2 y^?1) and altered Precip (±50% precipitation) in an alpine steppe on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau from 2013 to 2016. We found that the plant community biomass differed in its response to N addition and reduced Precip such that N addition significantly increased aboveground biomass (AGB), while reduced Precip significantly decreased AGB from 2014 to 2016. Moreover, reduced Precip enhanced deep soil belowground biomass (BGB). In the natural alpine steppe, the allocation between AGB and BGB was consistent with the isometric hypotheses. In contrast, N addition or altered Precip enhanced biomass allocation to aboveground, thus leading to allometric growth. More importantly, reduced Precip enhanced biomass allocation into deep soil. Our study provides insight into the responses of alpine steppes to global climate change by linking AGB and BGB allocation.     

青藏高原高寒灌丛生态系统草本层生物量分配格局

青藏高原高寒灌丛生态系统生物量分配的研究相对较少,尤其是其草本层。为了探究高寒灌丛生态系统草本层生物量分配特征及其影响因素,分析了青藏高原东北部灌丛生态系统的49个高寒灌丛样地的草本层地上与地下生物量特征及其气候因子之间的关系。结果表明1)草本层地上生物量与地下生物量分别为121.1,342.8 g/m2均大于高寒草地的地上生物量与地下生物量。2)草本层的根冠比为3.6低于高寒草地的根冠比。3)地上生物量与地下生物量之间呈现幂函数的关系y=8.0x0.83(R2=0.48,P0.001)。4)根冠比与年均温度、年均降雨量之间没有显著的相关关系。     

濒危植物宽叶羌活天然居群cpDNA非编码区多态性分析

采用叶绿体DNA非编码区直接测序的方法,对青海、甘肃、四川3个省区内濒危植物宽叶羌活14个天然居群的遗传多样性和遗传结构进行了研究,以明确其遗传背景,为宽叶羌活的保护提供理论依据。结果表明:(1)14个居群138个个体的序列长度介于509~515bp;碱基组成A+T含量较高(平均67.6%)。(2)根据序列的核苷酸变异共鉴定出31个单倍型,其中9种单倍型(H5、H1、H9、H10、H16、H17、H19、H20、H22)为居群所共享,而且单倍型H5分布最广、在10个群体的67个个体中检测到,占总样品数的48.56%。(3)14个居群宽叶羌活具有高水平单倍型多样性(Hd=0.750 3)和较高水平核苷酸多样性(Pi=0.007 11),但31个单倍型没有按地理分布形成明显的族群,各地理单元中的单倍型相互混杂,没有明显的地理分化模式。(4)AMOVA分析、居群间分化度(FST=0.602 4)分析和基因流(Nm=0.330)分析的结果一致,表明宽叶羌活大部分遗传变异(60.24%)发生在居群间,居群间的基因流较低,群体间变异是宽叶羌活的主要变异来源。(5)14个居群的遗传距离在0.000~0.007,平均为0.003,表明居群间的亲缘关系较远,且居群间的遗传距离与地理距离之间无显著相关关系(P=0.143),说明宽叶羌活居群遗传变异的分布没有明显的地理趋势。研究认为,宽叶羌活居群间高的遗传变异可能是由基因流受阻、遗传漂变、地理隔离造成的,并提出了对该物种遗传多样性的保护策略。     

青海省高寒灌丛物种多样性、生物量及其关系

物种多样性对生态系统功能的作用是生物多样性研究的核心领域之一,生物量水平是生态系统功能的重要表现形式,而植物群落的生物量则是生态系统生物量的基础,因此研究植物群落物种多样性与生物量的关系,对于阐明植物多样性对生态系统功能的作用具有重要意义。通过对青海省高寒灌丛生物量、灌丛物种多样性特征以及与生物量的关系调查,得到以下结果:(1)被调查灌木植被群落的40个样地中共出现了207种植物(其中灌木植物18种,草本植物189种),隶属于130属,43科,灌木以蔷薇科、杜鹃花科为主,而草本以菊科、龙胆科、毛茛科和莎草科占优势。(2)群落多样性指数偏低,植物群落结构简单,物种组成稀少。小叶金露梅群落的多样性指数最大,金露梅群落、细枝绣线菊群落和鲜卑花群落次之,百里香杜鹃+头花杜鹃群落最低。(3)不同高寒灌丛类型生物量介于1893.03—7585.41 g/m~2之间,平均值为3775.9 g/m2,其中灌木生物量占灌丛总生物量的73.55%,草本为26.45%。(4)总生物量随草本物种多样性和群落物种多样性的增加而减小;草本生物量随其物种多样性的增加而减小,而灌木物种多样性与其生物量并无显著相关性。     

Belowground biomass of alpine shrublands across the northeast Tibetan Plateau

Although belowground biomass (BGB) plays an important role in global cycling, the storage of BGB and climatic effects on it are remaining unclear. With data from 49 sites, we aimed to investigate BGB and its climatic controls in alpine shrublands in the Tibetan Plateau. Our study showed that the BGB (both grass‐layer and shrub‐layer biomass) storage in the alpine shrublands was 67.24 Tg, and the mean BGB density and shrublands area were 1,567.38 g/m² and 4.29 × 10⁴ km², respectively. Shrub layer had a larger BGB stock and accounted for 66% of total BGB this area, while only 34% was accumulated in the grass layer. BGB of the grass layer in the Tibetan Plateau shrublands was larger than that of Tibetan alpine grasslands, indicating that shrubland ecosystem played a critical importance role in carbon cycle on the Tibetan Plateau. The BGB in the grass layer and shrub layer demonstrated different correlations with climatic factors. Specifically, the effects from mean annual temperature on shrub‐layer BGB were not significant, similarly to the relationship between mean annual precipitation and grass‐layer BGB. But shrub‐layer BGB had a significantly positive relationship with mean annual precipitation (p < .05), while grass‐layer BGB showed a trend of decrease with increasing mean annual temperature (p < .05). Consequently, the actual and potential increases of BGB varied due to different increases of mean annual precipitation and temperature among different areas of the Tibetan Plateau. Therefore, in the warmer and wetter scenario, due to contrary relationships from mean annual precipitation and temperature on shrub‐layer BGB and grass‐layer BGB, it is necessary to conduct a long‐term monitoring about dynamic changes to increase the precision of assessment of BGB carbon sequestration in the Tibetan Plateau alpine shrublands.     

柴达木盆地荒漠灌丛群落谱系结构研究

谱系信息是群落生态学和保育生物学研究的主要内容之一。为探究柴达木盆地荒漠灌丛群落谱系结构及其与环境因子的关系,该研究以柴达木盆地荒漠灌丛为对象,基于群落中物种存在与否的物种组成数据,使用R语言中picante软件包计算了灌丛群落谱系多样性指数和谱系结构指数,并且分析了谱系结构指数与年均温度、年均降水以及土壤含水量之间的关系,以揭示柴达木盆地灌丛群落物种之间的亲缘关系和群落生物多样性维持机制。结果表明:(1)柴达木盆地灌丛群落谱系结构与土壤含水量之间存在极显著相关性(P=2.77×10-6),随着土壤含水量的增加,群落谱系结构聚集程度逐渐降低,表现出生境过滤作用逐步减弱,生物间相互作用逐渐加强的变化趋势。(2)群落谱系结构与年均温度、年均降水之间无显著相关性。(3)典型荒漠生境灌丛和河谷(河漫滩)生境灌丛群落的谱系结构差异显著(P0.05),整体上分别表现为谱系聚集状态和谱系发散状态;河谷(河漫滩)生境灌丛群落的谱系多样性显著高于典型荒漠生境灌丛(P0.05)。(4)将群落谱系信息应用在生物多样性保护实践中,发现河谷(河漫滩)生境灌丛群落较典型荒漠生境的灌丛群落可能具有更高的保护价值。研究认为,将群落谱系研究与保育生物学理论结合将会使生物多样性保护策略更加科学有效。     

禁牧封育对黄河源高寒草甸植被群落结构及土壤水分特征的影响

为探讨禁牧封育对黄河源高寒草甸生态系统的影响,研究选取玛沁高寒草甸作为对象,通过野外调查和室内试验,分析了禁牧封育对黄河源高寒草甸植被结构和土壤水分特征在不同禁牧封育条件下的变化情况。结果表明:(1)随着禁牧封育年限的延长,植被盖度和高度均呈增加趋势,物种多样性指数、丰富度指数和物种数呈先增加后稳定趋势,优势度指数先下降后稳定,均匀度指数变化不显著。就功能群而言,随封育年限增加,禾本科、豆科植物重要值占比呈逐步增加趋势,莎草类植物重要值占比呈先快速增加后趋于稳定的趋势,杂类草重要值占比明显下降。(2)随禁牧封育年限增加,地上生物量逐步增加,地下生物量和地上地下总生物量呈先增加后稳定趋势,禁牧封育对地下生物量的影响主要集中在0-20 cm。(3)禁牧封育对黄河源高寒草甸土壤容重、持水量及孔隙度的影响主要集中在表层(0-5 cm),随封育年限的增加,表层土壤容重呈先下降后稳定趋势,土壤饱和持水量、毛管持水量和田间持水量呈增加趋势,土壤毛管孔隙度和总孔隙度先增加后稳定,非毛管孔隙度无显著变化。与重度退化相比,封育5年样地0-5 cm土壤容重显著下降30.25%(P<0.05),饱和持水量、毛管持水量、田间持水量、毛管孔隙度和总孔隙度分别显著增加14.44%、18.36%、28.19%、18.36%、12.09%(P<0.05)。表明短期禁牧封育不仅有利于改善黄河源高寒草甸植被群落结构,而且能够增强该地区土壤水源涵养功能。