Effects of different grassland utilization methods on the germinable soil seed bank of the Hulunbuir meadow steppe

Ruirui Yan; Tianqi Yu; Hongmei Liu; Shijie Lv; Baorui Chen; Yanling Wu; Guoping Que; Zhijun Wei; Lijun Xu; Xiaoyu Zhu; Guixia Yang; Xiaoping Xin

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1230725

Effects of different grassland utilization methods on the germinable soil seed bank of the Hulunbuir meadow steppe

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Oct 3:14:1230725. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1230725. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ruirui Yan¹, Tianqi Yu¹, Hongmei Liu², Shijie Lv³, Baorui Chen¹, Yanling Wu⁴, Guoping Que^{3

5}, Zhijun Wei³, Lijun Xu¹, Xiaoyu Zhu⁶, Guixia Yang¹, Xiaoping Xin¹

Affiliations

¹ Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station/State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
² Grassland Institute of Inner Mongolia Academy of Forestry Sciences, Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, China.
³ College of Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, China.
⁴ College of Life Science and Technology, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Inner Mongolia, Hohhot, China.
⁵ Inner Mongolia Taiwei Ecological Technology Co., Ltd., Hohhot, China.
⁶ Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Seed banks are crucial regenerative resources for aboveground vegetation. The pattern of their changes holds immense significance in understanding alterations in the belowground seed bank. This understanding is pivotal for uncovering both short-term and long-term shifts in plant communities. Additionally, it contributes to the restoration of grassland ecosystems. To better protect grassland biodiversity and provide a theoretical basis for the restoration of degraded grasslands, in this study, the germination characteristics of soil seed banks in free-grazed, enclosed and mown areas were compared, and the results were combined with those of previous studies for a comprehensive analysis. The density of soil seed bank and perennial forage soil seed bank were significantly affected by different grassland utilization and soil depths. Grazing and enclosure grassland utilization methods increased the content of the soil seed bank, and mowing reduced the content of the seed bank. The soil seed bank density of perennial grasses accounted for the highest proportion under grazing, followed by mowing, and its lowest proportion was observed in the enclosures. Grazing not only facilitated the germination of the perennial grass seed bank but also substantially augmented its content. Mowing inhibited the germination of the upper growth grasses seed bank, which was particularly significant in the 0-2 cm soil layer under grazing. The content of the upper growth grasses seed bank affected the total seed bank to a certain extent, mainly in the 5-10 cm layer. The general correlations among the perennial grasses, upper growth grasses and soil germination seed bank resulted in 84.58% information extraction, and this information has practical significance for grassland ecological restoration.

Keywords: grassland utilization; hulunbuir grassland; perennial grass; soil germination seed bank; soil seed bank; upper growth grasses.

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFF0703904, 2021YFD1300503), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31971769, 32130070), and the Special Funding for Modern Agricultural Technology Systems from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture (CARS-34).