Response of Kobresia pygmaea and Stipa purpurea Grassland Communities in Northern Tibet to Nitrogen and Phosphate Addition

Mountain Research and Development

Zhikai Wang¹  Congqian Ran²  Jingsheng Wang³  Junlong Zhang³  Yangjian Zhang³  Bingsong Zhang⁴  Baoxiong Chen⁴  Xianzhou Zhang⁴ 

[1] School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, 100872 Beijing, China;[e-mail];Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, 100101 Beijing, China;School of Environment and Natural Resources, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, 100872 Beijing, China;

关键词: Fertilization;    Nitrogen and phosphorus addition;    Alpine grassland;    Soil productivity;    Tibetan Plateau;   

DOI  :  10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00104.1

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The Tibetan Plateau is of fundamental ecological significance to China, Asia, and the world. In recent years, Tibetan grasslands have suffered from severe degradation due to climate change and anthropogenic disturbance. In this study, nitrogen (N) and phosphate were applied to a moderately degraded Kobresia pygmaea meadow and Stipa purpurea steppe in the arid alpine northern Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that with increasing nitrogenous fertilizer, the height, coverage, biomass, and importance value of the K. pygmaea population decreased whereas the population of S. purpurea exhibited the opposite trend. Application of a mixed fertilizer with the same amount of N and phosphorus (P) (5 g each per m2) doubled the biomass of the K. pygmaea meadow and increased the aboveground biomass of the S. purpurea steppe by 72.3%. The nitrogenous fertilizer increased the total biomass and belowground biomass of the S. purpurea steppe, whereas the mixed fertilizer was beneficial to aboveground grass recovery. Application of 10 g N + 5 g P m−2 fertilizer increased aboveground biomass by 164.8%, whereas the belowground biomass was less than the control by 4.7%. The N and P fertilizer did not affect soil pH, except for some changes in soil N and P contents.

【 授权许可】

Unknown