Effects of microhabitat changes on seedling establishment of native plants in a dry valley

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2020.0216

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The patchy distribution patterns of vegetation result in heterogeneous microhabitats and thus affect seed germination and seedling establishment in arid ecosystems. The impact of changes in microhabitat conditions on the colonization of native plants and the specificity need to be understood for restoring vegetation by adopting microhabitat regulation measures in arid ecosystems where vegetation degradations are exacerbated by climate change and increasing anthropogenic disturbances.
Methods Three types of microhabitat conditions, including vegetation cover of shrubs and semi-shrubs, respectively, and bare lands, were selected in an dry valley in Minjiang River basin. The effects of microhabitat conditions on seedling establishment were studied in Bauhinia brachycarpa by measuring the survival rate and the height and biomass of seedlings. The microhabitat effects on seed germination and seedling establishment were also studied in six other native plant species on an extremely degraded roadside slope.
Important findings The results show that B. brachycarpa seedlings had significantly greater survival rate and total biomass, as well as greater biomass of roots and shoots on bare lands than in habitats with shrub and semi-shrub covers; whereas the specific leaf area and leaf mass fraction of seedlings were smaller on bare lands than in shrub and semi-shrub patches. Humus addition treatment significantly increased the total biomass of seedlings in bare land microhabitat. Moreover, non-woven geotextile cover and humus addition treatment increased the germination rate in herbaceous plants, resulting in high herb density four months after treatment. The results suggest that humus addition and geotextile cover are effective in regulating microhabitat for improvement of seedling colonization and maintenance of the community structure stability. In conclusion, uses of native plants are important in the vegetation restoration of extremely degraded sites in arid regions due to their strong adaptability to road slope habitats and capability of forming a shrub-grass mosaic community structures.

Key words: ecological restoration, interspecific variation, community structure, roadside, microhabitat, seedling establishment

HU Hui, YANG Yu, BAO Wei-Kai, LIU Xin, LI Fang-Lan. Effects of microhabitat changes on seedling establishment of native plants in a dry valley[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2020, 44(10): 1028-1039.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2020.0216

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2020/V44/I10/1028

Figures/Tables 10

Table 1 Microhabitat characteristics of different patches in the dry valley studied (means ± SE)

微生境类型 Microhabitat type	植被特征 Vegetation characteristic			土壤特征 Soil property
微生境类型 Microhabitat type	平均植株高度 Average plant height (cm)	冠幅 Crown diameter (cm)	容重 Bulk density (g·cm^-3)	有机碳含量 Organic carbon content (g·kg^-1)	总氮含量 Total nitrogen content (g·kg^-1)	总磷含量 Total phosphorus content (g·kg^-1)
灌木斑块 Shrub patch	61.7 ± 10.5	1.23 ± 0.78	1.28 ± 0.65	47.66 ± 4.96	2.33 ± 0.11	0.76 ± 0.03
半灌木斑块 Semi-shrub patch	38.2 ± 5.9	0.55 ± 0.14	1.21 ± 0.64	44.62 ± 5.32	2.51 ± 0.32	0.82 ± 0.03
裸地斑块 Bare patch	-	-	1.37 ± 0.74	32.50 ± 4.31	1.81 ± 0.03	0.80 ± 0.07

Fig. 1 Survival rate, plant height and specific leaf area of two-year old Bauhinia brachycarpa seedlings in different microhabitats in the dry valley studied (means ± SE). Bare, bare land microhabitats; Semi-shrub, semi-shrub microhabitats; Shrub, shrub microhabitats. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among the microhabitats (n = 15; p < 0.05).

Fig. 2 Biomass (means ± SE) of two-year old Bauhinia brachycarpa seedlings in different microhabitats in the dry valley studied. Bare, bare land microhabitats; Semi-shrub, semi-shrub microhabitats; Shrub, shrub microhabitats. Different lowercase letters within a fertile condition indicate significant differences among the microhabitats (n = 15; p < 0.05). *, significant difference between fertilized and unfertilized treatments (n = 15; p < 0.05); ns, non-significant difference between fertilized and unfertilized treatments (n = 15; p > 0.05).

Fig. 3 Biomass allocation (means ± SE) of two-year old Bauhinia brachycarpa seedlings in different microhabitats in the dry valley studied. Bare, bare land microhabitats; Semi-shrub, semi-shrub microhabitats; Shrub, shrub microhabitats. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among the microhabitats (n = 15; p < 0.05).

Table 2 Seed germination rate, seedling emergence and seedling survival rate (means ± SE) of different native plants on roadside slope of the dry valley studied

生活型 Life form	物种 Species	种子发芽率 Seed germination rate (%)	出苗率 Seedling emergence rate (%)	保存率 Seedling survival rate (%)
草本和半灌木 Herb and semi-shrub	早熟禾 Poa annua	61.6 ± 5.5^a	56.8 ± 12.40^a	-
	狗尾草 Setaria viridis	72.3 ± 12.6^ab	68.2 ± 8.11^a	-
	毛莲蒿 Artemisia vestit	80.2 ± 9.1^b	23.9 ± 6.52^b	-
灌木 Shrub	白刺花 Sophora davidii	61.2 ± 5.4^a	43.8 ± 5.49^a	77.0 ± 6.2^a
	鞍叶羊蹄甲 Bauhinia brachycarpa	98.0 ± 0.3^b	68.1 ± 9.53^a	75.7 ± 7.5^a
	四川黄栌 Cotinus szechuanensis	34.6 ± 2.6^c	10.3 ± 2.34^b	79.9 ± 8.2^a
	小叶杭子梢 Campylotropis wilsonii	76.7 ± 3.8^ab	58.5 ± 13.20^a	76.4 ± 5.5^a

Fig. 4 Community structures (means ± SE) under varying microhabitat treatments on roadside slope of the dry valley studied. Bare, bare land only with seedling; Bare + N, bare land with seedling and nutrient; Cov + N, covered with seedling and nutrient; Control, bare land without seedling. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among treatments (n = 3; p < 0.05).

Fig. 5 Community density and rooting depth (means ± SE) under varying microhabitat treatments on roadside slope of the dry valley studied. Control, bare land without seedling; Bare, bare land only with seedling; Bare + N, bare land with seedling and nutrient; Cov + N, covered with seedling and nutrient. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among treatments (n = 3; p < 0.05).

Fig. 6 Dynamics of community density (means ± SE) under varying microhabitat treatments on roadside slope of the dry valley studied. Bare, bare land only with seedling; Bare + N, bare land with seedling and nutrient; Cov + N, covered with seedling and nutrient.

Table 3 Responses of community coverage and biomass to growing duration and varying microhabitat treatments and their interaction

变量 Variable	生物量 Biomass (g·m^-2)		盖度 Coverage (%)
变量 Variable	F	p	F	p
生长年份 Growing duration (Gd)	46.874	<0.001	16.971	0.001
微生境处理 Microhabitat treatments (Mt)	12.191	0.001	8.276	0.006
Gd × Mt	3.926	0.049	0.062	0.941
R²	0.868		0.737

Fig. 7 Inter-annual dynamics of community density and biomass (means ± SE) under varying microhabitat treatments on roadside slope of the dry valley studied. Bare, bare land only with seedling; Bare + N, bare land with seedling and nutrient; Cov + N, covered with seedling and nutrient; Control, bare land without seedling. ** and * indicate significant differences between the two observational years at p < 0.01 and p < 0.05 levels, respectively (n = 15); ns indicate non-significant differences between the two observational years (n = 15; p > 0.05).

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