Welcome to Chinese Journal of Ecology! Today is Share:

cje

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Spatial pattern and spatial association of Melica przewalskyi and Artemisia frigida in degraded grassland.

MA Xiao-li1,2, ZHAO Cheng-zhang1**, ZHANG Qian1, LI Yu1, HOU Zhao-jiang1   

  1. (1Research Center of Wetland Resources Protection and Industrial Development Engineering of Gansu Province, College of Geography and Environment Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China; 2College of History Culture and Tourism, Hexi University, Zhangye 734000, Gansu, China)
  • Online:2013-02-10 Published:2013-02-10

Abstract: Spatial pattern and spatial association are the important means for the study of population diffusion, community succession, and interactions between organisms and environment. In this paper, point pattern method was applied to study the plant height, aboveground biomass, spatial pattern, and spatial association of Melica przewalskyi and Artemisia frigida at their different succession stages in the upper reaches of Shiyang River in Sunan County, Gansu Province of Northwest China. At the stages of no patch formation (CK) and patch formation (A), the M. przewalskyi population showed a clumped pattern at all scales; while at diffusion stage (B), stable stage (C), and degradation stage (D), the clumped pattern transferred to random, and, with the decreases of clumped scale and clumped intensity, the plant height and aboveground biomass of M. przewalskyi decreased after an initial increase. The spatial distribution pattern of A. frigida at its different succession stages all presented a transition from clumped to random, and, with the increase of clumped scale, the clumped intensity increased, and the plant height and aboveground biomass decreased after an initial increase. At the stages CK, A, and D, the spatial association between M. przewalskyi and A. frigida was significantly positive; at stage B, the spatial association transferred from significantly negative to not significantly. The corresponding relationships of the changes in plant height and aboveground biomass with the populations’ spatial pattern and spatial association scale transformation under the interference of grazing reflected the populations’ competition and ecological adaptable strategies in degraded grassland.