Niche characteristics of plants on four environmental gradients in middle reaches of Tarim River

Abstract

Abstract: Tarim River is the longest continental river in China.Along its either bank,the natural vegetation belts are composed of arbors,shrubs and grasses.In this paper,the niche breadths and overlaps of nineteen species on four environmental gradients in the middle reaches of Tarim River were calculated and analyzed.The results showed that the nineteen species could be divided into three groups,based on their average niche breadths.Group one included Populus euphratica,Tamarix ramosissima,T.hispida,Lycium ruthernicum,Alhagi sparsifolia and Phragmites australis,which were constructive species in Tarim River and their niche breadths were greater.Group two included T.leptostachys,Aeluropus pungens,Poacynum hendersonii,Cynanchum sibiricum,Karelinia caspica,Inula salsoloides,Taraxacum sp.,and Hexinia polydichotoma,and their niche breadths were smaller than that of group one.Group three included Halimodendron halodendron,Glycyrrhiza inflata,Calamagrostis pseudophragmites,Salsola sp.,and Sophora alapecuroides.Based on the niche overlaps matrix,the niche overlaps of the plant species pairs were generally smaller on all the four environmental gradients,because of their probable niche shift or the demand for different environmental resources.Soil moisture and soil salinity were the important environmental factors limiting the plant distribution in the middle reaches of Tarim River.

Key words: Middle reaches of Tarim River, Niche breadth, Niche overlap, Species, Xinjiang

CLC Number:

Q948.1

LIU Jiazhen, CHEN Yaning, ZHANG Yuanming. Niche characteristics of plants on four environmental gradients in middle reaches of Tarim River[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2004, (4): 549-555.

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