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The Formation of the Patterns of Desert Shrub Communities on the Western Ordos Plateau, China: The Roles of Seed Dispersal and Sand Burial

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  • Yange Wang
  • Xiaohui Yang
  • Zhongjie Shi

Abstract

The western Ordos Plateau is a key area of shrub diversity and a National Nature Reserve of endangered shrub species in north-west China. Desert expansion is becoming the most important threat to these endangered species. However, little is known about the effects of sand burial on the dynamics of the shrub community. This study aims to investigate how the shrubs as a community and as different individual shrubs respond to the disturbances caused by the desert expansion. The approach used by this study is to separate the seed-dispersal strategy from the sand-burial forces that are involved in structuring the shrub communities at different disturbance stages. Four communities for different disturbance stages were surveyed by using 50×50 m plots. The individual shrubs were classified into coloniser and successor groups at the seed-dispersal stage and strong and weak sand-burial tolerance groups at the sand-expansion stage. We employed spatial point pattern analysis with null models for each community to examine the seed-dispersal strategy and sand-burial forces affecting community distribution patterns. At the seed-dispersal stage, the interactions between the colonisers and the successors showed significant positive correlation at a scale of 0–1 m and significant negative correlation at a scale of 2 m; significant negative correlations between the groups with strong and weak sand-burial tolerance in the early stage of sand expansion at scales of 3–6 m, and significant positive correlation in the later stage of sand expansion at a scale of 13 m, were found. Seed-dispersal strategy is a reasonable mechanism to explain the shrub community pattern formation in the earlier stages, whereas sand burial is the primary reason for the disappearance of shrubs with weak sand-burial tolerance, this irreversible disturbance causes homogenisation of the community structure and produces aging populations of shrub species. This has an important influence on the succession direction of desert shrub communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Yange Wang & Xiaohui Yang & Zhongjie Shi, 2013. "The Formation of the Patterns of Desert Shrub Communities on the Western Ordos Plateau, China: The Roles of Seed Dispersal and Sand Burial," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-9, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0069970
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069970
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Francesc Montané & Pere Casals & Mark R T Dale, 2011. "How Spatial Heterogeneity of Cover Affects Patterns of Shrub Encroachment into Mesic Grasslands," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 6(12), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Dietrich Stoyan & Helga Stoyan, 2000. "Improving Ratio Estimators of Second Order Point Process Characteristics," Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Danish Society for Theoretical Statistics;Finnish Statistical Society;Norwegian Statistical Association;Swedish Statistical Association, vol. 27(4), pages 641-656, December.
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    1. Xiao Wang & Bo Zhang & Kebin Zhang & Jinxing Zhou & Bilal Ahmad, 2015. "The Spatial Pattern and Interactions of Woody Plants on the Temperate Savanna of Inner Mongolia, China: The Effects of Alternating Seasonal Grazing-Mowing Regimes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Lina Jiang & Xiao Wang & Long Li & Zhongjie Shi & Xiaohui Yang, 2017. "Spatial Association of Shrubs and Their Interrelation to Burrowing Site Preference of Subterranean Rodents on Dune Slope in the Otindag Sandy Land, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-15, September.
    3. Jiankang Liu & Kebin Zhang, 2018. "Spatial Pattern and Population Structure of Artemisia ordosica Shrub in a Desert Grassland under Enclosure, Northwest China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, May.

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