Water-Holding Characteristics of Litter in Meadow Steppes with Different Years of Fencing in Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

As a main restoration measure to address degraded grasslands, the installation of fences is often accompanied by accumulation of organic litter. This accumulated litter is a layer of physical moisture which intercepts rainfall and may inhibit plant growth and development. One of the important means to judge a reasonable length of time of fencing (the time a fence is present) is through assessing the water-holding mechanism and capacity of the litter. In this study, four meadows in the Chinese Hulunbuir grassland with different years of fencing duration were investigated in order to obtain data on organic community and litter accumulation. A soaking method was used to study water-holding characteristics of the litter and was divided into three parts of stem, leaves and decomposed parts as a means to summarize the water-holding mechanism within the litter. The results showed that: (1) Compared with the light grazing meadows, the diversity and uniformity of communities in meadows of fencing displayed a downward trend, while the accumulation of litter increased. (2) The stems, leaves, and decomposed components of litter in different communities showed a highly positive linear correlation with their maximum water-holding capacity (WHC). This indicates that the stem/leaf mass ratio and decomposition degree of litter are key factors in regulating WHC. (3) Based on this understanding, we established a model based on stem and leaf mass to predict the water-holding potential of litter in real world situations.

Keywords

• meadow steppe
• fence
• community characteristic
• litter
• water-holding capacity (WHC)
• prediction model