Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing, 210042, China.
Sci Rep. 2019 Apr 24;9(1):6501. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43034-8.
Revegetation on sandy land has attracted worldwide attention, especially on the extremely fragile alpine eco-region of the Tibetan Plateau. However, the effectiveness of revegetation and its controlling factors have rarely been reported. We collected plant growths and species composition from seven field sites in 2011 and conducted a follow-up random investigation in 2016. The indicators, including richness and diversity, were used to compare the differences among these sites based on redundancy and cluster analyses. The results indicated that plant growth has different characteristics in different land types. The distribution and growth of Artemisia sphaerocephala, Artemisia younghusbandii and Heteropappus gouldii varied with topography, and the crown widths of A. sphaerocephala were 100.6 cm × 87.2 cm on barchan dune and 26.0 cm × 25.4 cm on moving sandy land at valley slopes. These species are likely the pioneer plants for revegetation on sandy land. It seems that sand-protecting barriers play an important role in revegetation. The stone and plastic checkerboard barriers increase plant diversity, while straw barrier promotes the plant growth. These findings provide useful guidance to the ongoing vegetation recovery on sandy land, an important component of the Project on Construction and Protection of Ecological Security Barriers on the Tibetan Plateau.
沙地上的植被恢复引起了全球关注，特别是在青藏高原这一极其脆弱的高山生态区。然而，植被恢复的效果及其控制因素却鲜有报道。我们于 2011 年在七个野外点收集了植物生长和物种组成数据，并于 2016 年进行了后续的随机调查。基于冗余分析和聚类分析，使用丰富度和多样性等指标来比较这些地点之间的差异。结果表明，不同土地类型的植物生长具有不同的特征。不同地形条件下，沙蒿、沙生冰草和头状沙拐枣的分布和生长也有所不同，新月形沙丘上的沙蒿冠幅为 100.6cm×87.2cm，而在河谷坡地上的流动沙丘上的沙蒿冠幅为 26.0cm×25.4cm。这些物种可能是沙地上植被恢复的先锋植物。沙障似乎在植被恢复中起着重要作用。石方格和塑料方格沙障增加了植物多样性，而秸秆沙障促进了植物生长。这些发现为正在进行的青藏高原生态安全屏障建设与保护工程中的沙化土地植被恢复提供了有益的指导。
