IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i4p1507-d321969.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Biennial Mowing Maintains the Biomass and Functional Diversity of Semi-Arid Grassland

Author

Listed:
  • Tianqi Zhao

    (College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China
    Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Swift Current, SK S9H 3X2, Canada)

  • Feng Zhang

    (College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China)

  • Rongzhen Suo

    (College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China
    Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Morden Research and Development Centre, Morden, MB R6M 1Y5, Canada)

  • Chen Gu

    (College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China
    Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Swift Current, SK S9H 3X2, Canada)

  • Daling Chen

    (College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China)

  • Tony Yang

    (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Swift Current, SK S9H 3X2, Canada)

  • Mengli Zhao

    (College of Grassland, Resources and Environment, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China)

Abstract

Understanding the functional diversity relationship between biomass and plants is a key issue in biodiversity–ecosystem functionality and the utility of grassland. We conducted a five-year mowing experiment to examine the effects of the mowing frequency on biomass, plant species, and functional diversity of a natural plant community in a semiarid region of Inner Mongolia. A secondary objective was to test whether unmowed refuge areas within plots would mitigate the disturbance effect of mowing. The result showed that mowing disturbance reduced biomass by the greatest amount with mowing once every year (M1) and the least with M2. The biomass composition of M2 consisted of a greater mass of perennial species than in the other mowing treatments but was equivalent to the control (CK). However, mowing disturbances increased the plant species richness and M2 had the largest number of species. The community-weighted means (CWM) indices indicated that M2 produced the least detrimental effects on the grassland. Retaining unmowed refuge areas appeared to be ineffective in promoting beneficial community traits under M1 mowing regimes. Based on our results, we recommend that the semi-arid grassland be mowed every other year in order to optimize sustainable production.

Suggested Citation

  • Tianqi Zhao & Feng Zhang & Rongzhen Suo & Chen Gu & Daling Chen & Tony Yang & Mengli Zhao, 2020. "Biennial Mowing Maintains the Biomass and Functional Diversity of Semi-Arid Grassland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-11, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1507-:d:321969
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1507/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1507/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yating He & Minggang Xu & Yuchun Qi & Yunshe Dong & Xinhua He & Jianwei Li & Xinchao Liu & Liangjie Sun, 2017. "Differential Responses of Soil Microbial Community to Four-Decade Long Grazing and Cultivation in a Semi-Arid Grassland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, January.
    2. Nitu Wu & Aijun Liu & Yongfang Wang & Lanhua Li & Lumengqiqige Chao & Guixiang Liu, 2019. "An Assessment Framework for Grassland Ecosystem Health with Consideration of Natural Succession: A Case Study in Bayinxile, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xu Bi & Bianrong Chang & Fen Hou & Zihan Yang & Qi Fu & Bo Li, 2021. "Assessment of Spatio-Temporal Variation and Driving Mechanism of Ecological Environment Quality in the Arid Regions of Central Asia, Xinjiang," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-23, July.
    2. Luis M. Figueroa & Liliana Santos-Zea & Adelfo Escalante & Janet A. Gutiérrez-Uribe, 2017. "Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics of Agave Sap ( Agave salmiana ) after Its Inoculation with Microorganisms Isolated from Agave Sap Concentrate Selected to Enhance Anticancer Activity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-11, November.
    3. Junnan Xiong & Wei Li & Hao Zhang & Weiming Cheng & Chongchong Ye & Yunliang Zhao, 2019. "Selected Environmental Assessment Model and Spatial Analysis Method to Explain Correlations in Environmental and Socio-Economic Data with Possible Application for Explaining the State of the Ecosystem," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-26, September.
    4. Ziyang Wang & Peiji Shi & Xuebin Zhang & Huali Tong & Weiping Zhang & Yue Liu, 2021. "Research on Landscape Pattern Construction and Ecological Restoration of Jiuquan City Based on Ecological Security Evaluation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Ning Zhang & Kangning Xiong & Hua Xiao & Juan Zhang & Chuhong Shen, 2023. "Ecological Environment Dynamic Monitoring and Driving Force Analysis of Karst World Heritage Sites Based on Remote-Sensing: A Case Study of Shibing Karst," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Zhi Wang & Zhaoping Yang & Hui Shi & Fang Han & Qin Liu & Jianwei Qi & Yayan Lu, 2020. "Ecosystem Health Assessment of World Natural Heritage Sites Based on Remote Sensing and Field Sampling Verification: Bayanbulak as Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-21, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1507-:d:321969. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.