Biocrust and sand burial together promote annual herb community assembly in an arid sandy desert area
Biocrust and sand burial together promote annual herb community assembly in an arid sandy desert area
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DOI：
10.1007/s11104-023-06142-z
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发表时间：
2023-07
期刊：
影响因子：
4.9
通讯作者：
Y. Gao;R. Jia;Yanping Liu;Yun Zhao;Yongshen Wu;Haotian Yang;Li-chao Liu;Yulong Duan;
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Y. Gao;R. Jia;Yanping Liu;Yun Zhao;Yongshen Wu;Haotian Yang;Li-chao Liu;Yulong Duan;
背景一年生草本植物是沙地生态系统的重要组成部分，其在干旱沙丘中的群落聚集是退化生态系统成功恢复的直观指标。在沙质地区，生物结皮和沙埋经常同时发生，因为一年生草本植物的多样性和生物量更高，两种因素同时发生的情况比单独发生的情况要高。然而我们对其潜在机制的了解还很有限。方法通过实地调查来验证生物结皮和沙埋的存在共同促进了草本植物的组装。然后通过对照模拟实验，研究了腾格里沙漠植被恢复区三种生物结皮（裸沙（对照）、蓝藻结皮和苔藓结皮）和三种沙埋深度（0（对照）、2.5和5 mm）对三种一年生草本植物萌发、生长以及土壤水分和营养状况的个体和集体影响。促进了它们的幼苗生长。然而，沙埋破坏了对种子发芽的抑制作用，通过提高上层土壤水分和养分的利用率，增强了生物结皮对所有物种幼苗生长的积极作用。结论生物结皮和沙埋的互补作用促进了一年生草本植物的建立和总体招募成功。这一发现强调了生物结皮埋藏扰动在植物群落组装过程中的重要性，为理清生物结皮与维管植物之间的关系提供了一种方法，也为干旱沙区生态恢复提供了新技术建议。
BackgroundAnnual herbs are crucial components of sandy ecosystems and their community assembly in arid sandy dunes is an intuitive indicator of a degraded ecosystem’s successful restoration. In sandy areas, biocrust and sand burial often co-occur, given the higher diversity and biomass of annual herbs where both factors co-occur than where either does alone. Yet our knowledge of the underlying mechanism is limited.MethodsA field survey was conducted to verify that the presence of biocrust and sand burial jointly promoted the assembly of herbs. And then controlled simulating experiments were conducted to investigate the individual and collective effects of three biocrusts (bare sand (control), cyanobacterial crust, and moss crust) and three depths (0 (control), 2.5, and 5 mm) of sand burial upon germination, growth of three annual herbs as well as the soil water and nutrition status in a revegetated area of the Tengger Desert.ResultsBiocrust inhibited seed germination of the three annual herbs, but promoted their seedling growth. However, sand burial disrupted the inhibitory influence upon seed germination and strengthened the positive effects of biocrust on seedling growth of all species, by improving the availability of water and nutrients in upper soil.ConclusionMutual complementary effects of biocrust and sand burial promote the establishment, and overall recruitment success of annual herbs. This finding emphasizes the importance of buried disturbance of biocrust in plant community assembly processes, providing an approach to disentangle relationships between biocrust and vascular plants, and a new technique suggestion for ecological restoration in arid sandy areas.