Abstract
Litter has been shown to alter the structure and functions of grassland ecosystems, and a knowledge of the effects of litter is essential for understanding the dynamics of ecosystem multifunctionality. However, relatively little is known about the effects of plant litter on ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine meadows. A three-year field experiment was conducted to explore how litter manipulation affects ecosystem multifunctionality. The plant litter treatments that were applied consisted of a range of litter mass levels and three dominant plant species, in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results showed that litter mass manipulation had a negative effect on ecosystem multifunctionality and most individual ecosystem functions (species richness, plant cover, and above-ground biomass) but had a positive effect on plant functional group evenness. In particular, the study found that low or medium amounts of litter (≤200gm−2) were beneficial in maintaining a high level of ecosystem multifunctionality. Furthermore, a structural equation model revealed that ecosystem multifunctionality was driven by indirect effects of litter mass manipulation on plant functional group evenness, plant cover, and species richness. These results suggest that litter-induced effects may be a major factor in determining grassland ecosystem multifunctionality, and they indicate the potential importance of grassland management strategies that regulate the dynamics of litter accumulation.
Highlights
Ecosystem multifunctionality is an important manifestation of the value of the ecosystems
Our study revealed that the litter mass manipulation significantly impacted the species richness and plant functional group evenness, impacting the ecosystem multifunctionality (Figure 4)
This study has demonstrated that litter mass manipulation involving the application of high levels of litter significantly reduces ecosystem multifunctionality in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP)
Summary
Ecosystem multifunctionality is an important manifestation of the value of the ecosystems. Biodiversity and optimal population allocation are key determinants of ecosystem multifunctionality in natural grassland (Liu et al, 2021) and are driven in particular by plant. Further research is needed to explore the key contributions of different biotic factors (e.g., plant litter) in driving ecosystem functioning, which in turn will enable improved grassland management strategies and maintain high levels of ecosystem multifunctionality. There is a need to examine the effect of such ecological functions on the ecosystem multifunctionality of alpine meadows with plant litter feedback
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