Ecological Indicators (Jan 2024)
Functional diversity and carbon storage of plant community elevation patterns and carbon accumulation mechanisms in desert shrubland of Yanqi Hola Mountain, China
Abstract
Exploring the distribution characteristics of plant community functional diversity, functional traits and plant and soil carbon stocks along elevation and the effects of functional diversity and functional traits on carbon stocks is of great significance for revealing the distribution characteristics of plant community functional diversity and carbon stocks in the desert area and understanding the carbon accumulation mechanism. In this study, we took the leaf functional traits of plant community species and the carbon stocks of plants and soils of sample plots in the pre-Hola Mountain desert area as the research objects and explored their altitudinal distribution characteristics and their interrelationships. The results showed that (1) the plant carbon storage capacity of the shrub - herb association was the strongest, and the soil carbon storage capacity of the herb association was the strongest. (2) Functional richness and plant carbon storage capacity tended to increase and then decrease with elevation, while functional evenness and leaf phosphorus content tended to decrease and then increase with elevation. Functional dispersion, leaf water content, chlorophyll content, leaf carbon, nitrogen content, and soil carbon stock all showed a gradual increase with elevation, and the total carbon stock gradually increased with elevation in the middle and low elevation areas (1200–1800 m), and showed a wave-like change in the high elevation areas (1800–2400 m). (3) The accumulation of soil carbon stocks in the study area is mainly dominated by the “mass ratio hypothesis”, while the accumulation of plant carbon stocks is mainly dominated by the “ecological niche complementarity hypothesis”, and plant and soil carbon stocks are mainly affected by the specific leaf area and the content of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in leaves.
