›› 2018, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (3): 735-742.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2018.03.28

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Correlation between the Stable Carbon Isotopes in Annual Layers of Tamarix ramosissima Sand-hillocks in the Lower Reaches of the Tarim River

LIU Bo1, LIU Hong-ling2,MU Yu-di1, LI Gui-fang1, HE Ya-ling1, ZHUANG Li1   

  1. (1. Key Laboratory of Medicinal Xinjiang Plant Resources Utilization Ministry of Education ,college of Life Sciences, Shihezi University,, Shihezi 830002, Xinjiang, China ;2. College of Chemistry and Life Sciences,Chengdu Normal University,Chengdu,611130,Chengdu, China)
  • Received:2017-07-18 Revised:2018-01-08 Online:2018-05-15 Published:2018-06-01

Abstract:

The Tarim River is located in the north of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. The recession of groundwater level and concomitant increase of soil salinity have reduced vegetation coverage in the lower reaches of the river. Tamarix ramosissima is one of the dominant plant species in the riparian ecosystem. With the continuous growth of T. ramosissima shrubberies, sand is blocked by the formation of Tamarixia sand, the T. ramosissima sand-hillocks with unique hierarchical structure form ultimately after a long-term interaction of sand and T. ramosissima shrubberies. T. ramosissima sand-hillocks are rich in environmental information. The sand thickness, grain size and mineral composition of the T. ramosissima sand-hillocks were analyzed. Three observation sections of Yingisu, Abdullah and Karda in the lower reaches of the Tarim River were designed to study the relationship between δ13C and carbon content in annual layers of T. ramosissima sand-hillocks and that between the morphological characteristics of T. ramosissima shrubberies and the morphological changes of T. ramosissima sand-hillocks. The results are as follows: (1) The content of δ13C in the litters of T. ramosissima was gradually decreased with the increase of annual layers of T. ramosissima sand-hillocks, and there was a negative correlation between δ13C value and carbon content. The average value of δ13C of the measured samples was -24.42 ‰, the maximum and the minimum were -22.09‰ and -25.24‰ respectively; (2) As the annual layers of T. ramosissima sand-hillocks increased, the δ13C value of the T. ramosissima shrubberies was reduced year by year, and the long axis and short axis, height and spatial occupancy of T. ramosissima shrubberies and the height, length, width and spatial share of the T. ramosissima sand-hillocks were all in an increase trend; (3)There were the good correlations among the morphological parameters of the T. ramosissima shrubberies and of the T. ramosissima sand-hillocks, in which the correlations among the annual layers and the T. ramosissima shrubberies and sand-hillocks were significant, and these revealed that there was a mutual feedback effect between the promotion of the T. ramosissima sand-hillocks to the growth of T. ramosissima shrubberies and the δ13C value of the T. ramosissima shrubberies.

Key words: Lower reaches of Tarim River, Tamarix shrub, Age layers, Stable carbon isotope values