Deciphering the nutrient factors limiting vegetation restoration under different degradation stages in typical steppe of Nei Mongol, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2024.0082

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Grasslands provide many kinds of ecological services, including carbon sequestration, sand fixation, and biodiversity maintenance. However, some grasslands are experiencing degradation. To provide scientific theoretical support for grassland restoration, it is necessary to understand the limiting factors for vegetation restoration in degraded grasslands. In this study, we explored nutrient limiting factors for vegetation restoration under different degradation stages in typical steppe of Nei Mongol.

Methods Plant and soil samples were collected during August in 2021-2022, from 13 sampling sites (four plant communities under different degradation stages within each site: non-degradation, light degradation, moderate degradation, and heavy degradation) in typical steppe. We examined the effects of degradations on above-ground biomass, coverage, and density of plant communities. Soil organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents were measured. Multiple statistical analyses, including least squares regression analysis, redundancy analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis, were used to clarify the nutrient limiting factors for vegetation restoration in degraded grasslands.

Important findings Plant community above-ground biomass, coverage, and density, as well as the contents of soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available phosphorus significantly decreased with the intensification of degradation. Under the whole degradation sequence and adjacent degradation succession stages, soil nitrogen content was the most influential factor on plant community properties, while soil phosphorus content marginally affected the overall degradation sequence. These results indicate that soil nitrogen availability is the most important nutrient factor limiting vegetation restoration. Consequently, nitrogen fertilization should be concerned in the future restoration works.

Key words: typical steppe, grassland degradation, vegetation restoration, soil nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient, limiting factor

FANG Kai, WANG Ying-Xin, HUANG Jian-Hui, DUAN Jun-Guang, ZHANG Qi, ZHANG Qian, GAN Hong-Hao, CHU Jian-Min. Deciphering the nutrient factors limiting vegetation restoration under different degradation stages in typical steppe of Nei Mongol, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2025, 49(1): 7-18.

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https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2025/V49/I1/7

Figures/Tables 9

Fig. 1 Sampling sites in typical steppe of Nei Mongol. The map was obtained from China’s Vegetation Atlas with a scale of 1:1 000 000 (The Editorial Committee of Vegetation Map of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2001). See details of sampling sites in Supplement.

Table 1 Pearson’s correlation coefficient among plant community above-ground biomass (AGB), coverage, density and principal component 1 (PC1) in typical steppe of Nei Mongol

	地上生物量 AGB	盖度 Coverage	密度 Density	第一主成分 PC1
地上生物量 AGB	1.000	0.825^***	0.467^***	0.888^***
盖度 Coverage		1.000	0.622^***	0.945^***
密度 Density			1.000	0.778^***
第一主成分 PC1				1.000

Fig. 2 Frequency distributions of plant community above-ground biomass (AGB) (A), coverage (B) and density (C) under different degradation stages in typical steppe of Nei Mongol.

Table 2 Effects of degradations on standardized plant community properties in typical steppe of Nei Mongol (mean ± SE)

	未退化 Non-degradation	轻度退化 Light degradation	中度退化 Moderate degradation	重度退化 Heavy degradation
地上生物量 Above-ground biomass	1.19 ± 0.07^a	0.25 ± 0.11^b	-0.46 ± 0.09^c	-0.99 ± 0.05^d
盖度 Coverage	1.13 ± 0.08^a	0.31 ± 0.10^b	-0.37 ± 0.09^c	-1.07 ± 0.05^d
密度 Density	0.77 ± 0.19^a	0.18 ± 0.21^b	-0.24 ± 0.22^bc	-0.71 ± 0.15^c

Fig. 3 Frequency distributions of soil carbon (A), nitrogen (B-D) and phosphorus (E) contents under different degradation stages in typical steppe of Nei Mongol. AP, available phosphorus; NH4+-N, ammonium nitrogen; NO3--N, nitrate nitrogen; OC, organic carbon; TN, total nitrogen.

Table 3 Effects of degradations on standardized soil nutrient properties in typical steppe of Nei Mongol (mean ± SE)

	未退化 Non-degradation	轻度退化 Light degradation	中度退化 Moderate degradation	重度退化 Heavy degradation
有机碳含量 OC content	0.35 ± 0.25^a	0.19 ± 0.23^a	-0.06 ± 0.16^ab	-0.48 ± 0.28^b
总氮含量 TN content	0.46 ± 0.22^a	0.07 ± 0.21^ab	0.03 ± 0.20^ab	-0.56 ± 0.27^b
铵态氮含量 NH₄⁺-N content	0.26 ± 0.20^ns	0.33 ± 0.23^ns	-0.29 ± 0.21^ns	-0.30 ± 0.28^ns
硝态氮含量 NO₃^--N content	0.14 ± 0.27^a	-0.51 ± 0.17^b	-0.07 ± 0.23^ab	0.44 ± 0.23^a
速效磷含量 AP content	0.38 ± 0.31^a	0.01 ± 0.23^ab	-0.05 ± 0.20^ab	-0.33 ± 0.19^b

Fig. 4 Correlations of plant community above-ground biomass (AGB), coverage and density with soil nutrient properties in typical steppe of Nei Mongol. All the data were standardized transformed (Z-score). Asterisk indicates significant relationships between variables (*, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001). AP, available phosphorus content; NH4+-N, ammonium nitrogen content; NO3--N, nitrate nitrogen content; OC, organic carbon content; TN, total nitrogen content.

Fig. 5 Results of redundancy analyses (RDA) showing the effects of soil nutrient properties on plant community above-ground biomass (AGB), coverage and density under the whole degradation sequence (A), non-degradation to light degradation (B), light degradation to moderate degradation (C) and moderate degradation to heavy degradation (D) in typical steppe of Nei Mongol. All the data were standardized transformed (Z-score). AP, available phosphorus content; NH4+-N, ammonium nitrogen content; NO3--N, nitrate nitrogen content; OC, organic carbon content; PC1, first principal component; TN, total nitrogen content.

Fig. 6 Results of multiple linear regression analyses showing the relative importance of soil nutrient properties on plant community properties under the overall degradation sequence (A), non-degradation to light degradation (B), light degradation to moderate degradation (C) and moderate degradation to heavy degradation (D) in typical steppe of Nei Mongol. All the data were standardized transformed (Z-score). Plant properties (above-ground biomass (AGB), coverage and density) were represented by PC1 in the principal components analyses. Deep and light color columns represent soil nitrogen and phosphorus variables, respectively. AP, available phosphorus content; NH4+-N, ammonium nitrogen content; NO3--N, nitrate nitrogen content; TN, total nitrogen content.

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