Belowground biomass and its relationship to environmental factors of natural grassland on the northern slopes of the Qilian Mountains
The belowground biomass and its relationships with environmental factors of natural grassland: alpine steppe, mountain meadow, mountain meadow steppe, mountain steppe and mountain-desert grassland of the northern slopes of the Qilian mountains were investigated. 1) The belowground biomasses of five kinds of grassland differed significantly (P<0. 05) except for mountain steppe, mountain meadow steppe, and alpine steppe. The belowground biomass reduced with soil depth in an exponential manner and with a "T" shape dis tribution. 2) Seasonal change of the belowground biomass was of a "W" type in alpine steppe and of a "N" type in other grasslands, and decreased with soil depth. 3) Below ground net productivity of mountain meadow was the highest (546.84 g/m2), and was followed by mountain meadow steppe (410. 76 g/m2), mountain steppe (358.12 g/m2) , alpine steppe (301. 33 g/m2) and mountain-desert grassland (81. 68 g/m2). Turnover value of the belowground biomass was beyond A5%. 4) There were negative correlations between the belowground bio masses of five kinds of grassland and the hydrothermal factor, though the correlations were not significant except for mountain-desert grassland. But the correlations (positive or negative) between the belowground bio masses of five kinds of grassland and the hydrothermal factor were highly significant in the 7- 8 months with better hydrothermal conditions. In other months, the correlations between the belowground biomasses of dif ferent grasslands and environmental factors was very varied.