Effects of Planting Density of Poaceae Species on Slope Community Characteristics and Artificial Soil Nutrients in High-Altitude Areas

Abstract

Ecological restoration of slopes in high-altitude areas is usually difficult. Gramineae species are widely used in slope vegetation restoration due to their strong adaptability and rapid growth. In the process of ecological slope protection, increasing the seeding rate of gramineous species usually improves the success rate of slope vegetation restoration, but the long-term effect is not obvious. Therefore, choosing an appropriate planting density of grass species is beneficial to the sustainable restoration of slopes in high-altitude areas. This study evaluated the effects of different planting densities of Poaceae species on community characteristics and artificial soil nutrients on high-altitude slopes. The slope ecological protection engineering experiment was carried out in Jiuzhaigou County, Sichuan Province. Commercial seed mixtures of five grasses and legumes were sown at three different planting densities of Poaceae species (10, 5, and 1 g/m2). Plant community species composition, community diversity index, and soil-available nutrients were determined annually. The results showed that there were differences in the species composition of the slope plant community under different planting densities. There was a significant negative logarithmic correlation between the community diversity indices and the planting density of grass species, and it changed with the recovery time. There were significant differences in hydrolyzed nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium in artificial soil, and they decreased with a logarithmic function of the recovery time. There was a positive correlation between the community diversity indices and the soil nutrient content. Overall, our study shows that low planting densities of Poaceae species are beneficial to the long-term stability of ecological restoration when ecological slope protection works are performed on slopes in high-altitude areas.