Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China

Grazing exclusion has become an effective approach for restoring the structure and function of natural grassland ecosystems on the Songnen Plain, China. Variations in, and trade-offs between, plant diversity and productivity throughout the restoration processes are critical for understanding the suc...

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Autores principales:	Yang Gao, Yu An, Baolin Qi, Jian Liu, Hongzhu Yu, Duojia Wang
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Community composition Grassland restoration Net primary production Root mean squared error Species diversity Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/58dc6d3f9aaa415ea5f413b023ca018e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:58dc6d3f9aaa415ea5f413b023ca018e2021-12-01T04:50:40ZGrazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107655https://doaj.org/article/58dc6d3f9aaa415ea5f413b023ca018e2021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21003204https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XGrazing exclusion has become an effective approach for restoring the structure and function of natural grassland ecosystems on the Songnen Plain, China. Variations in, and trade-offs between, plant diversity and productivity throughout the restoration processes are critical for understanding the successional mechanisms of vegetation. In this study, we selected five Leymus chinensis meadow sites at different restoration stages (0, 6, 11, 15, and 23 year) to determine the effects of grazing exclusion on the plant community. Grazing exclusion practices substantially changed the plant composition of degraded L. chinensis meadows. Annuals and biennials accounted for the highest proportion (42.8%) at the grazing site (i.e., the 0-year site), whereas perennial rhizome grasses accounted for the highest proportion of plants (67.5%) at the 11-year grazing exclusion site. Plant species diversity decreased and then increased with time since grazing exclusion over the 11 years. Plant height and cover were highest at the 15-year grazing exclusion site. Restoration of the aboveground biomass took longer than that of the belowground biomass. The relative benefits of grazing exclusion for different restoration objectives changed with time, changing from higher greater benefits for diversity to greater benefits for productivity. The 15-year grazing exclusion site had the lowest trade-off index (0.02), indicating a similar benefit for both species diversity and productivity. Considering the changes in plant communities, the trade-off index is a reliable indicator for evaluating the restoration process; therefore, we recommended grazing exclusion for 15 years as a reasonable duration. This study provides important guidelines for maintaining ecosystem structure and function during grazing exclusion grasslands.Yang GaoYu AnBaolin QiJian LiuHongzhu YuDuojia WangElsevierarticleCommunity compositionGrassland restorationNet primary productionRoot mean squared errorSpecies diversityEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 126, Iss , Pp 107655- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Community composition Grassland restoration Net primary production Root mean squared error Species diversity Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Community composition Grassland restoration Net primary production Root mean squared error Species diversity Ecology QH540-549.5 Yang Gao Yu An Baolin Qi Jian Liu Hongzhu Yu Duojia Wang Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China
description	Grazing exclusion has become an effective approach for restoring the structure and function of natural grassland ecosystems on the Songnen Plain, China. Variations in, and trade-offs between, plant diversity and productivity throughout the restoration processes are critical for understanding the successional mechanisms of vegetation. In this study, we selected five Leymus chinensis meadow sites at different restoration stages (0, 6, 11, 15, and 23 year) to determine the effects of grazing exclusion on the plant community. Grazing exclusion practices substantially changed the plant composition of degraded L. chinensis meadows. Annuals and biennials accounted for the highest proportion (42.8%) at the grazing site (i.e., the 0-year site), whereas perennial rhizome grasses accounted for the highest proportion of plants (67.5%) at the 11-year grazing exclusion site. Plant species diversity decreased and then increased with time since grazing exclusion over the 11 years. Plant height and cover were highest at the 15-year grazing exclusion site. Restoration of the aboveground biomass took longer than that of the belowground biomass. The relative benefits of grazing exclusion for different restoration objectives changed with time, changing from higher greater benefits for diversity to greater benefits for productivity. The 15-year grazing exclusion site had the lowest trade-off index (0.02), indicating a similar benefit for both species diversity and productivity. Considering the changes in plant communities, the trade-off index is a reliable indicator for evaluating the restoration process; therefore, we recommended grazing exclusion for 15 years as a reasonable duration. This study provides important guidelines for maintaining ecosystem structure and function during grazing exclusion grasslands.
format	article
author	Yang Gao Yu An Baolin Qi Jian Liu Hongzhu Yu Duojia Wang
author_facet	Yang Gao Yu An Baolin Qi Jian Liu Hongzhu Yu Duojia Wang
author_sort	Yang Gao
title	Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China
title_short	Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China
title_full	Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China
title_fullStr	Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China
title_full_unstemmed	Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China
title_sort	grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the songnen plain, china
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/58dc6d3f9aaa415ea5f413b023ca018e
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Grazing exclusion mediates the trade-off between plant diversity and productivity in Leymus chinensis meadows along a chronosequence on the Songnen Plain, China

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