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Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow

Litter has been shown to alter the structure and functions of grassland ecosystems, and a knowledge of the effects of litter is essential for understanding the dynamics of ecosystem multifunctionality. However, relatively little is known about the effects of plant litter on ecosystem multifunctional...

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Autores principales: Ma, Zhouwen, Wu, Jing, Li, Lan, Zhou, Qingping, Hou, Fujiang
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8656275/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34899801
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.773804
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author Ma, Zhouwen
Wu, Jing
Li, Lan
Zhou, Qingping
Hou, Fujiang
author_facet Ma, Zhouwen
Wu, Jing
Li, Lan
Zhou, Qingping
Hou, Fujiang
author_sort Ma, Zhouwen
collection PubMed
description Litter has been shown to alter the structure and functions of grassland ecosystems, and a knowledge of the effects of litter is essential for understanding the dynamics of ecosystem multifunctionality. However, relatively little is known about the effects of plant litter on ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine meadows. A three-year field experiment was conducted to explore how litter manipulation affects ecosystem multifunctionality. The plant litter treatments that were applied consisted of a range of litter mass levels and three dominant plant species, in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results showed that litter mass manipulation had a negative effect on ecosystem multifunctionality and most individual ecosystem functions (species richness, plant cover, and above-ground biomass) but had a positive effect on plant functional group evenness. In particular, the study found that low or medium amounts of litter (≤200gm(−2)) were beneficial in maintaining a high level of ecosystem multifunctionality. Furthermore, a structural equation model revealed that ecosystem multifunctionality was driven by indirect effects of litter mass manipulation on plant functional group evenness, plant cover, and species richness. These results suggest that litter-induced effects may be a major factor in determining grassland ecosystem multifunctionality, and they indicate the potential importance of grassland management strategies that regulate the dynamics of litter accumulation.
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spelling pubmed-86562752021-12-10 Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow Ma, Zhouwen Wu, Jing Li, Lan Zhou, Qingping Hou, Fujiang Front Plant Sci Plant Science Litter has been shown to alter the structure and functions of grassland ecosystems, and a knowledge of the effects of litter is essential for understanding the dynamics of ecosystem multifunctionality. However, relatively little is known about the effects of plant litter on ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine meadows. A three-year field experiment was conducted to explore how litter manipulation affects ecosystem multifunctionality. The plant litter treatments that were applied consisted of a range of litter mass levels and three dominant plant species, in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The results showed that litter mass manipulation had a negative effect on ecosystem multifunctionality and most individual ecosystem functions (species richness, plant cover, and above-ground biomass) but had a positive effect on plant functional group evenness. In particular, the study found that low or medium amounts of litter (≤200gm(−2)) were beneficial in maintaining a high level of ecosystem multifunctionality. Furthermore, a structural equation model revealed that ecosystem multifunctionality was driven by indirect effects of litter mass manipulation on plant functional group evenness, plant cover, and species richness. These results suggest that litter-induced effects may be a major factor in determining grassland ecosystem multifunctionality, and they indicate the potential importance of grassland management strategies that regulate the dynamics of litter accumulation. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8656275/ /pubmed/34899801 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.773804 Text en Copyright © 2021 Ma, Wu, Li, Zhou and Hou. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Ma, Zhouwen
Wu, Jing
Li, Lan
Zhou, Qingping
Hou, Fujiang
Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow
title Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow
title_full Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow
title_fullStr Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow
title_full_unstemmed Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow
title_short Litter-Induced Reduction in Ecosystem Multifunctionality Is Mediated by Plant Diversity and Cover in an Alpine Meadow
title_sort litter-induced reduction in ecosystem multifunctionality is mediated by plant diversity and cover in an alpine meadow
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8656275/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34899801
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.773804
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