Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2017, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (5): 1522-1532.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201705.040

• Contents • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of invasive Cenchrus spinifex on nitrogen pools in sandy grassland

ZHANG Ting, FU Wei-dong, ZHANG Rui-hai, SONG Zhen, BAI Chao, HUANG Cheng-cheng, ZHANG Guo-liang*   

  1. Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
  • Received:2016-10-25 Revised:2017-03-16 Published:2017-05-18
  • Contact: *E-mail: zhangguoliang@caas.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFSF03)

Abstract: Cenchrus spinifex is an invasive plant found in large areas of northern China. In this study, we focused on analysis of the effects of C. spinifex on soil nitrogen and plant nitrogen pools in Horqin sandy grassland. In addition, a pot experiment with 15N tracing techniques was designed to study the biological nitrogen fixation ability of C. spinifex, compared with two native grasses, Elymus dahuricus and Agropyron cristatum. The total soil nitrogen pool in C. spinifex invaded-area increased significantly by 47.5% and 20.8%, and the soil ammonium nitrogen pool decreased significantly by 25.6% and 25.2%, compared with those in bare and native plant Roegneria kamoji areas, respectively. The plant shoot nitrogen pool decreased significantly by 18.7% in C. spinifex compared with native plant R. kamoji. Atom% 15N, atom% 15N excess and atom% 15N weighting excess of C. spinifex were all significantly lower than those of E. dahuricus and A. cristatum. The nitrogen use efficiencies of C. spinifex and E. dahuricus were 48.5% and 47.0%, respectively, and no significant difference was observed. Ndfa of C. spinifex accounted for 60.2%, when growing together with E. dahuricus. These results suggested that the characteristics on the high efficient use for nitrogen of this invasive weed might an ecological adaptation mechanism, leading to successful colonization and spread in Horqin Steppe.