Journal of Plant Ecology ›› 2025, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (5): 1-35.DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtaf083

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土壤养分异质性改变高寒草甸功能群组成而不影响总生物量

  

  • 收稿日期:2025-04-08 接受日期:2025-06-03 出版日期:2025-10-01 发布日期:2025-09-15

Soil nutrient heterogeneity shifts functional group composition without altering total biomass in an alpine grassland#br#

Li-Li Zheng1, Ming-Hua Song2, Jiao Meng3, Yu Guo2, Jia-Xing Zu4, Wei Xue1, Li-Min Zhang1, Peter Alpert5,6, Fei-Hai Yu1,7,*   

  1. 1Institute of Wetland Ecology & Clone Ecology/Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, School of Life Sciences, Taizhou University, Taizhou 318000, China, 2Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China, 3School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China, 4Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Environment Change and Resources Use in Beibu Gulf, Nanning Normal University, Nanning 530001, China, 5Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA, 6University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, 7School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shaoxing University, Shaoxing 312000, China

    *Corresponding author. E-mail: feihaiyu@126.com

  • Received:2025-04-08 Accepted:2025-06-03 Online:2025-10-01 Published:2025-09-15
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 32301322, 32371664, and 32101261).

摘要: 土壤养分异质性在自然界中广泛存在,但其对自然植物群落地上生产力的影响机制仍缺乏系统研究。考虑到全球变暖可能会通过加速土壤矿化而增强养分的空间异质性,该问题在青藏高原高寒草甸生态系统中尤为关键。基于此,本研究在青海省海北典型高寒草甸生态系统开展了一项为期3年的野外控制实验(2016–2018年),设置了88个2 m × 2 m的草地样方,通过添加氮、磷和钾构建了5个同质处理和6个异质处理组合,系统评估了斑块尺度(50 cm × 50 cm vs. 100 cm × 100 cm)、斑块对比度(斑块间养分水平的差异)和斑块类型数量(不同养分水平)对植物群落功能的影响。每年按照禾本科、莎草科、豆科和杂类草4个功能群收获并测定地上生物量。结果表明,在同质处理中,较高养分供应显著提升了禾本科生物量(超过300 g m–2),同时豆科生物量降至约25 g m–2;异质性处理中,高养分斑块平均提升禾本科生物量约25%,降低了豆科生物量约60%,这种效应在大尺度、高对比度斑块组合中更为显著。由于禾本科在总地上生物量中占比达47%–61%,其响应模式主导了群落整体变化趋势。值得强调的是,尽管土壤养分异质性未显著改变群落地上总生物量,其却通过促进高养分斑块禾本的优势生长,以及低养分斑块豆科的保留,为物种共存提供了微生境缓冲区。这一发现表明,在高寒草甸生态系统中,较大尺度的低养分斑块可能在一定程度上中和养分富集带来的功能群偏利效应,为理解全球变化背景下草地多样性维持机制提供了新视角和实验证据。

关键词: 高海拔草地, 养分可利用性, 斑块对比度, 斑块大小, 资源异质性

Abstract: Soil nutrient heterogeneity is common in nature, but few studies have tested the effects of soil nutrient heterogeneity on plant productivity in natural communities. Such effects are of particular interest in habitats where heterogeneity may be increasing due to global warming, as in high-elevation grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. In a three-year study, we added N, P and K to 2 m × 2 m plots in grassland to establish five homogeneous and six heterogeneous treatments that varied in patch size, patch contrast (difference in nutrient levels between patches), and number of patch types (with different nutrient levels). We measured aboveground biomass of grasses, other graminoids, legumes and forbs. Biomass of grasses was higher (over 300 g m–2) and that of legumes was lower (about 25 g m–2) at higher nutrient availability in homogeneous treatments. Within heterogeneous plots, grasses similarly had about 25% higher biomass and legumes had about 60% lower biomass in patches with higher nutrients, mainly at the larger patch size and sometimes more so when patch contrast was greater. Accounting for 47%–61% of the total aboveground biomass, grasses showed a roughly similar pattern to that of the whole community. An increase in soil nutrient heterogeneity is unlikely to affect plant aboveground biomass in this grassland, although it can increase biomass of grasses and decrease that of legumes. Soil nutrient heterogeneity might partly mitigate these effects if large patches without elevated nutrients persist.

Key words: alpine grassland, nutrient availability, patch contrast, patch scale, resource heterogeneity