Abstract
Graminoids are typically the dominant plants in certain grassland communities, and their clonal growth is considered an important method of evaluating their adaptation to environmental disturbances. Whether disturbances caused by small burrowing herbivores influence clonal growth in graminoids is not well documented. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of disturbances by small burrowing herbivores, the plateau pika, on the clonal growth of the tussock-forming Kobresia pygmaea and the rhizomatous K. humilis across three sites. This study showed that disturbance by plateau pikas increased the shoot number, spacer number and tiller bud number per clonal fragment of both the tussock-forming K. pygmaea and the rhizomatous K. humilis across three sites. This study also showed that disturbance by plateau pikas increased the rhizome branch number, rhizome length, and rhizome bud number per clonal fragment of rhizomatous K. humilis at each site, while the effects of disturbance by plateau pikas on the rhizome branch number, rhizome length, and rhizome bud number per clonal fragment of the tussock-forming K. pygmaea were different among the three sites. These results suggested that disturbance by plateau pikas benefits for current and potential population recruitment in the tussock-forming K. pygmaea and the rhizomatous K. humilis due to the resulting higher shoot number and tiller bud number per clonal fragment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Chao Cheng Shu, Shao Hong Jin, Hong Yan Zhang, Hai Peng Xu, Wen Na Zhang, Juan Wang, Ding Yang, Ying Ying Chen, Jie Li, Di Gang Zhi, Fu Yun Qiao, Hao Hao Qi and Gan Lin Feng from Lanzhou University, and Xuan Dun Lin and Wen Li Wu from Northwest Minzu University for their field assistance and laboratory analysis that contributed to this study. This study was funded by the Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT17R50), the Major Special Project for Improvement and Utilization of Forage Germplasm in Tibetan Autonomous Region (XZ201901NA03), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31172258).
Funding
This study was funded by the Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT17R50), the Major Special Project for Improvement and Utilization of Forage Germplasm in Tibetan Autonomous Region (XZ201901NA03), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31172258).
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QW, and ZGG designed the research, QW, XPP, JZ and HY conducted the research, and QW and ZGG analyzed the data and wrote the article.
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The Kobresia pygmaea and K. humilis are not endangered and endemic species.
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Wang, Q., Guo, Z.G., Pang, X.P. et al. Effects of small-herbivore disturbance on the clonal growth of two perennial graminoids in alpine meadows. Alp Botany 130, 115–127 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-020-00240-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00035-020-00240-9