Responses of aboveground biomass for different plant functional groups to experimental warming in a mountain forest in the eastern Loess Plateau,China
Climate warming is particularly evident in mountainous areas,and the response of understory herbaceous communities to climate warming has become a new focus for grassland ecosystem research.In this research,the understory herbaceous communities in the Lvliang Mountains located in the eastern part of the Loess Plateau were taken as the research object,an open-top growth chamber was employed for a controlled warming experiment,three treatments were established:control,low,and high temperature warming scenarios.This set-up aimed to investigate how hydro-thermal conditions and the aboveground biomass of distinct plant functional groups in the understory of the eastern Loess Plateau's mountainous regions respond to simulated temperature elevation.The results showed that:1)under the warming treatments,air temperature increased by 0.23℃ and 0.83℃,respectively.The air humidity increased by 1.06%and 1.82%,respectively.Soil moisture decreased by 0.54%and 2.10%,respectively.The soil temperature decreased by 0.10℃ under OTC1 treatment,but increased by0.09℃ under OTC2 treatment.2)Aboveground biomass of sedge increased by 7.34g/m2 and 4.28 g/m2,respectively.Aboveground biomass of weeds increased by 12.27g/m2 and 10.34g/m2,respectively.Aboveground biomass of grass decreased by 1.05g/m2 in OTC1 treatment,but increased 3.46g/m2 in OTC2 treatment.3)The absolute value of the correlation coefficient between aboveground biomass of different plant functional groups and temperature increased by 105.92%and 150.51%,respectively,as well as that between aboveground biomass of different plant functional groups and moisture correspondingly increased by 20.73%and 42.28%,respectively.In conclusion,warming changed the hydrothermal conditions of understory herbaceous communities in the eastern mountainous areas of the Loess Plateau,resulting in changes in different plant functional groups of herbaceous communities,leading to a succession towards weed species.This study is helpful to understand the response mechanism of mountain grassland ecosystem to climate warming,and provide scientific and technological support for ecological environment protection and sustainable development in the Loess Plateau.
万方数据
维普
