Arid Zone Research ›› 2018, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (2): 370-378.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2018.02.15

• Biological and Biological Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Distribution and Water Use Efficiency of Halophytes in the Ebinur Lake Nature Reserve

LI Hong-xia1,2, YANG Xiao-dong1,2,3, LV Guang-hui1,2,3, LIU Wei-guo1,2,3   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology of Ministry of Education,Urumqi 830046,Xinjiang,China;
    2. College of Resources and Environment Sciences,Xinjiang University,Urumqi,830046,Xinjiang,China;
    3. Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Colleges and Universities for Smart Cities and Environment Modeling,Urumqi,830046,Xinjiang,China
  • Received:2017-05-23 Revised:2017-10-09 Online:2018-03-15 Published:2025-11-17

Abstract: In this paper,the relationships among soil salinity,numerical distribution of plants and water use efficiency (WUE) of halophytes along soil salinity gradient in the Ebinur Lake Nature Reserve were revealed.Three halophyte types,i.e.pseudohalophytes,recretohalophytes and euhalophytes,were chosen as the research objects,and the WUE,numerical characteristics,physiological indexes and soil salinity were analyzed by using δ13C,community investigation and laboratory experiments.The results are as follows: ① The nine soil samples collected from the study area were divided into three types,i.e.the samples with high,moderate and low soil salinity; ② There was no significant abundance difference between pseudohalophytes and recretohalophytes along soil salinity gradient,but the abundance of euhalophytes in the areas with high soil salinity was significantly higher than that in the areas with moderate and low soil salinity (P<0.05).The richness of pseudohalophytes,recretohalophytes and euhalophytes was obviously higher in the areas with moderate soil salinity than that in the areas with high and low soil salinity (P<0.05).In the areas with high and moderate soil salinity,the abundance and richness of halophytes were in an order of euhalophytes > pseudohalophytes > recretohalophytes,but in an order of recretohalophytes>pseudohalophytes > euhalophytes in the areas with low soil salinity; ③ There was no significant difference in δ13C values of pseudohalophytes along soil salinity gradient (P>0.05),but a significant difference between pseudohalophyte and euhalophytes (P<0.05); ④ Except the δ13C values of recretohalophytes were significantly lower than those of secretohalophytes and euhalophytes in the areas with moderate soil salinity (P<0.05),there was no significant change of the δ13C values of 3 halophytes in the areas with high and low soil salinity (P>0.05); ⑤ There were no significant differences in the physiological indexes,i.e.proline,soluble protein,soluble sugar and nitrate reductase activity of pseudohalophyte,recretohalophytes and euhalophytes along three soil salinity gradients; ⑥ In most cases,there were no significant changes of physiological indexes among euhalophytes,pseudohalophyte and recretohalophytes along soil salinity gradients (P>0.05); ⑦ Relationships among physiological indexes,δ13C value,abundance and richness varied from the different types of halophytes.

Key words: soil, salt gradient, halophyte, WUE, abundance, richness, Nature Reserve, Ebinur Lake