Xing Shanfeng, Wang Wen J, Wang Lei, Du Haibo, Wu Zhengfang, Zong Shengwei, Cong Yu, Ba Shengjie
State Key Laboratory of Black Soils Conservation and Utilization, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China.
Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, China.
Front Microbiol. 2024 Aug 16;15:1422529. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1422529. eCollection 2024.
Alpine tundra, covering 3% of the Earth's land surface, harbors approximately 4% of higher plant species. Changes in this vegetation significantly impact biodiversity and ecosystem services. Recent studies have primarily focused on large-scale and long-term vegetation changes in polar and high-latitude regions. However, the study of short-term vegetation changes and their primary drivers has received insufficient attention in alpine tundra. This study aimed to investigate vegetation changes and their dominant drivers in the alpine tundra of Changbai Mountains-located at the southern edge of the alpine tundra distribution in Eastern Eurasia-over a short period by re-surveying permanent plots in 2019 and comparing them with data from 2014. The results showed that significant changes were observed in alpine tundra vegetation during the study period. The importance values of typical alpine tundra plants such as , , and decreased noticeably, while those of herbaceous species such as and increased significantly. Species richness, diversity, and evenness at different altitudinal gradients showed varying degrees of increase. A distinct expansion trend of herbaceous species was observed in the alpine tundra, contributing to a shift in plant community composition toward herbaceous dominance. This shift might result in the meadowization of the dwarf shrub tundra. Our findings further revealed that soil nutrients rather than climate factors, dominated the changes of plant communities over a short period. These findings provide scientific references for the conservation and management of biodiversity, as well as for projecting future vegetation dynamics in alpine tundra.
高山苔原覆盖了地球陆地表面的3%，拥有约4%的高等植物物种。这种植被的变化对生物多样性和生态系统服务有着重大影响。近期的研究主要集中在极地和高纬度地区的大规模和长期植被变化。然而，在高山苔原中，短期植被变化及其主要驱动因素的研究受到的关注不足。本研究旨在通过在2019年重新调查长白山高山苔原（位于欧亚大陆东部高山苔原分布的南缘）的永久样地，并将其与2014年的数据进行比较，来调查短期内该地区的植被变化及其主要驱动因素。结果表明，在研究期间，高山苔原植被发生了显著变化。典型的高山苔原植物如[此处原文植物名称缺失]、[此处原文植物名称缺失]和[此处原文植物名称缺失]的重要值显著下降，而草本物种如[此处原文植物名称缺失]和[此处原文植物名称缺失]的重要值则显著增加。不同海拔梯度的物种丰富度、多样性和均匀度均呈现出不同程度的增加。在高山苔原中观察到草本物种有明显的扩张趋势，这导致了植物群落组成向草本优势的转变。这种转变可能会导致矮灌木苔原的草甸化。我们的研究结果进一步表明，在短期内，土壤养分而非气候因素主导了植物群落的变化。这些发现为生物多样性的保护和管理以及预测高山苔原未来的植被动态提供了科学参考。
