Promoting effects of soil C and N and limiting effect of soil P jointly determine the plant diversity during the aerial seeding restoration process in Mu Us sandy land, China

Xiaoqian Gong; Zhimin Qi; Jia Wen; Yongzhi Yan; Qingfu Liu; Yuanheng Li; Qing Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1272607

Promoting effects of soil C and N and limiting effect of soil P jointly determine the plant diversity during the aerial seeding restoration process in Mu Us sandy land, China

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Oct 25:14:1272607. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1272607. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaoqian Gong^#¹, Zhimin Qi^#², Jia Wen¹, Yongzhi Yan¹, Qingfu Liu^{1

3}, Yuanheng Li⁴, Qing Zhang^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resource Use of the Mongolian Plateau, School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.
² School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.
³ Research Center of Forest Ecology, Forestry College, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China.
⁴ Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, China.
⁵ Collaborative Innovation Center for Grassland Ecological Security (Jointly Supported by the Ministry of Education of China and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region), Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Exploring the change and maintaining mechanism of plant diversity is of great significance for guiding the restoration of degraded ecosystems. However, how plant taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity change during long-term ecosystem restoration process and their driving factors remain unclear.

Methods: Based on the 35-year time gradient of aerial seeding restoration in Mu Us sandy land, this study explored the changes in plant taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity and the driving factors.

Results: The results showed that plant taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity showed consistent response with the aerial seeding restoration, all of which increased first and then tended to a saturation state in the middle of restoration (14 years). TN, TOC, and NO₃ ^--N increased with aerial seeding restoration and showed a significant positive correlation with plant diversity of the three dimensions, while AP showed a negative correlation. Soil nitrogen and carbon promoted the increase of diversity of three dimensions in the early restoration period, while phosphorus limited the increase of diversity of three dimensions in the middle and late restoration periods. The diversity of three dimensions was mainly affected by restoration time, soil nutrients, and climate factors, and the coupling effect of restoration time and soil nutrients was dominant.

Discussion: These findings indicate that the plant diversity in different dimensions and soil nutrients are improved by aerial seeding restoration. Our study highlights that aerial seeding restoration mainly improves plant diversity by increasing soil nutrients, and the relative effects of different soil nutrients on plant diversity during restoration are inconsistent.

Keywords: ecological restoration; functional diversity; phylogenetic diversity; soil nutrients; taxonomic diversity.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the Key Science and Technology Program of Inner Mongolia (2021ZD0008), the Cooperation project of science and technology promotion in Inner Mongolia (2022EEDSKJXM002-1), the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Plan Project (2021GG0392).