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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2018, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (6): 1902-1910.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201806.038

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Effects of Myospalax baileyi disturbance on plant community at alpine meadow in Three Rivers Headwater Region, China.

YU Hai-ling1,2, FAN Jiang-wen2*, LI Yu-zhe2, SHI Wen-jiao2,3   

  1. 1College of Chemical Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, Fujian, China;
    2Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;
    3College of Resources and Environment,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2017-09-18 Revised:2018-03-16 Online:2018-06-18 Published:2018-06-18
  • Supported by:

    The work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0604804), the Science and Technology Major Project of Qinghai Province (2015-SF-A4-1), the National Science Foundation of China (31070427), and the Scientific Research Fund of Huaqiao University (600005-Z17Y0068).

Abstract: Plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) is one of the major rodent species at the alpine meadow in Three Rivers Headwater Region. They eat plant roots, excavate many tunnels and deposit soil on the surface, which result in many exposed mounds to cover the aboveground part of plants. Here, taking plateau zokor mound density in a plot as their disturbance degree, we selected seven plots with different plateau zokor mound densities and one control plot which was not disturbed by plateau zokor to explore the effects of M. baileyi disturbance on community composition, species diversity and productivity. The results showed that, with the increases of available mound density, the dominant species were changed from Cyperaceae and Gramineae species to forb species, including Poly-gonum viviparum, Potentilla anserine, and Polygonum sibiricum. The community coverage and height were significantly decreased. Light or intermediate disturbance by plateau zokor improved species diversity, whereas the evenness index showed no significant change. The changes of community productivity did not support the ‘intermediate disturbance hypothesis’. With the increases of plateau zokor disturbance, the aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, total biomass of community significantly decreased. Our findings revealed the effects of plateau zokor’s activity on plant community at alpine meadow and presented important information for the management and restoration of degraded grassland and the sustainable utilization of grassland in Three Rivers Headwater Region.