禁牧条件下不同类型草地群落结构特征

Abstract

利用幂乘方法则模型探讨了鄂尔多斯3种不同类型草地在禁牧情况下的群落结构特征,包括物种组成、物种多样性、生物量和空间分布规律。结果表明:幂乘方法则在解析鄂尔多斯不同类型草地的空间异质性时具有很好的吻合性;羊草(<em>Leymus chinensis</em>)草地、芨芨草(<em>Achnatherum splendens</em>)草地和油蒿(<em>Artemisia ordosica</em>)灌丛草地均比随机分布呈现了较强的空间异质性,群落整体的空间异质性指数表现为油蒿灌丛草地>羊草草地>芨芨草草地;群落整体的物种多样性指数为油蒿灌丛草地>羊草草地>芨芨草草地;L-样方(50cm×50cm)内的平均物种数和物种多样性指数均表现为羊草草地极显著地高于油蒿灌丛草地,油蒿灌丛草地又极显著地高于芨芨草草地(<em>P</em><0.001);L-样方内的平均生物量表现为油蒿灌丛草地极显著地高于芨芨草草地(<em>P</em><0.001),而羊草草地与油蒿灌丛草地以及芨芨草草地之间没有显著性差异;这3种类型的草地其L-样方内的平均生物量和物种多样性指数都随着群落整体空间异质性指数的增大而增大。;Spatial heterogeneity is an important feature in grassland ecosystems. Understanding spatial heterogeneity and species richness is important for determining the degree of grassland degradation and for promoting the recovery of grassland ecosystems. We conducted field surveys in a <em>Leymus chinensis</em> grassland, an <em>Achnatherum splendens</em> grassland, and an <em>Artemisia ordosica</em> shrub grassland in Yijinhuoluo-Qi, Ordos, China, in August 2010. First, we established study plots composed of 90 quadrats along a 45 m transect in each of the three grasslands; each quadrat was 50 cm × 50 cm and was divided into four 25 cm × 25 cm sub-quadrats. We recorded all plant species within each sub-quadrat. Then, we harvested the aboveground biomass along each transect every 5 m, classified the content by species, and weighed the oven-dried material.We analyzed vegetation data using the power law to examine characteristics such as species composition, species diversity, biomass, and spatial distribution in the three types of grassland. Our results indicated that all three types of grassland followed the power law and exhibited a strongly heterogeneous distribution of vegetation (versus a random distribution). The index values of spatial heterogeneity and species diversity for the entire community in the <em>A. ordosica</em> shrub grassland were higher than those for the <em>L. chinensis</em> grassland, and those for the <em>L. chinensis</em> grassland were higher than those for the <em>A. splendens</em> grassland. The species richness and species diversity per 50 cm × 50 cm quadrat in the <em>L. chinensis</em> grassland were higher than for the <em>A. ordosica</em> shrub grassland; the <em>A. splendens</em> grassland had the lowest values. The average per-quadrat biomass in the <em>A. ordosica</em> shrub grassland was significantly higher than that in the <em>A. splendens</em> grassland, whereas the values in the <em>L. chinensis </em>grassland did not differ significantly from the other two grassland types. The average biomass and species diversity per quadrat increased with the spatial heterogeneity for the entire community in all three types of grassland. We analyzed the species compositions in these three grassland types from the viewpoint of biological succession and found that the grasslands changed greatly after enclosure with a fence to exclude grazing for 10 years. Inside the enclosure, annuals such as <em>Salsola collina</em> and poisonous, harmful plants such as <em>Cynanchum komarovii</em> decreased greatly, while highly nutritious grasses and legumes with good palatability for livestock became the main species. This indicates that the grassland vegetation had recovered to some degree by 2010 after establishing the enclosure in Yijinhuoluo-Qi.<br> Recently, the power law has been used widely in Japan for calculating the quantitative species composition and spatial heterogeneity of constituent plant species. However, this method has not been used much in China, which has a vast area of grassland. The power law requires only a survey to count the binary occurrence of each species in quadrats, and the survey is simple and convenient for observing many quadrats (i.e., >50-100 quadrats) in a short time. This method also avoids the destruction of vegetation during observations because it is based only on visual observation.