Responses of plant litter decomposition to grazing and enclosure management in semiarid grassland ecosystem

Wei Chen, Rentao Liu, Aiming Zhang, Jiayu Jiang, Ximing Jang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This present study was to explored litter decomposition of different plant species under grazing and enclosure management in semi-arid grassland ecosystems. The remaining mass and decay constant (k) of Leymus secalinus, Lespedeza potaninii litter, and their mixture were investigated within 30- and 250-mesh litterbags in semiarid grasslands under grazing and enclosure management in Ningxia. In addition, the contribution of litter arthropods to decomposition was analyzed in order to discuss the effects of grazing management on decomposition process. The results showed that; (1) there was a significant higher final litter mass remaining rate (Rm) in L. potaninii than in L. secalinus and mixture from 250-mesh litterbags in grazing grasslands, whereas there were no significant differences in Rm of plant litter either from 30-mesh litterbags in grazing grasslands, or from both size-mesh treatments in enclosure grasslands. (2) In 250-mesh litterbags, the k was significantly higher in the mixture than in L. potaninii in both grasslands under grazing and enclosure managements, with the intermediate values in L. secalinus litter (P < 0. 0 5). But the k of L. potaninii was significantly higher in enclosure than in grazing grasslands (P < 0. 0 5). In 30-mesh litterbags, the litter decay constant (k) was significantly higher in L. secalinus and mixture than in L. potaninii in both grasslands under grazing and enclosure managements; the k of L. potaninii litter was significantly higher in enclosure than in grazing grasslands (P < 0. 0 5). (3) In grazing grassland, the Rm of L. potaninii was significantly higher in 250-mesh than 30-mesh (P < 0. 0 5), while k was significantly higher in 30-mesh than in 250-mesh. There were significantly lower values in the mixture than in L. potaninii, with the intermediate values in L. secalinus (P < 0. 0 5). In enclosure grassland, the k of L. potaninii was significantly higher in 30-mesh than 250-mesh (P < 0. 0 5), while the contribution rate of litter arthropods to litter decomposition was significant higher in the mixture and L. potaninii than in L. secalinus. The contribution rate of litter arthropods to mixture litter decomposition was significantly higher in enclosure than in grazing grasslands (P < 0. 0 5). (4) The Rm indicated a positive correlation with litter lignin/N and litter C / P, but it indicated a negatively correlation with litter initial N and P content. And the k indicated a positive correlation with litter initial N and P, while it indicated a negatively correlation with litter lignin, N / P, C / P and lignin/P. It was suggested that plant species composition presented a significant effect on the litter final mass remaining and decay constant. The effect of grazing management on litter arthropod distribution between different mesh-size litterbags induced the decomposition differences between various species of plant litter. In conclusion, the enclosure management was conducive to promoting the contribution of litter arthropods to low-quality litter (i. e., L. potaninii) decomposition in semi-arid grasslands.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5725-5736
Number of pages12
JournalShengtai Xuebao
Volume41
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

  • Contribution rate of litter arthropods
  • Decay constant
  • Grazing management
  • Mass remaining
  • Mesh-size
  • Species composition

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