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Linking grazing response of species abundance to functional traits in the Tibetan alpine meadow

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Abstract

Whether grazing response of species abundance can be predicted by plant functional trait remains a challenge untested in a specific ecosystem. We measured species abundance and relevant functional traits for 30 common component species in a moderately grazed and a control community over 3 years (2005, 2006 and 2007) in a Kobresia capillifolia dominated alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. Our objective was to examine species response to grazing and to test the relationship between the response of species abundance and functional traits in grazed and control habitats. Our results showed: i) in terms of species relative abundance and saturated height (the maximum height of an adult individual), most component species significantly decrease in response to moderate grazing and the effect differed among species and between functional groups. ii) The response of species abundance was significantly negatively correlated with saturated height, but not correlated with specific leaf area or seed size. We concluded that the response direction of species abundance to grazing can be predicted by functional traits, whereas it is a weak predictor of the extent of grazing response in species abundance.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Ken Moloney and Jinsheng He for assistance in editing of the manuscript, and to Francesco de Bello and Philippe Choler for their valuable discussions. We thank Bayaerta, Peng Jia, Xianhui Zhou and the staffs at The Research Station of Alpine Meadow and Wetland Ecosystem of Lanzhou University for providing invaluable field assistance. The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 40930533 to G. Du). K. Niu was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Project 2007BAC06B01 to J. He).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Kechang Niu

  2. MOE Key Laboratory of Arid and Grassland Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Kechang Niu, Shiting Zhang, Binbin Zhao & Guozhen Du

  3. Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Binbin Zhao

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  1. Kechang Niu
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  2. Shiting Zhang
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Correspondence to Kechang Niu or Shiting Zhang.

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Responsible Editor: Tibor Kalapos.

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Niu, K., Zhang, S., Zhao, B. et al. Linking grazing response of species abundance to functional traits in the Tibetan alpine meadow. Plant Soil 330, 215–223 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-0194-8

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