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Journal of Arid Land
Journal of Arid Land  2023, Vol. 15 Issue (12): 1510-1528    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-023-0036-1
Research article     
Effects of degradation and species composition on soil seed density in the alpine grasslands, China
LI Chunming1,*(), MA Jiahui1, LI Liangyu1, HUANG Junlin1, LU Jinhua1, HUANG Mei2, Allan DEGEN3, SHANG Zhanhuan2
1Life Science and Engineering College of Northwest Minzu University, Lanzhou 730124, China
2State Key Laboratory of Herbage Improvement and Grassland Agro-ecosystems, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
3Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 8410500, Israel
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Abstract  

Grassland degradation can alter the structure and function of ecosystem and soil seed bank. Therefore, estimating the role of soil seed bank in vegetation regeneration of degraded grasslands is crucial. We selected grasslands with three levels of degradation, namely non-degraded (ND), mildly degraded (MD), and heavily degraded (HD) to analyze the effect of grassland degradation on soil seed bank, as well as the role of soil seed bank on vegetation regeneration of the alpine grasslands, China. Soil samples from each level were collected in May, before seedling emergence, in August, after completion of transient seed bank germination, and in December, after seed dispersal, to determine the seed density and species composition through germination experiment. Result showed that a total of 35 plant species was identified, including 15 species observed in both soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation. A total of 19, 15, and 14 species of soil seed bank were identified in December, May, and August, respectively. The most abundant species in soil seed bank were Compositae (5 species), followed by Poaceae (4 species), and Cyperaceae (3 species). Degradation level has no significant impact on species richness and Shannon- Wiener index of soil seed bank. In addition, sampling month and grassland degradation affected soil seed bank density, in which December>May>August, and ND>MD>HD, indicating that density of transient seed bank was greater than persistent seed bank. Soil seed bank density of surface layer (0-5 cm) accounting for 42%-72% of the total density, which was significantly higher than that of deep layer (5-10 cm). Similarity of species composition between vegetation and soil seed bank was low, and it increased with degradation level (ranged from 0.14 to 0.69). We concluded that grassland degradation affects soil seed bank density more than species diversity, and soil seed bank contributed slightly to vegetation regeneration of degraded alpine grassland. Therefore, it is unlikely that degraded alpine meadow can be restored solely through soil seed bank.

Key words： degradation      transient soil seed bank      persistent soil seed bank      seed density      vegetation regeneration     
Received: 28 July 2023      Published: 31 December 2023
Corresponding Authors: *LI Chunming (E-mail: lcm711009@sina.com)
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LI Chunming
MA Jiahui
LI Liangyu
HUANG Junlin
LU Jinhua
HUANG Mei
Allan DEGEN
SHANG Zhanhuan
Cite this article:

LI Chunming, MA Jiahui, LI Liangyu, HUANG Junlin, LU Jinhua, HUANG Mei, Allan DEGEN, SHANG Zhanhuan. Effects of degradation and species composition on soil seed density in the alpine grasslands, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2023, 15(12): 1510-1528.

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http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-023-0036-1     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2023/V15/I12/1510

Grassland Longitude and latitude Altitude (m) Dominant species Coverage (%)
ND 102°47′08″E
37°11′53″N		 2905 Oxytropis ochrocephala Bunge, Polygonum vivipara (L.) Gray, Elymus nutans Griseb., Potentilla chinensis Ser. >85
MD 102°47′05″E
37°11′50″N		 2912 Medicago ruthenica (L.) Trautv., E. nutans, P. vivipara, Artemisia smithii Mattf. 50-55
HD 102°47′07″E
37°11′51″N		 2915 P. chinensis, E. nutans, Pocockia ruthenia (L.) Boiss. 25-35
Table 1 Description of grasslands
Table S1 Composition of plant species in soil seed back and important value of vegetation under different levels of grassland degradation
Fig. S1 Number of species in vegetation and soil seed bank (a); number of species in vegetation under different degradation levels (b); number of species in soil seed bank under different degradation levels (c); and number of species in vegetation under different sampling months (d). ND, non-degraded grassland; MD, mildly degraded grassland; HD, heavily degraded grassland.
Fig. S2 Soil seed density among different degradation levels and sampling months. (a), August; (b), December; (c), May. ND, non-degraded grassland; MD, mildly degraded grassland; HD, heavily degraded grassland. Different lowercase letters with the same degradation level indicate significant differences among different depths at P<0.05 level. Bars are standard errors.
Fig. 1 Species richness (a), Shannon-Wiener (b), Simpson (c), and Pielou (d) diversity indices of 0-15 cm soil seed bank in different months in non-degraded (ND), mildly degraded (MD), and heavily degraded (HD) grasslands. Boxes indicate the IQR (interquartile range, 75th to 25th of the data). The median value is shown as a line within the box. Outlier is shown as colored circle. Lines extend to the most extreme value within 1.5×IQR. The symbols are the same as in Figure 2.
Fig. 2 Soil seed bank density in 0-15 cm of soil in different months in non-degraded (ND), mildly degraded (MD), and heavily degraded (HD) grasslands. The contour out of the box represents the frequency of data. Different lowercase letters within the same month represent significant differences among different degradation levels at P<0.05 level. Different uppercase letters within the same degradation level represent significant differences among different months at P<0.05 level.
Fig. 3 Percentage of functional groups of vegetation (a) and soil seed bank (b) in different months in non-degraded (ND), mildly degraded (MD), and heavily degraded (HD) grasslands
Month
/vegetation site		 August December May Vegetation
ND MD HD ND MD HD ND MD HD ND MD HD
August ND
MD 0.67
HD 0.44 0.47
December ND 0.71 0.75 0.42
MD 0.47 0.50 0.32 0.33
HD 0.38 0.50 0.87 0.36 0.45
May ND 0.59 0.63 0.21 0.56 0.44 0.18
MD 0.86 0.77 0.50 0.67 0.53 0.42 0.53
HD 0.47 0.50 0.84 0.44 0.44 0.73 0.22 0.53
Vegetation ND 0.38 0.26 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.32 0.30 0.27 0.18
MD 0.24 0.33 0.30 0.15 0.28 0.33 0.23 0.18 0.23 0.49
HD 0.15 0.23 0.55 0.14 0.29 0.69 0.14 0.16 0.43 0.56 0.39
Table 2 Similarity of species composition between soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation under different levels and months of grassland degradation
Fig. 4 Two-dimensional nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination of species composition of soil seed bank under different levels and months of grassland degradation
Site Type May August December Vegetation
ND Family 5 5 6 11
Genus 7 7 8 20
Species 8 8 9 24
MD Family 4 4 6 8
Genus 6 6 9 14
Species 6 7 9 17
HD Family 5 7 8 9
Genus 8 10 12 19
Species 8 10 13 19
Total 1 Family 7 7 9 14
Genus 11 13 17 29
Species 14 15 19 34
Total 2 Family 11
Genus 17
Species 19
Table 3 Species composition of soil seed bank and above-ground vegetation
Fig. S3 Above-ground biomass under different degradation levels. ND, non-degraded grassland; MD, mildly degraded grassland; HD, heavily degraded grassland. Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different degradation levels at P<0.05 level. Bars are standard errors.
Fig. S4 Species richness (a), Shannon-Wiener (b), Simpson (c), and Pielou (d) diversity indices in vegetation in non-degraded (ND), mildly degraded (MD) and heavily degraded (HD) grasslands
Fig. S4 pH (a), and contents of soil moisture (b), SOC (soil organic carbon; c), TN (total nitrogen; d), AN (available nitrogen; e), and AP (available phosphorus; f) under different levels of grassland degradation. ND, non-degraded grassland; MD, mildly degraded grassland; HD, heavily degraded grassland. Different lowercase letters indicate significance among different degradation levels at P<0.05 level.
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