Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation

The prospect of likely catastrophic transitions in ecosystems requires the development of early warning indicators that will provide advance warnings for undesired transitions. A grass hill is a unique microtopography that plays a crucial role in the functioning of wetland ecosystems. However, it is...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Mingrui He, Chunming Xin, Miaojun Ma
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Abiotic factor Alpine wetland Warning indicator Grass hill Soil seed bank Species diversity Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/02daf21624cd4d81a668b2ebaee37e1b
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:02daf21624cd4d81a668b2ebaee37e1b
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:02daf21624cd4d81a668b2ebaee37e1b2021-12-01T05:02:07ZChange in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108302https://doaj.org/article/02daf21624cd4d81a668b2ebaee37e1b2021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21009675https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XThe prospect of likely catastrophic transitions in ecosystems requires the development of early warning indicators that will provide advance warnings for undesired transitions. A grass hill is a unique microtopography that plays a crucial role in the functioning of wetland ecosystems. However, it is unclear whether grass hill size could serve as an important warning indicator to predict vegetation dynamics and ecosystem transitions during wetland degradation. Six degradation levels were selected along a grazing gradient in the alpine wetlands on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. General linear and segment regression were used to analyze whether grass hill area (GHA) can be used as an important warning indicator to predict biotic and abiotic factors and ecosystem transitions from typical alpine wetlands to meadows. The species diversity and biomass of aboveground vegetation increased slowly before the threshold point but decreased sharply after the threshold point (GHA (grass hill area) = 0.13 m2). The species diversity of both persistent and transient seed banks and the seed density of persistent seed banks also increased slowly but increased sharply before and after the threshold point (GHA = 0.2 m2). Soil moisture (SM), soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased slowly but decreased sharply before and after the threshold point (GHA > 0.2 m2). Surprisingly, we also found the same threshold point (GHA = 0.13–0.2 m2) for the ecosystem transition from alpine wetlands to meadows as that for the other factors. GHA accurately predicted biotic (species diversity of vegetation and seed bank) and abiotic (SM, SOC, and TN) changes and the ecosystem transition from alpine wetlands to meadows. Thus, grass hill area is an effective warning indicator that could be used in future alpine wetland restoration and management.Mingrui HeChunming XinMiaojun MaElsevierarticleAbiotic factorAlpine wetlandWarning indicatorGrass hillSoil seed bankSpecies diversityEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 132, Iss , Pp 108302- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Abiotic factor Alpine wetland Warning indicator Grass hill Soil seed bank Species diversity Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Abiotic factor Alpine wetland Warning indicator Grass hill Soil seed bank Species diversity Ecology QH540-549.5 Mingrui He Chunming Xin Miaojun Ma Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
description	The prospect of likely catastrophic transitions in ecosystems requires the development of early warning indicators that will provide advance warnings for undesired transitions. A grass hill is a unique microtopography that plays a crucial role in the functioning of wetland ecosystems. However, it is unclear whether grass hill size could serve as an important warning indicator to predict vegetation dynamics and ecosystem transitions during wetland degradation. Six degradation levels were selected along a grazing gradient in the alpine wetlands on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. General linear and segment regression were used to analyze whether grass hill area (GHA) can be used as an important warning indicator to predict biotic and abiotic factors and ecosystem transitions from typical alpine wetlands to meadows. The species diversity and biomass of aboveground vegetation increased slowly before the threshold point but decreased sharply after the threshold point (GHA (grass hill area) = 0.13 m2). The species diversity of both persistent and transient seed banks and the seed density of persistent seed banks also increased slowly but increased sharply before and after the threshold point (GHA = 0.2 m2). Soil moisture (SM), soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased slowly but decreased sharply before and after the threshold point (GHA > 0.2 m2). Surprisingly, we also found the same threshold point (GHA = 0.13–0.2 m2) for the ecosystem transition from alpine wetlands to meadows as that for the other factors. GHA accurately predicted biotic (species diversity of vegetation and seed bank) and abiotic (SM, SOC, and TN) changes and the ecosystem transition from alpine wetlands to meadows. Thus, grass hill area is an effective warning indicator that could be used in future alpine wetland restoration and management.
format	article
author	Mingrui He Chunming Xin Miaojun Ma
author_facet	Mingrui He Chunming Xin Miaojun Ma
author_sort	Mingrui He
title	Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
title_short	Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
title_full	Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
title_fullStr	Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
title_full_unstemmed	Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
title_sort	change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/02daf21624cd4d81a668b2ebaee37e1b
work_keys_str_mv	AT mingruihe changeingrasshillsizecansignalspeciesdiversitychangesandecosystemstatetransitionsduringalpinewetlanddegradation AT chunmingxin changeingrasshillsizecansignalspeciesdiversitychangesandecosystemstatetransitionsduringalpinewetlanddegradation AT miaojunma changeingrasshillsizecansignalspeciesdiversitychangesandecosystemstatetransitionsduringalpinewetlanddegradation
_version_	1718405581398605824

Change in grass hill size can signal species diversity changes and ecosystem state transitions during alpine wetland degradation

Ejemplares similares