Theme 1-2: Rangeland/Grassland Ecology--Poster Sessions

Description

Plant functional group (PFG) diversity in a grassland is an important measure of productivity and health. Litter is known to be major driving factors of soil-grass feedbacks in natural grassland. The shift in PFG composition is a significant change that can result many ecological consequences such as litter composition and dynamics (Dong et al., 2019). Decomposition of litter can affect the nutrient and allelochemicals cycling of soil, which affects seed germination and establishment of seedlings (Yuan et al., 2015). Furthermore, PFG characteristics can vary via inputs of the quality or quantity of litter (Galvánek & Lepš, 2012). These compositional changes can result in variation heterogeneity of community PFG composition. More recently, alpine grasslands have undergoing retrogressive succession of spread and dominance by unpalatable noxious weeds, accumulating large amount of litter (Tang et al. 2015). However, quantitative tests of their importance in community dynamics are lacking, and their effects on the PFG characteristics of this special ecosystem are unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of three species litter representing different successional stages of grassland on dynamics of PFG structure. Our aim was to elucidate the potentially interactive relationships between litter mass and litter species of different stage at PFG characteristics that can provide insights for sustainable management of grasslands.

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The Type and Quantity of Plant Litter Influences the Plant Functional Group Growth in an Alpine Meadow

Plant functional group (PFG) diversity in a grassland is an important measure of productivity and health. Litter is known to be major driving factors of soil-grass feedbacks in natural grassland. The shift in PFG composition is a significant change that can result many ecological consequences such as litter composition and dynamics (Dong et al., 2019). Decomposition of litter can affect the nutrient and allelochemicals cycling of soil, which affects seed germination and establishment of seedlings (Yuan et al., 2015). Furthermore, PFG characteristics can vary via inputs of the quality or quantity of litter (Galvánek & Lepš, 2012). These compositional changes can result in variation heterogeneity of community PFG composition. More recently, alpine grasslands have undergoing retrogressive succession of spread and dominance by unpalatable noxious weeds, accumulating large amount of litter (Tang et al. 2015). However, quantitative tests of their importance in community dynamics are lacking, and their effects on the PFG characteristics of this special ecosystem are unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of three species litter representing different successional stages of grassland on dynamics of PFG structure. Our aim was to elucidate the potentially interactive relationships between litter mass and litter species of different stage at PFG characteristics that can provide insights for sustainable management of grasslands.