干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Maintenance of dominant populations in heavily grazed grassland: Inference from a Stipa breviflora seed germination experiment

Arid

DOI	10.7717/peerj.6654
	Maintenance of dominant populations in heavily grazed grassland: Inference from a Stipa breviflora seed germination experiment
	Liu, Wenting 1; Wei, Zhijun2,3 ; Yang, Xiaoxia 1
通讯作者	Wei, Zhijun
来源期刊	PEERJ
ISSN	2167-8359
出版年	2019
卷号	7
英文摘要	An understanding of population adaptation and maintenance mechanisms under interference from large herbivores is lacking and is a major focus of ecological research. In the Eurasian steppe, which has been subjected to continuous interference from domesticated ungulates throughout history and shows increased grazing, it is particularly urgent to analyze the ecological adaptation strategies of widely distributed Stipa plants. In this study, Stipa breviflora in a group of desert steppes in the Mongolian Plateau was selected to study the potential mechanism underlying the maintenance of dominant populations under the continuous interference of heavy grazing from the new perspective of seed germination rate. Laboratory experimental results showed that the values of the phenotypic traits of S. breviflora seeds were lower under a heavy grazing treatment than under a non-grazing treatment, but the seed germination rate did not decrease. The awns of non-grazed seeds significantly affected the seed germination rate, while those of heavily grazed seeds did not. Field observations showed that grazing does not significantly affect the population density of S. breviflora at different growth stages except in extremely wet and dry years. Our study suggests that under heavy grazing, S. breviflora uses an opportunistic ecological strategy to ensure population maintenance by increasing the seed germination rate and reducing dispersal via changes in associated seed phenotypic traits.
英文关键词	Seed phenotypic characteristics Awn Germination rate Ecological strategy Population adaptation
类型	Article
语种	英语
国家	Peoples R China
开放获取类型	Green Published, Green Submitted, gold
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000461847800011
WOS关键词	GRAZING INTENSITY ; DESERT STEPPE ; SIZE VARIATION ; BEHAVIOR ; MASS ; ESTABLISHMENT ; COLONIZATION ; MORPHOLOGY ; DIVERSITY ; RESPONSES
WOS类目	Multidisciplinary Sciences
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/217902
作者单位	1.Qinghai Univ, Qinghai Acad Anim & Vet Sci, Xining, Qinghai, Peoples R China; 2.Minist Educ PR China, Key Lab Grassland Resources, Hohhot, Peoples R China; 3.Inner Mongolia Agr Univ, Coll Grassland Resources & Environm, Hohhot, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Liu, Wenting,Wei, Zhijun,Yang, Xiaoxia. Maintenance of dominant populations in heavily grazed grassland: Inference from a Stipa breviflora seed germination experiment[J],2019,7.
APA	Liu, Wenting,Wei, Zhijun,&Yang, Xiaoxia.(2019).Maintenance of dominant populations in heavily grazed grassland: Inference from a Stipa breviflora seed germination experiment.PEERJ,7.
MLA	Liu, Wenting,et al."Maintenance of dominant populations in heavily grazed grassland: Inference from a Stipa breviflora seed germination experiment".PEERJ 7(2019).