The study on the effects of nitrogen setoning on desert herb community has made progress

increase in human industrial and agricultural activities, resulting in more and more nitrogen emissions into the atmosphere and subside on the surface of terrestrial ecosystems. The increase of nitrogen subsidon also becomes an important global change factor affecting the structure and function of ecosystem plant community. Arid zones account for about one-third of the world's land area and are particularly sensitive to increased nitrogen settlement due to a general lack of nitrogen in the soil. At present, there are few studies on the effects of nitrogen subsidence on plant community in desert ecosystems. However, the large number of annual plants in desert areas provides an ideal research material to reveal how desert plants respond to the increase of nitrogen subsidence between years.
Recently, Zhang Yuanming, a researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, set up a long-term nitrogen subsidence simulation increase sample with the Quasi-Ul Desert as the research area, and conducted three consecutive years of observational experiments to study the response of desert herb community to nitrogen increase. The results show that the response of plant richness, uniformity, density and biomass to nitrogen is both concentration-dependent and seasonal- and most of the indicators become more obvious over time. 2) Nitrogen can reduce species richness, especially when high concentrations of nitrogen increase, and the number of species can be halved within three years. Uniformity and density respond less within 2 years, and negative effects begin to appear in year 3. 3) Low concentrations of nitrogen can increase biomass, but as the age increases, the effect may disappear, while high concentrations of nitrogen have an inhibitory effect. 4) All indicators are interrelated and have a cascading effect, i.e. the response of biomass to nitrogen increase is affected by richness, gradability and other changes in community structure, not just directly by nitrogen. In general, the relationship between nitrogen sembation and community properties does not only vary with the seasons, but also has a cumulative effect over time, but this time change is not related to the seasonal and inter-annual environmental conditions. The above research results are of great significance to understand the influence of nitrogen subsidence on the structure and function of desert ecosystem.
research results were published in
, with Zhou Xiaobing, an associate researcher, as the first author and Zhang Yuanming as the author of the communication. The research has been funded by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. (Source: Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences)