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Spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and vegetation–soil relationships following vegetation restoration of mobile dunes in Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China

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Abstract

Quantitative methods were used to examine soil properties and their spatial heterogeneity in a 0-year fenced mobile dune (MD0), an 11-year fenced mobile dune (MD11) and a 20-year fenced mobile dune (MD20) in Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China. The objective of the study was to assess the effect of vegetation restoration on heterogeneity of soil properties in sand dunes and to provide a concept model to describe the relationship between vegetation succession and spatial heterogeneity variation of soil properties in the dunes. The results showed that the average values of vegetation cover, species number and diversity, soil organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), and electrical conductivity (EC) increased with the increase in fenced age of mobile dunes, while soil water content (0–20 cm) showed the reverse trend. Geostatistical analysis revealed that the spatial heterogeneity of soil organic C, total N, EC, very fine sand content, and soil water content (0–20 cm) increased from MD0 to MD11 with succession from sand pioneer plant to shrub species then decreased from MD11 to MD20 due to continuous development of herbaceous plants. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that there was a relatively high correspondence between vegetation and soil factors, suggesting that the major gradients relating soil organic C, total N, EC, pH, slope, very fine sand content, and soil water content are the main factors for the distribution of dune plants and account for 68.1% of the species-environment relationship among the three sites. In addition, the distribution of the sand pioneer plant was positively related to the relative height of the sampling site and soil water content, and that of most herbaceous plants were determined by soil organic C, total N, EC, pH, and very fine sand content in mobile dunes. The conceptual model of relationship between vegetation succession and spatial heterogeneity of soil properties in mobile dunes suggests spatial patterns of soil properties are most strongly related to plant-induced heterogeneity in dune ecosystems prone to wind erosion, and conversely, the magnitude and degree of spatial heterogeneity in soil properties can influence the plant distribution pattern and vegetation succession of mobile dunes.

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Acknowledgements

Authors thank all the members of Naiman Desertification Research Station, China Academy of Sciences (CAS), for their help in field work. We wish to thank Dr Victor Squires for valuable comments on the manuscript. We also wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. This paper was financially supported by the “Xibuzhiguang” Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Nature Science Foundation of China (40601008), the Knowledge Innovation Programs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-431) and National Key Technologies Support Program of China (2006BAC01A12, 2006BAD26B02).

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  1. Naiman Desertification Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions of Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoan Zuo, Xueyong Zhao, Halin Zhao, Tonghui Zhang, Yirui Guo, Yuqiang Li & Yingxin Huang

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  1. Xiaoan Zuo
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Zuo, X., Zhao, X., Zhao, H. et al. Spatial heterogeneity of soil properties and vegetation–soil relationships following vegetation restoration of mobile dunes in Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China. Plant Soil 318, 153–167 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9826-7

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