Changes of Biomass and Species Richness of Grassland Community along an Altitude Gradient in Hongchiba, Chongqing
It is one of hot researches to study the characteristics and function of ecological systems along different altitude gradients because the altitude gradient provides the perfect experimental conditions for studying the response of ecological systems to different environmental factors. Recently, many scholars carried out plenty of experiments to clarify the relationship between the species diversity and ecosystem function according to the dynamics of the species richness and biomass along altitude gradient. However, the results were not consistent from the experiments in different areas and more experiments should be employed at different scales to discuss the characteristics of species richness and community biomass. The Hongchiba area of Chongqing was chosen as the investigated subject and 14 sampling plots were selected along the altitude gradient. The dynamic characteristics of species richness and biomass along the altitude gradient were clarified based on the measurements of aboveground biomass and belowground biomass using harvest method and soil auger method and the numbers of the species in each plot. The results show that the aboveground biomass decreased but underground biomass and root to shoot ratio increased along with the increasing altitude gradient. Biomass of Gramineae species and forbs showed extremely negative correlations with altitude gradients but no significant correlation for Compositae species. Species richness was negatively correlated with altitude gradient in a pattern of unimodal curve and positively correlated with aboveground biomass but extremely negatively with underground biomass and total biomass. A unimodal curve relationship was detected between species richness and biomass.
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NSTL
万方数据
维普
