Relationships between aboveground biomass and plant cover at two spatial scales and their determinants in northern Tibetan grasslands |
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| Authors: | Yanbin Jiang Yangjian Zhang Yupeng Wu Ronggui Hu Juntao Zhu Jian Tao Tao Zhang |
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| Institution: | 1. Key Laboratory of Arable Land Conservation (Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River), Ministry of Agriculture, College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China;2. Lhasa Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;3. Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;4. Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, China;5. College of Agronomy, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China |
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| Abstract: | The relationships between cover and AGB for the dominant and widely distributed alpine grasslands on the northern Tibetan Plateau is still not fully examined. The objectives of this study are to answer the following question: (1) How does aboveground biomass (AGB) of alpine grassland relate to plant cover at different spatial scales? (2) What are the major biotic and abiotic factors influencing on AGB–cover relationship? A community survey (species, cover, height, and abundance) was conducted within 1 m × 1 m plots in 70 sites along a precipitation gradient of 50–600 m. Ordinary linear regression was employed to examine AGB–cover relationships of both community and species levels at regional scale of entire grassland and landscape scale of alpine meadow, alpine steppe, and desert steppe. Hierarchical partitioning was employed to estimate independent contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to AGB and cover at both scales. Partial correlation analyses were used to discriminate the effects of biotic and abiotic factors on AGB–cover relationships at two spatial scales. AGB and community cover both exponentially increased along the precipitation gradient. At community level, AGB was positively and linearly correlated with cover for all grasslands except for alpine meadow. AGB was also linearly correlated with cover of species level at both regional and landscape scales. Contributions of biotic and abiotic factors to the relationship between AGB and cover significantly depended on spatial scales. Cover of cushions, forbs, legumes and sedges, species richness, MAP, and soil bulk density were important factors that influenced the AGB–cover relationship at either regional or landscape scale. This study indicated generally positive and linear relationships between AGB and cover are at both regional and landscape scales. Spatial scale may affect ranges of cover and modify the contribution of cover to AGB. AGB–cover relationships were influenced mainly by species composition of different functional groups. Therefore, in deriving AGB patterns at different spatial scales, community composition should be considered to obtain acceptable accuracy. |
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| Keywords: | aboveground biomass grassland plant cover precipitation soil nitrogen content species composition species richness Tibet |
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