Effects of clipping, fertilizing and watering on the relationship between species diversity, functional diversity and primary productivity in alpine meadow of China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.01136

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Although much attention has been paid for the relationship between the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, little is known about the ecosystem consequences of changes. In addition, the question whether species diversity (SD) can co-vary with functional diversity (FD) is unanswered. We used the Rao index to quantify FD in order to explore this question through comparison of different components of biodiversity and their effects on primary productivity (PP).
Methods A field manipulation experiment was conducted in alpine meadow at the Haibei Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2007 to 2010. The experiment used a split-plot design with clipping treatment in the whole plot using three clipping levels (stubbled 1 cm, 3 cm and unclipped). Subplots were treated with fertilizer (urea 7.5 g·m^-2·a^-1+ ammonium phosphate 1.8 g·m^-2·a^-1and unfertilized) and watering (20.1 kg·m^-2·a^-1and unwatered). General linear model univariate ANOVA, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to analyze the effects of the treatments on plant functional traits, biodiversity and PP, as well as the relationship among them.
Important findings The clipping and fertilizing treatments had important effects on plant traits and PP. There were no significant differences in SD among the clipping treatments, whereas the FD quantified by distinct traits showed different trends across clipping treatments. Fertilization increased PP but decreased both SD and FD(except FD_H). Watering affected weakly only the Richness index (R). Correlation analysis indicated that the FD_{6 traits}reflected functional divergence better than the FDcalculated by the single trait. Regression analysis showed that there was a significantly positive and no correlation between SD and FD, respectively, and the relationship among SD, FD and PP followed three patterns: significantly positive, negative or no correlation, i.e., the relation forms were not only trait-dependent but also were related to disturbance and soil resources. Plant functional traits have a more direct influence on PP.

Key words: Key words biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, grazing, habitat resources, plant trait

LI Xiao-Gang, ZHU Zhi-Hong, ZHOU Xiao-Song, YUAN Fu-Rong, FAN Rui-Jian, XU Man-Li. Effects of clipping, fertilizing and watering on the relationship between species diversity, functional diversity and primary productivity in alpine meadow of China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2011, 35(11): 1136-1147.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2011.01136

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2011/V35/I11/1136

Figures/Tables 10

References 29

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变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	J		D		R		PP
变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p
主区 Whole plot	B C	2, 4 2, 4	3.824 1.040	0.118 0.433	0.704 0.623	0.547 0.581	1.998 1.357	0.250 0.355	0.342 18.100	0.729 0.010*
副区 Subplot	F W C × F C × W F × W C × F × W	1, 18 1, 18 2, 18 2, 18 1, 18 2, 18	5.134 1.427 1.900 0.085 2.543 2.075	0.036* 0.248 0.178 0.919 0.128 0.155	6.354 1.999 1.589 1.446 2.465 1.044	0.021* 0.174 0.231 0.262 0.134 0.373	22.392 3.910 2.303 1.377 1.742 0.090	0.000** 0.064† 0.129 0.278 0.203 0.914	62.006 0.080 6.765 0.237 1.073 2.041	0.000 0.781 0.006 0.792 0.314 0.159
总变异 Total variance 35

变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	J		D		R		PP
变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p
主区 Whole plot	B C	2, 4 2, 4	3.824 1.040	0.118 0.433	0.704 0.623	0.547 0.581	1.998 1.357	0.250 0.355	0.342 18.100	0.729 0.010*
副区 Subplot	F W C × F C × W F × W C × F × W	1, 18 1, 18 2, 18 2, 18 1, 18 2, 18	5.134 1.427 1.900 0.085 2.543 2.075	0.036* 0.248 0.178 0.919 0.128 0.155	6.354 1.999 1.589 1.446 2.465 1.044	0.021* 0.174 0.231 0.262 0.134 0.373	22.392 3.910 2.303 1.377 1.742 0.090	0.000** 0.064† 0.129 0.278 0.203 0.914	62.006 0.080 6.765 0.237 1.073 2.041	0.000 0.781 0.006 0.792 0.314 0.159
总变异 Total variance 35

变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	FD_AGW		FD_H		FD_A		FD_LDW		FD_SLA		FD_SLW		FD _{6 traits}
变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p
主区 Whole plot	B C	2, 4 2, 4	0.658 6.025	0.566 0.062†	1.221 2.214	0.386 0.225	0.210 1.656	0.819 0.299	2.887 11.353	0.167 0.022*	0.247 0.074	0.792 0.930	0.510 0.235	0.635 0.801	3.379 7.975	0.138 0.040*
副区 Subplot	F W C × F C × W F × W C × F × W	1, 18 1, 18 2, 18 2, 18 1, 18 2, 18	1.475 0.298 1.089 0.126 3.756 0.140	0.240 0.592 0.358 0.883 0.068† 0.870	0.721 0.196 0.023 0.187 1.243 0.018	0.407 0.664 0.978 0.831 0.280 0.982	0.488 1.708 0.754 1.102 1.010 1.641	0.494 0.208 0.485 0.354 0.328 0.221	1.440 0.351 0.620 1.851 0.056 0.898	0.246 0.561 0.549 0.186 0.816 0.425	8.598 1.543 0.561 0.558 0.016 1.707	0.009** 0.230 0.580 0.582 0.902 0.209	8.729 0.004 0.609 0.263 0.014 1.763	0.008** 0.949 0.555 0.771 0.907 0.200	4.335 0.027 0.322 0.126 0.308 0.914	0.052† 0.871 0.729 0.882 0.586 0.419
总变异 Total variance 35

变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	FD_AGW		FD_H		FD_A		FD_LDW		FD_SLA		FD_SLW		FD _{6 traits}
变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p
主区 Whole plot	B C	2, 4 2, 4	0.658 6.025	0.566 0.062†	1.221 2.214	0.386 0.225	0.210 1.656	0.819 0.299	2.887 11.353	0.167 0.022*	0.247 0.074	0.792 0.930	0.510 0.235	0.635 0.801	3.379 7.975	0.138 0.040*
副区 Subplot	F W C × F C × W F × W C × F × W	1, 18 1, 18 2, 18 2, 18 1, 18 2, 18	1.475 0.298 1.089 0.126 3.756 0.140	0.240 0.592 0.358 0.883 0.068† 0.870	0.721 0.196 0.023 0.187 1.243 0.018	0.407 0.664 0.978 0.831 0.280 0.982	0.488 1.708 0.754 1.102 1.010 1.641	0.494 0.208 0.485 0.354 0.328 0.221	1.440 0.351 0.620 1.851 0.056 0.898	0.246 0.561 0.549 0.186 0.816 0.425	8.598 1.543 0.561 0.558 0.016 1.707	0.009** 0.230 0.580 0.582 0.902 0.209	8.729 0.004 0.609 0.263 0.014 1.763	0.008** 0.949 0.555 0.771 0.907 0.200	4.335 0.027 0.322 0.126 0.308 0.914	0.052† 0.871 0.729 0.882 0.586 0.419
总变异 Total variance 35

变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	AGW (g)		H (cm)		A (cm²)		LDW (g)		SLA (m²·kg^-1)		SLW (kg·m^-2)
变异来源 Source of variance		自由度 df (m, n)	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p	F-test	p
主区 Whole plot	B C	2, 4 2, 4	4.167 328.859	0.105 0.000**	0.368 125.486	0.713 0.000**	0.822 70.935	0.502 0.001**	0.021 115.615	0.980 0.000**	2.689 13.014	0.182 0.018*	1.885 4.109	0.265 0.107
副区 Subplot	F W C × F C × W F × W C × F × W	1, 18 1, 18 2, 18 2, 18 1, 18 2, 18	0.038 0.262 0.489 0.130 0.135 0.128	0.849 0.615 0.621 0.879 0.717 0.881	28.371 0.029 2.009 0.133 1.497 0.816	0.000** 0.868 0.163 0.877 0.237 0.458	43.711 0.888 2.037 0.199 0.668 0.358	0.000** 0.358 0.159 0.821 0.424 0.704	10.968 0.797 2.405 0.894 0.291 0.181	0.004** 0.384 0.158 0.427 0.596 0.836	10.473 3.719 2.730 0.778 1.409 2.297	0.005** 0.070† 0.092† 0.474 0.251 0.129	5.571 2.018 0.606 1.122 0.381 0.575	0.030* 0.173 0.556 0.347 0.545 0.573
总变异 Total variance 35