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Effect of Soil Microbiotic Crust on Plant Community in the Gurbantunggut Desert

ZHUANG Wei-wei1,  ZHANG Yuan-Ming2*   

  1. (1.Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Special Species Conservation and Regulatory Biology, College of Life Sciences, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumqi, China, 830054; 2.Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioresource in Arid Land, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China, 830011.)

  • Received:2016-11-02 Revised:2017-05-05 Online:2017-11-15 Published:2017-12-20

Abstract: Abstract:The plant communities in the microbiotic crustintact and microbiotic crustremoved plots in the Gurbantonggut Desert were investigated. The desert is mosaicspatched by vascular plants and soil microbiotic crust. The influence of soil microbiotic crust on seed germination,seedling survival,soil nutrient content and water distribution was firstly discussed,and then the influence of soil microbiotic crust on plant diversity was studied. The results showed that the sum of the biomass of five dominant herb species including Erodium oxyrrhynchum,Alyssum linifolium,Hyalea pulchella,Alyssum desertorum and Eremopyrum triticeum contributed more than 90% of the total aboveground biomass of the synusia. Compared with the microbiotic crustintact plot,the plant height,Shannon Wiener diversity index (H) and species richness (R) were significantly increased after the microbiotic crust was removed. However,the plant density,productivity and coverage were lower than those in microbiotic crustintact plot. These results indicated that the diversity and coverage of herbaceous plants were significantly affected by microbiotic crust. It is concluded that microbiotic crust could promote the restoration of desert ecosystem.

Key words: icrobiotic crust, herbaceous plant, plant diversity, community structure, biomass, the Gurbantunggut Desert