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Volume 9
Issue 11
10.3390/plants9111453
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Article

Permafrost Degradation Leads to Biomass and Species Richness Decreases on the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

by
Xiaoying Jin
1,2,
Huijun Jin
1,2,*,
Xiaodong Wu
3,
Dongliang Luo
1,
Sheng Yu
1,
Xiaoying Li
1,2,4,
Ruixia He
1,
Qingfeng Wang
1 and
Johannes M. H. Knops
5
1
Northeast-China Observatory and Research-Station of Permafrost Geo-Environment-Ministry of Education, Institute of Cold-Regions Science and Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
3
Cryosphere Research Station on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
4
School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
5
Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Plants 2020, 9(11), 1453; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111453
Received: 19 August 2020 / Revised: 21 October 2020 / Accepted: 22 October 2020 / Published: 28 October 2020
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Abstract

Degradation of permafrost with a thin overlying active layer can greatly affect vegetation via changes in the soil water and nutrient regimes within the active layer, while little is known about the presence or absence of such effects in areas with a deep active layer. Here, we selected the northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as the study area. We examined the vegetation communities and biomass along an active layer thickness (ALT) gradient from 0.6 to 3.5 m. Our results showed that plant cover, below-ground biomass, species richness, and relative sedge cover declined with the deepening active layer, while the evenness, and relative forb cover showed a contrary trend. The vegetation indices and the dissimilarity of vegetation composition exhibited significant changes when the ALT was greater than 2.0 m. The vegetation indices (plant cover, below-ground biomass, evenness index, relative forb cover and relative sedge cover) were closely associated with soil water content, soil pH, texture and nutrient content. Soil water content played a key role in the ALT–vegetation relationship, especially at depths of 30–40 cm. Our results suggest that when the ALT is greater than 2.0 m, the presence of underlying permafrost still benefits vegetation growth via maintaining adequate soil water contents at 30–40 cm depth. Furthermore, the degradation of permafrost may lead to declines of vegetation cover and below-ground biomass with a shift in vegetation species. View Full-Text
Keywords: active layer thickness; alpine vegetation; permafrost degradation; climate warming; soil water content active layer thickness; alpine vegetation; permafrost degradation; climate warming; soil water content
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
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MDPI and ACS Style

Jin, X.; Jin, H.; Wu, X.; Luo, D.; Yu, S.; Li, X.; He, R.; Wang, Q.; Knops, J.M.H. Permafrost Degradation Leads to Biomass and Species Richness Decreases on the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Plants 2020, 9, 1453. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111453

AMA Style

Jin X, Jin H, Wu X, Luo D, Yu S, Li X, He R, Wang Q, Knops JMH. Permafrost Degradation Leads to Biomass and Species Richness Decreases on the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Plants. 2020; 9(11):1453. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111453

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jin, Xiaoying, Huijun Jin, Xiaodong Wu, Dongliang Luo, Sheng Yu, Xiaoying Li, Ruixia He, Qingfeng Wang, and Johannes M.H. Knops. 2020. "Permafrost Degradation Leads to Biomass and Species Richness Decreases on the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau" Plants 9, no. 11: 1453. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9111453

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