Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Effects of Small Rainfall Events on Haloxylon ammodendron Seedling Establishment in Northwest China


Affiliations
1 College of Geography Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041000, China
2 Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Chinese Ecosystem Research Network, Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydrology and River Basin Science, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
 

Small rainfall events (≤5 mm) account for a large proportion of rainfall amount, and may play an important role in triggering plant regeneration in arid ecosystems. However, their potential ecological importance in seedling establishment of desert shrub has been previously ignored. We conducted two parallel pot experiments to examine the effects of amount and interval of small rainfall events on seedling emergence, growth and survival of the dominant shrub species Haloxylon ammodendron in sand dunes of Northwest China. The results showed that: (1) decrease in rainfall amounts did not significantly lower seedling emergence, growth and survival in comparison to control, while the large increase (+20%) in rainfall amount resulted in significant increase in seedling emergence, growth and survival for both continuous and intermittent small rainfall events; (2) continuous small rainfall events were more effective than intermittent ones for triggering seedling emergence, growth and survival; (3) small rainfall events may impact the seedling establishment of H. ammodendron only in wet years. Our results provide insights into the effects of small rainfall events on seedling establishment processes, and highlight the inherent complexity in predicting how seedling establishment of shrub species in desert ecosystems will respond to future fluctuations in small rainfall events.

Keywords

Arid Regions, Haloxylon ammodendron, Seedling Establishment, Small Rainfall Events.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Noy-Meir, I., Desert ecosystems: environment and producers. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 1973, 4, 25-51.

  • Ehleringer, J. R., Schwinning, S. and Gebauer, R., Water use in arid land ecosystems. In Physiological Plant Ecology (eds Press, M. C., Scholes, J. D. and Barker, M. G.), Blackwell Science, Boston, USA, 2000, pp. 347-365.

  • Schwinning, S. et al., Thresholds, memory, and seasonality: understanding pulse dynamics in arid/semi-arid ecosystems. Oecologia, 2004, 141(2), 191-193.

  • Schwinning, S. et al., Deuterium enriched irrigation indicates different forms of rain use in shrub/grass species of the Colorado Plateau. Oecologia, 2002, 130(3), 345-355.

  • Loik, M. E. et al., A multi-scale perspective of water pulses in dryland ecosystems: climatology and ecohydrology of the western USA. Oecologia, 2004, 141(2), 269-281.

  • Lauenroth, W. K. and Bradford, J. B., Ecohydrology of dry regions of the United States: precipitation pulses and intraseasonal drought. Ecohydrology, 2009, 2(2), 173-181.

  • Reynolds, J. F. et al., Modifying the ‘pulse-reserve’ paradigm for deserts of North America: precipitation pulses, soil water, and plant responses. Oecologia, 2004, 141(2), 194-210.

  • Cheng, X. et al., Summer rain pulse size and rainwater uptake by three dominant desert plants in a desertified grassland ecosystem in northwestern China. Plant Ecol., 2006, 184, 1-12.

  • Sala, O. and Lauenroth, W., Small rainfall events: an ecological role in semiarid regions. Oecologia, 1982, 53, 301-304.

  • Dougherty, R. L., Lauenroth, W. K. and Singh, J. S., Response of a grassland cactus to frequency and size of rainfall events in a North American short grasses steppe. J. Ecol., 1996, 84(2), 177-183.

  • Hao, Y. et al., Verification of a threshold concept of ecologically effective precipitation pulse: from plant individuals to ecosystem. Ecol. Inform., 2012, 12, 23-30.

  • Guo, K., Dong, X. J. and Liu, Z. M., Characteristics of soil moisture contentions and dunes in Mu Us sandy grassland: why Artemisia Odosica declines on old fixed sand dunes. Acta Phytoecol. Sin., 2000, 24(3), 275-279 (in Chinese).

  • Yao, D. L., Li, J. C. and Du, Y., A land-atmosphere coupling model and mechanism of the crust layer and evolution of canopy in artificial vegetation area of Shapotou. Acta. Ecol. Sin., 2002, 22(4), 452-460 (in Chinese).

  • Zou, T. et al., Responses to precipitation treatment for Haloxylon ammodendron growing on contrasting textured soils. Ecol. Res., 2010, 25, 185-194.

  • Liu, B., The response of the desert shrubs on the rainfall pulse in desert regions. Dissertation, CAS, Beijing, 2009.

  • Guo, Q., Rundel, P. W. and Goodall, D. W., Horizontal and vertical distribution of desert seed banks: patterns, causes, and implications. J. Arid Environ., 1998, 38(3), 465-478.

  • Guo, Q., Rundel, P. W. and Goodall, D. W., Structure of desert seed banks: comparisons across four North American desert sites. J. Arid Environ., 1999, 42(1), 1-14.

  • Wang, G. H. and Zhao, W. Z., Effects of sand-burying on seed germination and seedling growth of Haloxylon ammodendron. J. Desert Res., 2015, 35(2), 338-344 (in Chinese).

  • Varma, V., Iyengar, S. B. and Sankaran, M., Effects of nutrient addition and soil drainage on germination of N fixing and non-N fixing tropical dry forest tree species. Plant Ecol., 2016, 217, 1043-1054.

  • Beatley, J. C., Phenological events and their environmental triggers in Mojave Desert ecosystems. Ecology, 1974, 55, 856-863.

  • Bradbeer, J. W., Seed Dormancy and Germination, Chapman Hall, New York, USA, 1988.

  • Huang, Z. and Gutterman, Y., Comparison of germination strategies of Artemisia ordosica with its two congeners from deserts of China and Israel. Acta Bot. Sin., 2000, 42, 71-80.

  • Gutterman, Y., Seed Germination in Desert Plants, Adaptations of Desert Organisms, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 1993, p. 253.

  • Knapp, A. K., Ciais, P. and Smith, M. D., Reconciling incon-sistencies in precipitation-productivity relationships: implications for climate change. New Phytol., 2017, 214(1), 41-47.

  • Evenari, M. and Gutterman, Y., Observations on the secondary succession of three plant communities in the Negev desert, Israel. I. Artemisietum herbae albae. In Hommage au Prof. P, Chouard. Etudes de Biologie Vegetale (ed. Jacques, R.), CNRS Gif sur Yvette, Paris, 1976, pp. 57-86.

  • Baskin. C. C. and Baskin, J. M., Seeds, Ecology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Dormancy and Germination, Academic Press, San Diego, 1998.

  • Sala, O., Lauenroth, W. and Parton, W., Long-term soil water dynamics in the shortgrass steppe. Ecology, 1992, 73, 1175- 1181.

  • Austin, A. T. et al., Water pulses and biogeochemical cycles in arid and semiarid ecosystems. Oecologia, 2004, 141(2), 221- 235.

  • Kusumi, K. et al., Increased leaf photosynthesis caused by elevated stomatal conductance in a rice mutant deficient in SLAC1, a guard cell anion channel protein. J. Exp. Bot., 2012, 16, 2-10.

  • Wiegand, K., Jeltsch, F. and Ward, D., Minimum recruitment frequency in plants with episodic recruitment. Oecologia, 2004, 141(4), 363-372.


Abstract Views: 284

PDF Views: 98




  • Effects of Small Rainfall Events on Haloxylon ammodendron Seedling Establishment in Northwest China

Abstract Views: 284  |  PDF Views: 98

Authors

Guohua Wang
College of Geography Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041000, China
Qianqian Gou
College of Geography Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041000, China
Wenzhi Zhao
Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Chinese Ecosystem Research Network, Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydrology and River Basin Science, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Abstract


Small rainfall events (≤5 mm) account for a large proportion of rainfall amount, and may play an important role in triggering plant regeneration in arid ecosystems. However, their potential ecological importance in seedling establishment of desert shrub has been previously ignored. We conducted two parallel pot experiments to examine the effects of amount and interval of small rainfall events on seedling emergence, growth and survival of the dominant shrub species Haloxylon ammodendron in sand dunes of Northwest China. The results showed that: (1) decrease in rainfall amounts did not significantly lower seedling emergence, growth and survival in comparison to control, while the large increase (+20%) in rainfall amount resulted in significant increase in seedling emergence, growth and survival for both continuous and intermittent small rainfall events; (2) continuous small rainfall events were more effective than intermittent ones for triggering seedling emergence, growth and survival; (3) small rainfall events may impact the seedling establishment of H. ammodendron only in wet years. Our results provide insights into the effects of small rainfall events on seedling establishment processes, and highlight the inherent complexity in predicting how seedling establishment of shrub species in desert ecosystems will respond to future fluctuations in small rainfall events.

Keywords


Arid Regions, Haloxylon ammodendron, Seedling Establishment, Small Rainfall Events.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv116%2Fi1%2F121-127