Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (3): 403-411.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.03.07

• Plant Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Morphological characteristics of Nitraria tangutorum nebkhas in Jilantai desert-oasis ecotone

WEI Yajuan1,2(),DANG Xiaohong1(),WANG Ji1,HAN Yanlong1,XIE Yunhu2,LIN Bo1   

  1. 1. College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    2. Department of Resource and Environment, Baotou Teachers’ College, Baotou 014030, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2022-05-18 Revised:2022-07-21 Online:2023-03-15 Published:2023-03-31

Abstract:

Nitraria tangutorum nebkha is a common natural landscape in the desert-oasis ecotone of Jilantai; however, the growth characteristics of N. tangutorum shrubs and the morphological characteristics of N. tangutorum nebkhas under different background vegetation coverages remain unknown. Through the measurement of shrubs and morphological characteristics of N. tangutorum nebkhas, the variability of morphological parameters of N. tangutorum nebkhas and the relationship between the growth characteristics and morphology of N. tangutorum nebkhas were quantitatively analyzed under different background vegetation coverages. The influence of background vegetation coverage on the succession of N. tangutorum nebkhas was also discussed. Results showed that: (1) the evolution of N. tangutorum nebkhas was stable under four different background vegetation coverages. The morphological parameters of N. tangutorum nebkhas gradually developed toward large scale and small density with the increasing background vegetation coverage. (2) Overall, a good correlation was found between the morphological parameters of N. tangutorum nebkhas under different background vegetation coverages. (3) In the desert-oasis ecotone of Jilantai, the relationship between the L and W of N. tangutorum nebkhas followed a quadratic or power function, and the relationship between the A and V of N. tangutorum nebkhas followed a power function. Except for sample site 1, the relationship between A and H and between H and D followed linear trend and power function, respectively. (4) The coverage of N. tangutorum nebkhas was mainly 40%-80%, accounting for 64.62% of total N. tangutorum nebkhas in the desert-oasis ecotone of Jilantai. This finding indicated that the N. tangutorum nebkhas in the study area is well grown, widely developed, and temporarily not a source of wind and sand damage to the oasis.

Key words: Nitraria tangutorum nebkha, background vegetation coverage, morphological characteristics, desert-oasis ecotone, Jilantai