The Relative Pollen Productivities(RPPs)of common steppe species are estimated using Extended R-value(ERV)model based on pollen analysis and vegetation survey of 30 surface soil samples from typical steppe area of nor...The Relative Pollen Productivities(RPPs)of common steppe species are estimated using Extended R-value(ERV)model based on pollen analysis and vegetation survey of 30 surface soil samples from typical steppe area of northern China.Artemisia,Chenopodiaceae,Poaceae,Cyperaceae,and Asteraceae are the dominant pollen types in pollen assemblages,reflecting the typical steppe communities well.The five dominant pollen types and six common types(Thalictrum,Iridaceae,Potentilla,Ephedra,Brassicaceae,and Ulmus)have strong wind transport abilities;the estimated Relevant Source Area of Pollen(RSAP)is ca.1000 m when the sediment basin radius is set at 0.5 m.Ulmus,Artemisia,Brassicaceae,Chenopodiaceae,and Thalictrum have relative high RPPs;Poaceae,Cyperaceae,Potentilla,and Ephedra pollen have moderate RPPs;Asteraceae and Iridaceae have low RPPs.The reliability test of RPPs revealed that most of the RPPs are reliable in past vegetation reconstruction.However,the RPPs of Asteraceae and Iridaceae are obviously underestimated,and those of Poaceae,Chenopodiaceae,and Ephedra are either slightly underestimated or slightly overestimated,suggesting that those RPPs should be considered with caution.These RPPs were applied to estimating plant abundances for two fossil pollen spectra(from the Lake Bayanchagan and Lake Haoluku)covering the Holocene in typical steppe area,using the"Regional Estimates of Vegetation Abundance from Large Sites"(REVEALS)model.The RPPs-based vegetation reconstruction revealed that meadow-steppe dominated by Poaceae,Cyperaceae,and Artemisia plants flourished in this area before 6500–5600 cal yr BP,and then was replaced by present typical steppe.展开更多
Aims Woody plants are widely distributed in various grassland types along the altitudinal/climatic gradients in Xinjiang,China.Considering previously reported change in carbon(C)storage following woody plant encroachm...Aims Woody plants are widely distributed in various grassland types along the altitudinal/climatic gradients in Xinjiang,China.Considering previously reported change in carbon(C)storage following woody plant encroachment in grasslands and the mediating effect of climate on this change,we predicted that a positive effect of woody plants on plant C storage in semiarid grasslands may revert to a negative effect in arid grasslands.We first investigated the spatial variation of aboveground C(AGC)and belowground C(BGC)storage among grassland types and then tested our prediction.Methods We measured the living AGC storage,litter C(LC)and BGC storage of plants in two physiognomic types,wooded grasslands(aboveground biomass of woody plants at least 50%)and pure grasslands without woody plants in six grassland types representing a gradient form semiarid to arid conditions across Xinjiang.Important Findings Living AGC,LC,BGC and total plant C storage increased from desert to mountain meadows.These increases could also be explained by increasing mean annual precipitation(MAP)or decreasing mean annual temperature(MAT),suggesting that grassland types indeed represented an aridity gradient.Woody plants had an effect on the plant C storage both in size and in distribution relative to pure grasslands.The direction and strength of the effect of woody plants varied with grassland types due to the mediating effect of the climate,with wetter conditions promoting a positive effect of woody plants.Woody plants increased vegetation-level AGC through their high AGC relative to herbaceous plants.However,more negative effects of woody plants on herbaceous plants with increasing aridity led to a weaker increase in the living AGC in arid desert,steppe desert and desert steppe than in the less arid other grassland types.Under greater aridity(lower MAP and higher MAT),woody plants allocated less biomass to roots and had lower BGC and had a more negative impact on herbaceous plant production,thereby reducing vegetation-level BGC in the desert,steppe desert and desert steppe.In sum,this resulted in a negative effect of woody plants on total plant C storage in the most arid grasslands in Xinjiang.As a consequence,we predict that woody plant encroachment may decrease rather than increase C storage in grasslands under future drier conditions.展开更多
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.XDA05120202)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41071132,41371215)+1 种基金Science and Technology Department of Hebei Province(Grant No.13277611D)the Foundation of Key Discipline of Hebei Province and Hebei Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction
文摘The Relative Pollen Productivities(RPPs)of common steppe species are estimated using Extended R-value(ERV)model based on pollen analysis and vegetation survey of 30 surface soil samples from typical steppe area of northern China.Artemisia,Chenopodiaceae,Poaceae,Cyperaceae,and Asteraceae are the dominant pollen types in pollen assemblages,reflecting the typical steppe communities well.The five dominant pollen types and six common types(Thalictrum,Iridaceae,Potentilla,Ephedra,Brassicaceae,and Ulmus)have strong wind transport abilities;the estimated Relevant Source Area of Pollen(RSAP)is ca.1000 m when the sediment basin radius is set at 0.5 m.Ulmus,Artemisia,Brassicaceae,Chenopodiaceae,and Thalictrum have relative high RPPs;Poaceae,Cyperaceae,Potentilla,and Ephedra pollen have moderate RPPs;Asteraceae and Iridaceae have low RPPs.The reliability test of RPPs revealed that most of the RPPs are reliable in past vegetation reconstruction.However,the RPPs of Asteraceae and Iridaceae are obviously underestimated,and those of Poaceae,Chenopodiaceae,and Ephedra are either slightly underestimated or slightly overestimated,suggesting that those RPPs should be considered with caution.These RPPs were applied to estimating plant abundances for two fossil pollen spectra(from the Lake Bayanchagan and Lake Haoluku)covering the Holocene in typical steppe area,using the"Regional Estimates of Vegetation Abundance from Large Sites"(REVEALS)model.The RPPs-based vegetation reconstruction revealed that meadow-steppe dominated by Poaceae,Cyperaceae,and Artemisia plants flourished in this area before 6500–5600 cal yr BP,and then was replaced by present typical steppe.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(U1603235,31500450)the strategic priority research program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA05050405)Bernhard Schmid was supported by the University of Zürich Research Priority Program on Global Change and Biodiversity(URPP GCB).
文摘Aims Woody plants are widely distributed in various grassland types along the altitudinal/climatic gradients in Xinjiang,China.Considering previously reported change in carbon(C)storage following woody plant encroachment in grasslands and the mediating effect of climate on this change,we predicted that a positive effect of woody plants on plant C storage in semiarid grasslands may revert to a negative effect in arid grasslands.We first investigated the spatial variation of aboveground C(AGC)and belowground C(BGC)storage among grassland types and then tested our prediction.Methods We measured the living AGC storage,litter C(LC)and BGC storage of plants in two physiognomic types,wooded grasslands(aboveground biomass of woody plants at least 50%)and pure grasslands without woody plants in six grassland types representing a gradient form semiarid to arid conditions across Xinjiang.Important Findings Living AGC,LC,BGC and total plant C storage increased from desert to mountain meadows.These increases could also be explained by increasing mean annual precipitation(MAP)or decreasing mean annual temperature(MAT),suggesting that grassland types indeed represented an aridity gradient.Woody plants had an effect on the plant C storage both in size and in distribution relative to pure grasslands.The direction and strength of the effect of woody plants varied with grassland types due to the mediating effect of the climate,with wetter conditions promoting a positive effect of woody plants.Woody plants increased vegetation-level AGC through their high AGC relative to herbaceous plants.However,more negative effects of woody plants on herbaceous plants with increasing aridity led to a weaker increase in the living AGC in arid desert,steppe desert and desert steppe than in the less arid other grassland types.Under greater aridity(lower MAP and higher MAT),woody plants allocated less biomass to roots and had lower BGC and had a more negative impact on herbaceous plant production,thereby reducing vegetation-level BGC in the desert,steppe desert and desert steppe.In sum,this resulted in a negative effect of woody plants on total plant C storage in the most arid grasslands in Xinjiang.As a consequence,we predict that woody plant encroachment may decrease rather than increase C storage in grasslands under future drier conditions.
