文献类型： 外文期刊

作者： Qiao, Jirong ¹ ; Chen, Xinli ² ; Chang, Scott X. ² ; Zheng, Jiahua ¹ ; Li, Shaoyu ¹ ; Zhang, Bin ¹ ; Zhang, Feng ¹ ; Zhao, Tianqi ³ ; He, Jiangfeng ⁵ ; Zhao, Mengli ¹ ;

作者机构： 1.Inner Mongolia Agr Univ, Coll Grassland Resources & Environm, Minist Educ,Key Lab Grassland Resources,Inner Mong, Key Lab Forage Cultivat Proc & High Efficient Util, Hohhot 010011, Peoples R China

2.Univ Alberta, Dept Renewable Resources, Edmonton, AB, Canada

3.China Inst Water Resources & Hydropower Res, Yinshanbeilu Grassland Ecohydrol Natl Observat & R, Beijing 100038, Peoples R China

4.Minist Water Resources, Inst Water Resources Pastoral Area, Hohhot 010120, Inner Mongolia, Peoples R China

5.Inner Mongolia Acad Agr & Anim Husb Sci, Hohhot 010031, Peoples R China

关键词： Desert steppe; Constructive species; Root architecture; Adaptive strategy

期刊名称：PLANT AND SOIL （ 影响因子：4.9； 五年影响因子：5.2 ）

ISSN： 0032-079X

年卷期： 2024 年

页码：

收录情况： SCI

摘要： Background and Aims Roots are of critical importance to plants due to their role in absorbing soil water and nutrients and adapting to ever-changing environmental conditions. Grazing changes plant and soil conditions and can affect root growth and resource utilization strategies. However, it is still unclear how grazing intensity affects plant root traits in desert steppes, especially by altering soil resource availability. Methods Here, we studied the effect of four levels of grazing intensity, including no grazing (CK), light grazing (LG), moderate grazing (MG), and heavy grazing (HG), on the root traits of Stipa breviflora and soil physical, chemical, and microbial properties in a desert steppe dominated by S. breviflora under in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, China. Results Compared to the CK treatment, all grazing treatments significantly reduced root diameter, and increased root length density and root-to-shoot ratio, but did not affect root nitrogen concentration and tissue density. The light grazing treatment significantly increased the root fractal dimension, root fractal abundance, and root biomass. The heavy grazing treatment significantly increased specific root length and root fractal abundance. Principal component analysis revealed that grazing influenced the root-mycorrhizal "collaboration" gradient, shifting root resources utilization strategies from "outsourcing" in the CK to "do-it-yourself" in the grazed plots. Structural equation modeling showed that shifts in root traits were mainly associated with changes in soil pH, ammonium nitrogen availability, and microbial diversity under grazing. Conclusions Under increasing grazing intensity, S. breviflora adapted to higher soil pH and lower nitrogen availability by producing longer, thinner, more branching roots and a "do-it-yourself" strategy. Our results suggest that changes in root traits play a very important role in the adaption of a dominant desert steppe plant to grazing intensity.