More management is needed to improve the effectiveness of artificial grassland in vegetation and soil restoration on the three-river headwaters region of China

Frontiers in Plant Science

Plant Science

Shicheng Li¹  Yili Zhang²  Linshan Liu²  Nengyu Wang³  Jiayi Wan³  Mingjun Ding⁴  Hua Zhang⁴ 

[1] Department of Land Resource Management, School of Public Administration, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China;Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Science and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China;School of Geography and Environment, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China;Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Wetland and Watershed Research, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China;

关键词: degraded alpine grassland;    artificial grassland;    plant-soil interaction;    restoration management;    partial least squares path models;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2023.1152405

 received in 2023-01-27, accepted in 2023-04-04,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Establishing an artificial grassland is a common measure employed to restore heavily degraded alpine grasslands for regional sustainability. The Three-River Headwaters Region in China has significant areas of black-soil-type grassland which is typified by heavy degradation; nearly 35% of the grassland regions in the Three-River Headwaters Region has degraded into this type. There are different plant community types of black-soil-type grasslands, however, it is not clear which restoration measures should be adopted for different kinds of black-soil-type grasslands. Here, we investigate the plant community characteristics and soil physicochemical properties of artificial grasslands, two types of black-soil-type grasslands, and native undegraded grassland in the Three-River Headwaters Region, then analyzed the direct and indirect interactions between the plant and soil properties by partial least squares path models (PLS-PM). Our results revealed that establishing artificial grassland significantly increased aboveground biomass and plant community coverage, and also decreased plant species richness and diversity and soil water content, soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in the 0-10 cm soil layer as compared with black-soil-type grasslands. Plant community diversity had a positive effect on plant community productivity, soil nutrient, and soil water content in native undegraded grassland. These results suggest that more management interventions are needed after establishing an artificial grassland, such as reducing dominant species in two types of black-soil-type grasslands, water regulation in the A. frigida-dominated meadow, diversifying plant species (i.e., Gramineae and sedges), and fertilizer addition.

【 授权许可】

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