Spatial patch structure and adaptive strategy for desert shrub of Reaumuria soongorica in arid ecosystem of the Heihe River Basin

doi:10.1007/s11442-019-1674-2

Abstract

Abstract:

In many arid ecosystems, vegetation frequently occurs in high-cover patches interspersed in a matrix of low plant cover. However, theoretical explanations for shrub patch pattern dynamics along climate gradients remain unclear on a large scale. This context aimed to assess the variance of the Reaumuria soongorica patch structure along the precipitation gradient and the factors that affect patch structure formation in the middle and lower Heihe River Basin (HRB). Field investigations on vegetation patterns and heterogeneity in soil properties were conducted during 2014 and 2015. The results showed that patch height, size and plant-to-patch distance were smaller in high precipitation habitats than in low precipitation sites. Climate, soil and vegetation explained 82.5% of the variance in patch structure. Spatially, R. soongorica shifted from a clumped to a random pattern on the landscape towards the MAP gradient, and heterogeneity in the surface soil properties (the ratio of biological soil crust (BSC) to bare gravels (BG)) determined the R. soongorica population distribution pattern in the middle and lower HRB. A conceptual model, which integrated water availability and plant facilitation and competition effects, was revealed that R. soongorica changed from a flexible water use strategy in high precipitation regions to a consistent water use strategy in low precipitation areas. Our study provides a comprehensive quantification of the variance in shrub patch structure along a precipitation gradient and may improve our understanding of vegetation pattern dynamics in the Gobi Desert under future climate change.

Key words: patch structure, spatial pattern, precipitation, soil heterogeneity, Reaumuria soongorica, Heihe River Basin

LI Wei, LI Xiaoyan, HUANG Yongmei, WANG Pei, ZHANG Cicheng. Spatial patch structure and adaptive strategy for desert shrub of Reaumuria soongorica in arid ecosystem of the Heihe River Basin[J].Journal of Geographical Sciences, 2019, 29(9): 1507-1526.

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	Site 1 Piedmont Gobi desert	Site 2 Piedmont Gobi desert	Site 3 Piedmont Gobi desert	Site 4 Gobi desert	Site 5 Gobi desert
Longitude	100.30°E	100.12°E	99.61°E	98.99°E	101.01°E
Latitude	38.91°N	39.40°N	39.31°N	39.88°N	42.04°N
Elevation (m)	1473	1442	1355	1413	940
Main shrub	R.soongorica; S.passerine	R.soongorica; N.sphaerpcarpa	R.soongorica; K.foliatum	R.soongorica; N.sphaerpcarpa	R.soongorica; H.ammodendron
MAP (mm)	122.93^a	112.29^b	100.33^b	65.70^c	35.02^d
MAT (℃)	7.32^a	7.99^ab	7.87^bc	9.02^d	9.11^e
Sand content (%)	57.65	89.85	86.82	89.44	97.51
Silt content (%)	39.46	8.13	11.50	8.75	1.68
Clay content (%)	2.89	2.02	1.68	1.81	0.81
SOM content (%)	1.97	0.97	0.73	1.84	0.62
TN content (%)	0.09	0.02	0.05	0.02	0.01
CaCO₃ content (%)	44.12	30.71	14.64	42.57	35.61
BSC:BG	0.13:1	0.09:1	0.06:1	0.06:1	0.02:1

Site	Percentage (%)	N	C	K_A (m²)	H (cm)	$\bar{A}$(m²)
Site 1	63.4^a	1049±128^a	1.68±0.19^a	4.1±0.7^a	10.15±0.32^a	0.02±0.01^a
Site 2	58.5^a	174±80^ab	0.33±0.14^b	2.6±1.0^a	18.08±0.31^b	0.10±0.02^ab
Site 3	89.4^b	821±261^a	1.08±0.40^a	4.6±0.4^b	17.53±2.36^bc	0.04±0.01^a
Site 4	92.6^b	356^b	0.57±0.00^b	4.7±0.2^b	17.57±0.34^bc	0.08±0.00^ab
Site 5	95.1^b	48±11^c	0.08±0.01^c	1.6±1.0^c	23.10±5.60^d	0.21±0.11^b

Site	Cover (%)	AGB (g/m²)	SR	Simpson index	Shannon index	Important value	V/m	PD (m)
Site 1	11.16±0.03^a	92.36±15.21^a	4	0.69	1.28	0.42	13.4	0.56±0.04^a
Site 2	8.03±0.04^b	38.64±10.29^b	3	0.64	1.05	0.42	2.9	1.40±0.33^c
Site 3	5.33±0.01^c	25.92±7.35^c	3	0.61	1.06	0.58	5.3	0.60±0.03^a
Site 4	5.61±0.00^c	27.01±0.17^c	2.5	0.50	0.74	0.66	3.4	0.95±0.00^b
Site 5	1.85±0.01^d	8.14±1.20^d	2	0.51	0.63	0.68	0.9	2.80±0.54^d

Factors structure	Climate	Soil			Vegetation
Factors structure	MAP	Sand	TN	BSC:BG	AGB	RS
Height	-0.71^**	0.80^**	-0.74^**	-0.67^**	-0.78^**	-0.76^**
Size	-0.69^**	0.62^**	-0.54^**	-0.51^*	-0.53^*	-0.58^*
Cover	0.85^**	-0.85^**	0.72^**	0.99^**	0.91^**	0.80^**
Density	0.73^**	-0.87^**	0.95^**	0.77^**	0.87^**	0.83^**
PD	-0.79^**	0.69^**	-0.61^**	-0.68^**	-0.61^**	-0.61^**
V/m	0.76^**	-0.93^**	0.93^**	0.77^**	0.90^**	083^**

Dependent factor	Independent factor	Regression function
Height	Sand content	y=0.33x-0.97 R²=0.64 P<0.001
Size	MAP	y=-0.002x-0.26 R²=0.44 P<0.01
Distance	MAP	y=-0.02x+3.23 R²=0.61 P<0.001
Shrub cover	MAP, species richness, BSC:BG	y=0.007x₁-0.19x₂+84.70x₃+0.46 R²=0.99 P<0.001
Shrub density	TN	y=34.48x-0.03 R²=0.89 P<0.001
V/m	MAP, sand content	y=-0.07x₁-0.52x₂+54.60 R²=0.93 P<0.001