Population structure and spatial pattern of Caragana tibetica communities in Nei Mongol shrub-encroached grassland

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2015.0448

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The community structure and function of the shrub-encroached grassland, as well as its formation mechanism, is one of hot scientific problems in vegetation science. The spatial pattern analysis is an important means for studying plant population interactions and the relationships between plant population and environment. The shrub-encroached grassland is one major vegetation type in Nei Mongol. Knowledge on the spatial pattern of shrub can improve our understanding on adaptive characteristics of shrub to steppe environment.
Methods We chose Caragana tibetica encroached grassland distributed in Ordos City as research objects. The spatial position of each C. tibetica individual in 64 m × 64 m study plot was determined by a method of “three-distance location method”, and then the spatial pattern and intraspecific associations of C. tibetica individuals was analyzed with the point pattern analysis.
Important findings The results showed that C. tibetica population was at the rising stage. The mature individuals showed a uniform distribution at the scale of less than 3.7 m, subsequently exhibiting a random distribution with an increased scale. The juvenile individuals showed an aggregation distribution at the scale of 0.3-20.4 m, but a uniform distribution at other scales. The dead C. tibetica individuals were distributed aggregately at the scale from 0.7 to 1.4 m, but randomly at other scales. An indistinctive positive association was found for live C. tibetica individuals to dead individuals at the scale of less than 9.9 m, but no associations was found between them at other scales. The mature individuals negatively interacted with juveniles at the scale of larger than 2.2 m, but unassociated at the other scales.

http://jtp.cnki.net/bilingual/detail/html/ZWSB201702002

Key words: shrub-encroached grassland, Caragana tibetica, point pattern, spatial distribution pattern

Pu-Jin ZHANG, Hua QING, Lei ZHANG, Yan-Da XU, Lan MU, Ru-Han YE, Xiao QIU, Hong Chang, Hai-Hua SHEN, Jie YANG. Population structure and spatial pattern of Caragana tibetica communities in Nei Mongol shrub-encroached grassland[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2017, 41(2): 165-174.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2015.0448

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2017/V41/I2/165

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Schematic view of “three-distance location method”. a and b are the distances of canopy center to each two fixed points, c is the distance of the two fixed points, patches are schematic maps of the shrubs canopy.

Fig. 2 The distribution of Caragana tibetica in 64 m × 64 m plot. Each circle gives the location of living (filled circle) and dead (empty circle) C. tibetica and circle area is proportional to canopy of C. tibetica.

Fig. 3 Relationship between the length and width of Caragana tibetica canopy.

Fig. 4 Relationship (filled circle) between the length and height of Caragana tibetica canopy, and individual number (histogram) in each range of canopy length with a step size of 10 cm, eg. 10 cm indicated a length range of 0-10 cm, the rest can be done in the same manner.

Fig. 5 Ripley’s L-function for patterns of Caragana tibetica individuals under different survival status and developmental stages with confidence envelopes (lines). r referred to radius of sample circle from C. tibetica as center, Confidence envelopes are the highest and lowest L(r) of 999 randomizations of the pattern over the study region.

Fig. 6 Ripley’s L-function for spatial association of C. tibetica individuals under different survival status and developmental stages with confidence envelopes (lines). r referred to radius of sample circle from C. tibetica as center, Confidence envelopes are the highest and lowest L(r) of 999 replicates of a random labeling null model for individuals under different survival status and of a population independence null model for individuals under developmental stages.

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