The vegetation of alpine tundra in the Changbai Mountains has experienced great changes in recent decades. Narrowleaf small reed(Deyeuxia angustifolia), a perennial herb from the birch forest zone had crossed the tree line and invaded into the alpine tundra zone. To reveal the driven mechanism of D. angustifolia invasion, there is an urgent need to figure out the effective seed distribution pattern, which could tell us where the potential risk regions are and help us to interpret the invasion process. In this study, we focus on the locations of the seeds in the soil layer and mean to characterize the effective seed distribution pattern of D. angustifolia. The relationship between the environmental variables and the effective seed distribution pattern was also assessed by redundancy analysis. Results showed that seeds of D. angustifolia spread in the alpine tundra with a considerable number(mean value of 322 per m2). They were mainly distributed in the low elevation areas with no significant differences in different slope positions. Effective seed number(ESN) occurrences of D. angustifolia were different in various plant communities. Plant communities with lower canopy cover tended to have more seeds of D. angustifolia. Our research indicated reliable quantitative information on the extent to which habitats are susceptible to invasion.
In recent years, herbaceous species such as Deyeuxia angustifolia （Kom.） Y. L. Chang has invaded alpine tundra regions of the western slope of the Changbai Mountains. Because atmospheric nitrogen deposition is predicted to increase under a warming climate and D. angustifolia is sensitive to nitrogen addition, field experiments were conducted from 2010 to 2013 to determine the effect of increased nitrogen deposition on the mechanisms of D. angustifolia invasion. The goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of increased nitrogen deposition on the changes in alpine tundra vegetation （consisting mostly of Rhododendron chrysanthum Pall. and Vaccinium uliginosum Linn.）. The results showed that： 1） simulated nitrogen deposition affected overall characteristics and structure of R. chrysanthum and E uliginosum communities and had a positive impact on the growth of tundra vegetation invaded by 1）. angustifolia; 2） R. chrysanthum was more resistant to invasion by D. angustifolia than V.. uliginosum; 3） simulated nitrogen deposition could improve the growth and enhance the competitiveness of D. angustifolia, which was gradually replacing R. chrysanthum and V. uliginosum and might become the dominant species in the system in future, transforming alpine tundra into alpine meadow in the Chanebai Mountains.
JIN YinghuaXU JiaweiWANG YeqiaoWANG ShaoxianCHEN ZhaoshuangHUANG XiangtongNIU Lijun
Global climate changes result in the expansion of lower elevation plants to higher elevations.The rapid upward expansion of herbaceous plants into the alpine tundra on Changbai Mountain resulted in changes in different levels of ecosystem organization.However,the responses and feedback of litter properties and soil mesofauna to herbaceous plants expansion have not been studied yet.To understand the mechanisms underlying those changes,we conducted a field experiment in the range of 2250-2300 m in the alpine tundra of the Changbai Mountain and collected a total of 288 samples from four degrees of herbaceous plants expansion to study the litter physiochemical properties,soil mesofauna,and soil nutrient contents,and their relationships in that tundra ecosystem suffered from various degrees of herbaceous invasion.We found that herbaceous plant expansion is responsible for a major shift in the dominant species of soil mesofauna from mites to collembolan and has significant impacts on the community structure(R2=0.54,p=0.001)and diversity of soil mesofauna(Shannon-Weiner index,p=0.01).The increasing herbaceous plant expansion resulted in a significant increase in litter biomass from 91 g·m^(-2) in the original tundra vegetation(OIT)to 118 g·m^(-2) in the moderately invaded tundra(MIT),and an increase in litter thickness from 2.37 cm(OIT)to 3.05 cm(MIT).And,the litter total nitrogen content significantly increased,but the values of the litter carbon content,the lignin content,the C/N ratio,and the lignin/N ratio decreased with increased herbaceous coverage(both p<0.05).The litter physical properties pathway(biomass and thickness)directly explained 31% of the total variance in soil mesofauna diversity and 59% of the total variance in soil mesofauna community composition.Furthermore,both the soil available nutrients(incl.AN and AP)and plant biomass(incl.the total plant biomass and herbs/shrubs biomass)significantly increased with increasing coverage of herbaceous plant(both p<0.05),and litter chemical properties pathway d
As one of the most sensitive regions to global climate change, alpine tundra in many places around the world has been undergoing dramatic changes in vegetation communities over the past few decades.Herbaceous plant species in the Changbai Mountains area have significantly expanded into tundra shrub communities over the past 30 yr.Soil microbial communities, enzyme activities, and soil nutrients are intertwined with this expansion process.In order to understand the responses of the soil microbial communities to such an expansion, we analyzed soil microbial community structures and enzyme activities in shrub tundra as well as areas with three different levels of herbaceous plant expansion.Our investigation was based on phospholipid fatty acid(PLFA) analysis and 96-well microtiter plates.The results showed that herbs have expanded greatly in the tundra, and they have become the dominant species in herbaceous plant expansion areas.There were differences for community composition and appearance among the shrub tundra and the mild expansion, moderate expansion, and severe expansion areas.Except for soil organic matter, soil nutrients were increased in herbaceous plant expansion areas, and the total nitrogen(TN), total phosphorus(TP), available nitrogen(AN), and available phosphorus(AP) were greatest in moderate expansion areas(MOE), while soil organic matter levels were highest in the non-expanded areas(CK).The total soil PLFAs in the three levels of herbaceous plant expansion areas were significantly higher than those in the non-expanded areas, and total soil PLFAs were highest in the moderately expanded area and lowest in the severely expanded area(SEE).Bacteria increased significantly more than fungi and actinomycetes with herbaceous plant expansion.Soil hydrolase activities(β-1,4-glucosidase(βG) activity, β-1, 4-N-acetylglucosaminidase(NAG) activity, and acid phosphatase(aP) activity) were highest in MOE and lowest in the CK treatment.Soil oxidase activities(polyphenol oxidase(PPO) activities and peroxidase(PER)
