Contrasting Patterns and Drivers of Soil Fungal Communities between Two Ecosystems Divided by the Treeline
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Abstract:
The treeline is a sensitive region of the terrestrial ecosystem responding to climate change. However, studies on the composition and formation mechanisms of soil fungal communities across the treeline are still lacking. In this study, we investigated the patterns of soil fungal community composition and interactions among functional guilds above and below the treeline using Illumina high-throughput sequencing and ecological network analysis. The results showed that there were significant differences in the soil environment and soil fungal community composition between the two ecosystems above and below the treeline. At the local scale of this study, geographic distance and environmental factors affected the composition of the soil fungal community. Soil temperature was an important environmental predictor of soil fungal community composition. Species in soil fungal communities in the subalpine meadow were more closely related to each other compared to those in the montane forest. Furthermore, the soil fungal community in montane forest was more stable. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how mountain ecological functions respond to global climate change.Keywords:
Terrestrial ecosystem
Problem Statement: Even though bioengineering technique has been regarded as one way to alleviate landslide and erosion problems, this process of revegetation is severely time consuming as the process of plant succession of the slopes may take decades or even hundreds of years. Approach: However, the process can be tremendously hastened by planting the right suitable pioneer species on the slopes. In this project, a natural succession experiment was conducted to determine the role of a potential slope colonizer, L. leucocephala, as a good pioneer in two years of observation. Results: In terms of the plant community, L. leucocephala had tremendously accelerated the plant succession of the slope. Within two years, 46 species comprising various species of grasses, shrubs and small trees colonized in the mixed culture treatment. The plant diversity increased drastically, about five (12 months) and eight fold (24 months) of its initial (0 month) diversity against 2.5 (12 months) and three fold (24 months) in the monoculture treatment. Related to this species-richness, LAI and biomass of the plant community was also enhanced in the mix-culture system. Conclusion: The results indicate that the species studied exhibits an outstanding pioneering characteristic by enhancing natural succession and the revegetation process which will be in turn, resulting in a more stable ecosystem.
Revegetation
Pioneer species
Monoculture
Plant Diversity
Restoration Ecology
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A forest ecosystem is a terrestrial unit of living organisms (plants, animals and microorganisms), all interacting among themselves and with the environment (soil, climate, water and light) in which they live. The environmental common denominator of that forest ecological community is a tree, who most faithfully obeys the ecological cycles of energy, water, carbon and nutrients. A forest ecosystem would be considered having boundaries and would include a forest of trees out to the limit of tree growth. Remember that forests are not the only ecosystems. There are hundreds of thousands of defined and undefined ecosystems that can cover the broadest to the tiniest of areas. An ecosystem can be as small as a pond or a dead tree, or as large as the Earth itself.
Terrestrial ecosystem
Ecosystem ecology
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Subalpine forest
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Succession data were collected from the filed in different succession stages simultaneously.On the basis of TWINSPAN,the interspecific relations of dominant species plant communities' during succession on abandoned farmlands in Guancei Mountain Shanxi were studied by using χ2-test and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.The results indicated that:(1) 39 samples were divided into seven groups,belonging to the three stages of vegetation succession by using TWINSPAN classification being the herbaceous stage (including Assoc.I1,I2 and I3),the scrub community stage(including Assoc.II1 and II2) and the forest community stage (including Assoc.III1 and III2) respectively.(2) On the basis of χ2-test,the species-pairs relationship was analysed by using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.The result showed that the species-pairs relationships were different in different succession stage.For example,the species-pair Artemisia sacrorum and Astragaolus was positive association in the herbaceous stage but was negative association in the scrub community stage.This was probably because of the difference that species adapted to different micro-environment and showed.But the proportion of the positive and negative associaton showed the trend of increasing (0.78→0.86→1.09),it indicated that the plant community was developing to a stable community.(3) The result of this study agree with the view that the plant community tends to the stable stage with the development of the plant community succession,that is,the longer the time of succession is,the higher the positive associaton ratio is,the steadyer the structure of the plant community is,the stronger the ability of species coexisting is.
Herbaceous plant
Phytosociology
Secondary succession
Rank correlation
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Application of Fuzzy clustering methodology in plant community succession in Loess hilly region is reported in this paper, with the aim to probing into the feasibility of this method in plant community succession. The results showed that the 13 sample plots with 15 species are classified in 5 formations. Combined with restoration period of different phytocoenosis, a relatively complete community succession series has been established: Artemisia scoparia community-Leymus scalinus community-Stipa bungeana community-Artemisia gmelinii community-Hippophae rhamnoides community. This succession series is consistent with the results got by traditional ways, showing that this method is applicable in the plant community succession studies. Moreover this method has strict mathematic meaning with simple calculation and high precision and can be operated in computer, thus improving the quantification of plant community succession studies. Therefore this method has high values in plant succession studies.
Leymus
Hippophae rhamnoides
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The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "The succession of the plant community on a decontaminated radioactive meadow site" (T. Maystrenko, B. Gruzdev, E. Belykh, A. Rybak, 2018) [1]. Primary data on floristic studies of meadow community development in taiga zone on the site contaminated with naturally occurring radionuclides are shown. The information given allows to follow a process of appearance and exclusion of high plant species from the pioneer step of succession up to stable community formation and to compare the structure and composition of meadow communities formed on territories with the enhanced and natural radioactivity background.
Floristics
Primary succession
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Plant‐soil feedbacks as drivers of succession: evidence from remnant and restored tallgrass prairies
Plant‐soil feedbacks can contribute to the coexistence of plant species and may predict the abundance of plant species within communities. Here, we test if plant‐soil feedbacks act as drivers of secondary succession. We found that the strength of feedback experienced by a plant species was positively correlated with that species' successional stage, indicating that plant‐soil feedbacks can contribute to shifts in plant species abundance during succession. We did not observe a significant relationship between strength of feedback and plant species abundance at our study sites, but the positive relationship of feedback and successional stage would generate positive relationships between feedback and the abundance of plant species in communities at equilibrium. This result is supported by spatially explicit simulation models that demonstrate the potential for plant‐soil feedbacks to determine changes in species abundance over time and the increasing strength of the relationship between feedback and plant species abundance during succession.
Secondary succession
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This study aimed to investigate the structure and composition of plant community to i) identify tree species that can colonize, grow, and form communities and ii) identify species under natural succession whose seedlings can be used in forest rehabilitation. Experimental plots of size 40 m × 40 m were established in 13-, 10-, and 5-year-old rehabilitation areas (13YRA, 10YRA, and 5YRA), where characterized as flatted, sloped, and benched areas, respectively. The survey found 24 genera, 12 families, and 25 species of plants. Plant species that were found in all plots were Zollingeria dongnaiensis Pierre., Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz., Albizia lebbek (L.) Benth., and Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) which can potentially grow well in several conditions of post-mining areas. The 13YRA plot had the most significant number of naturally regenerating species (11 species) as the area was next to a natural forest or buffer zone and had been under restoration for the most prolonged period. The community succession of the rehabilitation plots relative to the natural forest was relatively slow. Nonetheless, the pioneer species can help to improve the environmental factors to optimum levels for the natural succession of the plant community. This can also be useful while selecting pioneer species for restoring areas previously used for limestone mining and help reduce the time for succession in terms of increasing the species composition.
Secondary succession
Pioneer species
Azadirachta
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The research on the fuzzy classification analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) in plant community succession in loess hilly region was reported, with the aim of probing into the feasibility of this method in plant community succession studying. The results showed that the 13 sample plots with 15 species were classified into 5 classes.Combined with time the restoration of different communities takes, a community succession series was established:Artemisia scoparia community-Leymus scalinus community-Stipa bungeana community-Artemisia gmelinii community-Hippophae rhamnoides community. This succession series is consistent with the results got by traditional ways, showing that these methods are applicable in the plant community succession studies. Moreover this method has strict mathematic meaning with simple calculation and high precision and can be operated in computer,thus improving the quantification of plant community succession studies. Therefore this method has high values in plant succession studies.
Leymus
Hippophae rhamnoides
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This paper examines how rates and mechanisms of succession vary spatially and temporally in xeric, subalpine forests in Colorado, United States. We reconstructed 300 years of succession from limber pine (Pinus flexilis) to Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanii) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) in two watersheds recovering from the same fire. More than 1850 live and dead trees were cored and mapped in 25 plots systematically spaced along a topographic gradient. We used tree ring analysis to reconstruct dates of tree establishment and death. Relative species abundances and basal areas were charted at 20-yr intervals, and three measures of ecological similarity were also used to capture different elements of change: simple Euclidean distance, Euclidean distance in ordination space, and Horn's CH similarity index. Successional rates for mesic lower slopes and north aspects were roughly twice those on south-facing side slopes. Rates were positively correlated with soil P, N, Fe, organic matter, and Parker's topographic moisture index, and negatively correlated with solar radiation and surface rock cover. Higher rates on mesic plots were primarily the result of heavy overstory mortality of pioneer limber pines ∼200 yr postfire, coupled with higher recruitment of spruce and fir 200–300 yr postfire. On mesic sites, successional rates peaked during this thinning phase of limber pine, but rates were stable or slowly increasing 300 yr postfire on xeric sites. Previous studies have shown that Clark's Nutcracker catalyzes early succession by caching limber pine seeds in extensive burns, many of which germinate to form multitrunk pines. Limber pines, in turn, may act as nurse trees for spruce and fir. However, we reconstructed past spatial patterns of trees and found that limber pine mortality in midsuccession was strongly related to its clumped pattern of establishment and tendency to attract spruce and fir. Solitary pines with no spruce and fir neighbors within a 2 m radius had a >80% chance of survival, 1893–1993. In contrast, pines within clumps of six or more trees and surrounded by many spruce and fir trees had only 10–20% chance of survival, 1893–1993. The multitrunk growth form of limber pines may be selectively advantageous on harsh sites, including early postfire environments, but our results suggest that this same growth form may be disadvantageous on mesic sites with heavy spruce and fir competition during mid- to late-successional stages. We confirmed the equilibrium prediction that succession is more rapid on mesic sites, but even in this very simple system, demographic mechanisms of succession were relatively complex.
Subalpine forest
Environmental gradient
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