Effects of Grazing Intensity and Environmental Factors on Species Composition and Diversity in Typical Steppe of Inner Mongolia, China

PLoS ONE

Volumn 7, Issue 12, 2012, Pages

  Ren, Haiyan ^a   Schönbach, Philipp ^a   Wan, Hongwei ^a   Gierus, Martin ^a   Taube, Friedhelm ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KIEL   (Germany)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ACHNATERUM SIBIRICUM; ARTICLE; BIOMASS; CHINA; CLEISTOGENES SQUARROSA; CONTROLLED STUDY; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURE; GRASS; GRAZING; NONHUMAN; PLANT ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION; PLANT RESPONSE; PRECIPITATION; SEASONAL VARIATION; SPECIES COEXISTENCE; SPECIES COMPOSITION; SPECIES DIVERSITY; SPECIES RICHNESS; STEPPE; STIPA GRANDIS; VEGETATION DYNAMICS;

ANIMALS; BIODIVERSITY; BIOMASS; CHINA; CLIMATE; ECOSYSTEM; ENVIRONMENT; PLANTS; SHEEP; TEMPERATURE;

CLEISTOGENES SQUARROSA; OVIS ARIES; STIPA GRANDIS;

EID: 84871352885     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19326203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052180     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Liu N, Zhang YJ, Chang SJ, Kan HM, Lin LJ, (2012) Impact of Grazing on Soil Carbon and Microbial Biomass in Typical Steppe and Desert Steppe of Inner Mongolia. PloS one 7: e36434.
2. Milchunas DG, Lauenroth WK, Chapman PL, Kazempour MK, (1989) Effects of grazing, topography, and precipitation on the structure of a semiarid grassland. Vegetatio 80: 11-23.
3. Milchunas DG, Sala OE, Lauenroth WK, (1988) A generalized-model of the effects of grazing by large herbivores on grassland community structure. American Naturalist 132: 87-106.
4. Bullock JM, Franklin J, Stevenson MJ, Silvertown J, Coulson SJ, et al. (2001) A plant trait analysis of responses to grazing in a long-term experiment. Journal of Applied Ecology 38: 253-267.
5. Cingolani AM, Noy-Meir I, Diaz S, (2005) Grazing effects on rangeland diversity: A synthesis of contemporary models. Ecological Applications 15: 757-773.
6. Grace JB, Anderson TM, Smith MD, Seabloom E, Andelman SJ, et al. (2007) Does species diversity limit productivity in natural grassland communities? Ecology Letters 10: 680-689.
7. Connell JH, (1978) Diversity in tropical rain forests and coral reefs- high diversity of trees and corals is maintained only in a non-equilibrium state. Science 199: 1302-1310.
8. Huston M, (1979) General hypothesis of species-diversity. American Naturalist 113: 81-101.
9. Sasaki T, Okayasu T, Jamsran U, Takeuchi K, (2008) Threshold changes in vegetation along a grazing gradient in Mongolian rangelands. Journal of Ecology 96: 145-154.
10. Auerswald K, Wittmer MHOM, Bai YF, Yang H, Taube F, et al. (2012) C4 abundance in an Inner Mongolia grassland system is driven by temperature- moisture interaction, not grazing pressure. Basic and Applied Ecology 9: 1439-1791.
11. Sasaki T, Okayasu T, Ohkuro T, Shirato Y, Jamsran U, et al. (2009) Rainfall variability may modify the effects of long-term exclosure on vegetation in Mandalgobi, Mongolia. Journal of Arid Environments 73: 949-954.
12. Chou WW, Silver WL, Jackson RD, Thompson AW, Allen-Diaz B, (2008) The sensitivity of annual grassland carbon cycling to the quantity and timing of rainfall. Global Change Biology 14: 1382-1394.
13. Adler PB, Levine JM, (2007) Contrasting relationships between precipitation and species richness in space and time. Oikos 116: 221-232.
14. Shmida A, Wilson MV, (1985) Biological determinants of species-diversity. Journal of Biogeography 12: 1-20.
15. Bai YF, Wu JG, Pan QM, Huang JH, Wang QB, et al. (2007) Positive linear relationship between productivity and diversity: evidence from the Eurasian Steppe. Journal of Applied Ecology 44: 1023-1034.
16. Schonbach P, Wan HW, Gierus M, Bai YF, Muller K, et al. (2011) Grassland responses to grazing: effects of grazing intensity and management system in an Inner Mongolian steppe ecosystem. Plant and Soil 340: 103-115.
17. Wittmer MHOM, Auerswald K, Bai YF, Schaeufele R, Schnyder H, (2010) Changes in the abundance of C3/C4 species of Inner Mongolia grassland: evidence from isotopic composition of soil and vegetation. Global Change Biology 16: 605-616.
18. Liang C, Michalk DL, Millar GD, (2002) The ecology and growth patterns of Cleistogenes species in degraded grasslands of eastern Inner Mongolia, China. Journal of Applied Ecology 39: 584-594.
19. Murphy BP, Bowman DMJS, (2007) Seasonal water availability predicts the relative abundance of C3 and C4 grasses in Australia. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 160-169.
20. Schonbach P, Wan H, Schiborra A, Gierus M, Loges R, et al. (2012) Effects of grazing sheep and precipitation on herbage production, herbage nutritive value and animal performance in continental steppe. Grass and Forage Science.DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2494.2012.00874.x.
21. Grime JP, (1997) Ecology- Biodiversity and ecosystem function: The debate deepens. Science 277: 1260-1261.
22. Huston MA, (1997) Hidden treatments in ecological experiments: Re-evaluating the ecosystem function of biodiversity. Oecologia 110: 449-460.
23. Waide RB, Willig MR, Steiner CF, Mittelbach G, Gough L, et al. (1999) The relationship between productivity and species richness. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 30: 257-300.
24. Loreau M, Naeem S, Inchausti P, Bengtsson J, Grime JP, et al. (2001) Ecology- Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: Current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294: 804-808.
25. Hooper DU, Vitousek PM, (1997) The effects of plant composition and diversity on ecosystem processes. Science 277: 1302-1305.
26. Petchey OL, Gaston KJ, (2002) Functional diversity (FD), species richness and community composition. Ecology Letters 5: 402-411.
27. Abella SR, Engel EC, Springer JD, Covington WW, (2012) Relationships of exotic plant communities with native vegetation, environmental factors, disturbance, and landscape ecosystems of Pinus ponderosa forests, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 271: 65-74.
28. Lyons KG, Brigham CA, Traut BH, Schwartz MW, (2005) Rare species and ecosystem functioning. Conservation Biology 19: 1019-1024.
29. Naeem S, Wright JP, (2003) Disentangling biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning: deriving solutions to a seemingly insurmountable problem. Ecology Letters 6: 567-579.
30. Reich PB, Tilman D, Naeem S, Ellsworth DS, Knops J, et al. (2004) Species and functional group diversity independently influence biomass accumulation and its response to CO2 and N. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101: 10101-10106.
31. Spehn EM, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schmid B, Hector A, Caldeira MC, et al. (2002) The role of legumes as a component of biodiversity in a cross-European study of grassland biomass nitrogen. Oikos 98: 205-218.
32. Milchunas DG, Lauenroth WK, (1993) Quantitative effects of grazing on vegetation and soils over a global range of environments. Ecological Monographs 63: 327-366.
33. Zheng SX, Lan ZC, Li WH, Shao RX, Shan YM, et al. (2011) Differential responses of plant functional trait to grazing between two contrasting dominant C3 and C4 species in a typical steppe of Inner Mongolia, China. Plant and Soil 340: 141-155.
34. Schonbach P, Wan H, Schiborra A, Gierus M, Bai Y, et al. (2009) Short-term management and stocking rate effects of grazing sheep on herbage quality and productivity of Inner Mongolia steppe. Crop and Pasture Science 60: 963-974.
35. Yuan WP, Zhou GS, (2005) Responses of three Stipa communities net primary productivity along Northeast China Transect to seasonal distribution of precipitation. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology 16: 605-609.
36. Christensen L, Coughenour MB, Ellis JE, Chen ZZ, (2004) Vulnerability of the Asian typical steppe to grazing and climate change. Climatic Change 63: 351-368.
37. Stumpp M, Wesche K, Retzer V, Miehe G, (2005) Impact of grazing livestock and distance from water sources on soil fertility in southern Mongolia. Mountain Research and Development 25: 244-251.
38. Zemmrich A, Manthey M, Zerbe S, Oyunchimeg D, (2010) Driving environmental factors and the role of grazing in grassland communities: A comparative study along an altitudinal gradient in Western Mongolia. Journal of Arid Environments 74: 1271-1280.
39. Chen SP, Bai YF, Zhang LX, Han XG, (2005) Comparing physiological responses of two dominant grass species to nitrogen addition in Xilin River Basin of China. Environmental and Experimental Botany 53: 65-75.
40. Fanselow N, Schoenbach P, Gong XY, Lin S, Taube F, et al. (2011) Short-term regrowth responses of four steppe grassland species to grazing intensity, water and nitrogen in Inner Mongolia. Plant and Soil 340: 279-289.
41. Schiborra A, Gierus M, Wan HW, Glindemann T, Wang CJ, et al. (2010) Dietary selection of sheep grazing the semi-arid grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China at different grazing intensities. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 94: 446-454.
42. Distel RA, Didone NG, Moretto AS, (2005) Variations in chemical composition associated with tissue aging in palatable and unpalatable grasses native to central Argentina. Journal of Arid Environments 62: 351-357.
43. Golluscio RA, Paruelo JM, Mercau JL, Deregibus VA, (1998) Urea supplementation effects on the utilization of low-quality forage and lamb production in Patagonian rangelands. Grass and Forage Science 53: 47-56.
44. Fynn RWS, O'Connor TG, (2000) Effect of stocking rate and rainfall on rangeland dynamics and cattle performance in a semi-arid savanna, South Africa. Journal of Applied Ecology 37: 491-507.
45. Lauenroth WK, Sala OE, (1992) Long-term forage production of North-American shortgrass steppe. Ecological Applications 2: 397-403.
46. Knapp AK, Smith MD, (2001) Variation among biomes in temporal dynamics of aboveground primary production. Science 291: 481-484.
47. Yang H, Auerswald K, Bai YF, Han XG, (2011) Complementarity in water sources among dominant species in typical steppe ecosystems of Inner Mongolia, China. Plant and Soil 340: 303-313.
48. Potvin C, Goeschl JD, Strain BR, (1984) Effects of temperature and CO2 enrichment on carbon translocation of plants of the C4 grass species Echinochloa-Crus-Galli (L.) P. Beauv from cool and warm environments. Plant Physiology 75: 1054-1057.
49. Lundholm JT, Larson DW, (2004) Experimental separation of resource quantity from temporal variability: seedling responses to water pulses. Oecologia 141: 346-352.
50. Merritt DJ, Turner SR, Clarke S, Dixon KW, (2007) Seed dormancy and germination stimulation syndromes for Australian temperate species. Australian Journal of Botany 55: 336-344.
51. Lavrenko EM, Karamysheva ZV (1993) Steppes of the former Soviet Union and Mongolia, In: Coupland, R.T. In: Grasslands N, editor. Ecosystems of the world 8b. Elsevier, Amsterdam, London, New York, Tokyo. 3-59.
52. Wang YH, Zhou GS, (2004) Response of Leymus chinensis grassland vegetation in Inner Mogolia to temperature change. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica 28: 507-551.
53. Ronnenberg K, Wesche K, Hensen I, (2008) Germination ecology of Central Asian Stipa spp: differences among species, seed provenances, and the importance of field studies. Plant Ecology 196: 269-280.
54. Zhan X, Li L, Cheng W, (2007) Restoration of Stipa kryloviisteppes in Inner Mongolia of China: Assesment of seed banks and vegetation composition. Journal of Arid Environments 68: 298-307.
55. Redmann RE, Yin LJ, Wang P, (1995) Photosynthetic pathway types in grassland plant-species from northeast China. Photosynthetica 31: 251-255.
56. Chen SH, Zhang H, Wang LQ, Zhan BL, Zhao ML, editors (2001) Roots of grassland plants in northernChina. Changchun: Jilin University Press.
57. Grime JP, (1998) Benefits of plant diversity to ecosystems: immediate, filter and founder effects. Journal of Ecology 86: 902-910.