Effects of nutrient addition on plant diversity and above-ground biomass in alpine grasslands of Tianshan Mountains, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2021.0437

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The objectives were to reveal the response patterns of plant species diversity and above-ground biomass to nutrients addition and to clarify their relationships in alpine grasslands of Tianshan Mountains.
Methods The nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) addition experiments were conducted in Tianshan alpine grasslands. The single factor effects and the interaction effects on plant species diversity and above-ground biomass were studied from 2019 to 2020.
Important findings 1) Nutrient addition reduced plant species diversity of local community. Especially, the addition of N + P, N + K and N + P + K showed significant effects, suggesting that the decrease of soil niche dimension caused by multiple-nutrient addition was an important reason for local species loss. 2) Nutrient addition significantly increased above-ground biomass of local plant communities, with the highest above-ground biomass being found under N + P + K treatment, indicating that N was the first limiting resource, P and K became the limiting resources after N limiting was alleviated. 3) There was a negative linear regression between species diversity and above-ground biomass following two years of nutrient addition, which indicated that the dominant species but not species diversity determined above-ground biomass at our study site.

Key words: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, species diversity, above-ground biomass, Tianshan alpine grassland, Bayanbulak

CHEN Li, TIAN Xin-Min, REN Zheng-Wei, DONG Liu-Wen, XIE Chen-Di, ZHOU Xiao-Long. Effects of nutrient addition on plant diversity and above-ground biomass in alpine grasslands of Tianshan Mountains, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2022, 46(3): 280-289.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2021.0437

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2022/V46/I3/280

Figures/Tables 5

Table 1 Effect of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) addition on common plant species in terms of species relative abundance in alpine grasslands of Tianshan Mountains in 2020

种名 Species	FG	RSRA_N	RSRA_P	RSRA_K	RSRA_{N + P}	RSRA_{N + K}	RSRA_{P + K}	RSRA_{N + P + K}
冰草 Agropyron cristatum	G	0.45	0.37	0.57	0.88	1.28	0.31	0.78
草地早熟禾 Poa pratensis	G	0.45	0.53	0.14	0.67	0.34	0.09	0.84
草 Koeleria macrantha	G	-0.03	-0.23	0.18	0.29	0.03	0.17	0.38
天山赖草 Leymus tianschanicus	G	0.48	0.06	-1.04	-1.49	0.21	-0.20	-0.13
细果薹草 Carex stenocarpa	G	-0.12	0.02	-0.04	0.37	-0.15	-0.20	0.50
羊茅 Festuca ovina	G	0.50	0.09	0.17	0.53	0.49	0.08	0.54
二裂委陵菜 Potentilla bifurca	F	0.15	0.02	-0.15	0.08	-0.33	-0.09	0.07
莓叶委陵菜 Potentilla fragarioides	F	0.23	-0.67	-0.29	-0.09	0.12	-0.32	-0.44
高山黄耆 Astragalus alpinus	L	-0.56	0.28	0.01	-0.97	-1.06	0.17	-0.84
小花棘豆 Oxytropis glabra	L	-0.29	-0.08	0.41	-1.30	0.27	-0.49	-0.57

Fig. 1 Effects of nutrient addition on plant species diversity index of alpine grassland community in Tianshan Mountains (mean ± SE, n = 6). CK, control; N, nitrogen addition; P, phosphorus addition; K, potassium addition. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 2 Effects of nutrient addition on above-ground biomass of alpine grassland in Tianshan Mountains (mean ± SE, n = 6). CK, control; N, nitrogen addition; P, phosphorus addition; K, potassium addition. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different treatments (p < 0.05).

Fig. 3 Effects of nutrient addition on aboveground biomass of plant functional groups in alpine grassland of Tianshan Mountains CK, control; N, nitrogen addition; P, phosphorus addition; K, potassium addition.

Fig. 4 Relationship between aboveground biomass and species diversity in alpine grassland of Tianshan Mountains under nutrient addition.

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