The stability of perennial grasses mediates the negative impacts of long-term warming and increasing precipitation on community stability in a desert steppe

Frontiers in Plant Science

Plant Science

Zhanyi Wang¹  Mengting He¹  Guangyi Lv¹  Chengjie Wang¹ 

[1] Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources of the Ministry of Education/College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China;

关键词: climate change;    desert steppe;    plant functional groups;    species diversity;    community stability;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2023.1235510

 received in 2023-06-06, accepted in 2023-07-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDesert steppe, as an ecotone between desert and grassland, has few species and is sensitive to climate change. Climate change alters species diversity and the stability of functional groups, which may positively or negatively affect community stability. However, the response of plant community stability in the desert steppe to experimental warming and increasing precipitation remains largely unexplored.MethodsIn a factorial experiment of warming and increasing precipitation for five to seven years (ambient precipitation (P0), ambient precipitation increased by 25% and 50% (P1 and P2), ambient temperature (W0), ambient temperature increased by 2°C and 4°C (W1 and W2)), we estimated the importance value (IV) of four functional groups (perennial grasses, semi-shrubs, perennial forbs and annual herbs), species diversity andcommunity stability.ResultsCompared to W0P0, the IV of perennial grasses was reduced by 37.66% in W2P2, whereas the IV of perennial forbs increased by 48.96%. Although increasing precipitation and experimental warming significantly altered species composition, the effect on species diversity was insignificant (P > 0.05). In addition, increasing precipitation and experimental warming had a significant negative impact on community stability. The stability of perennial grasses significantly explained community stability.ConclusionOur results suggest that the small number of species in desert steppe limits the contribution of species diversity to regulating community stability. By contrast, maintaining high stability of perennial grasses can improve community stability in the desert steppe.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Lv, He, Wang and Wang