Longterm vegetation dynamics driven by climatic v

Authors: Zhiyong Li Wenhong Ma Cunzhu Liang Zhongling Liu Wei Wang Lixin Wang

Publish Date: 2014/07/16

Volume: 30, Issue: 9, Pages: 1701-1711

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Abstract

Longterm monitoring of plant community composition and productivity provides evidence of how ecosystems respond to climate change This study investigated the longterm 1981–2011 dynamics of plant species richness SR and community composition of a temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia China after the exclusion of livestock grazing During the 30 years SR increased between 1981 and 1991 and then declined from 1992 to 2011 mainly because of the loss of C3 forbs as a result of decreasing rainfall and increasing temperature The relative abundance measured as relative biomass RB of plant functional groups also showed a similar temporal pattern There was a shift in the RB of both dominant species and functional groups As temperature increased with decreasing rainfall during the last 20 years of the study period the abundance of C3 forbs decreased while C4 grasses increased However shrub species did not show any significant pattern in their dynamics Redundancy analysis indicated that the species composition and plant relative abundance of the Inner Mongolian grassland were affected by both precipitation and temperature Our findings help us better understand how grassland ecosystems respond to future climate change on the Mongolian Plateau where the climate is projected to be drier and hotter in the upcoming decadesWe thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on the early manuscript We also thank Maxwell Wilson Arizona State University for the language revision Financial support was provided by the Natural Science Foundation of China 31160476 31160119 and 31370454 National Key Basic Research Program of China 973 Program 2010CB950602 and The enhancing comprehensive strength project of Inner Mongolia University 14020202

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