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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2019, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (11): 3635-3645.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201911.007

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Niche characteristics of understory dominant species of talus slope in degraded tiankeng

GUO Ping-ping1, SHUI Wei1*, JIANG Cong2, JIAN Xiao-mei1, ZHU Su-feng1, ZHANG Yong-yong1, FENG Jie1, CHEN Yi-ping3   

  1. 1College of Environment and Resources, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China;
    2School of Urban Planning and Design, Peking University, Shenzhen 518052, Guangdong, China;
    3College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, Fujian, China
  • Received:2019-06-06 Online:2019-11-15 Published:2019-11-15
  • Contact: * E-mail: shuiweiman@163.com
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41871198).

Abstract: We carried out niche monitoring and analysis of plant populations under the forest community in the talus slope ecotone of a typical moderate-degraded Bajiaxiantang tiankeng to provide scientific references for biodiversity conservation and vegetation restoration in degraded tiankeng area. The results showed that soil ammonium, available potassium, and available phosphorus signifi-cantly affected species distribution, which explained 37.4%, 32.8%, 29.3% of the total variation, respectively. With the change of talus slope of tiankeng (pit, uphill, mid-slope, downhill and pit bottom), life form of understory plants changed from evergreen and xerophytes to evergreen and hygro-mesophytes, with the niche overlap of herbs being larger than that of shrubs. Shrubs of Viburnum congestum and Campylotropis polyantha, and herbs of Arisaema erubescens and Arthraxon hispidus had wide ecological amplitude and strong resistance, which occupied the upper layer of the shrub and herb layers. Shrub Cornus oblonga and herb Geranium nepalense, Agrimonia pilosa lost the competitiveness with increasing soil alkalinity. Niche characteristics of understory dominant species in Bajiaxiantang were closely related to the canopy structure of mixed trees, ecological strategies of shrub and herb species, unique habitat of tiankeng, and the importance value of dominant species.