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Verification of the biomass transfer hypothesis under moderate grazing across the Tibetan plateau: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Aim

We aimed to explore the general response patterns of plant biomass allocation to grazing disturbance and to test two important hypotheses, optimal partitioning and isometric allocation, for explaining potential mechanisms by which grazing controls biomass distribution in an alpine grassland on the Tibetan Plateau.

Methods

We identified 57 relevant papers about grazing on the Tibetan Plateau, from which 366 data sets suitable for the meta-analysis were extracted. Effect sizes were assessed by computing natural log-converted response ratios of response variables. Percentage change relative to control was used for each estimate of grazing effects.

Results

The aboveground biomass, soil water content (SWC), soil organic carbon, soil total nitrogen, and soil total phosphorus significantly decreased with increased grazing intensities, while plant species richness (SR), soil bulk density (SBD) and the ratio of root to shoot exhibited the opposite tendency. Belowground biomass (BGB) showed no significant differences under light and high grazing intensities while apparently increased under moderate grazing intensity (MG) that verifies the biomass transfer hypothesis. BGB was positively related to SBD and SR but was negatively associated with SWC.

Conclusions

The biomass transfer in MG supports the optimal partitioning hypothesis that plants partition biomass among various organs to maximize growth rate responding to environmental stress. The findings suggest that the primary mechanisms leading to the enhancement of BGB in MG are compensatory growth of individual plants, a dwarfing tendency within the plant community, a significant increase in species richness, and changes in soil microbial communities resulting from grazing.

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Acknowledgements

This research was joint funded by the National Key Research Project of China (Grant No.2019QZKK0405-05), the Science and Technology Service Network Initiative (KFJ- STS-ZDTP-036), the State Key Research Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0501803 and 2016YFC0501802), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41871040 and 41501057).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Synthesis Research Centre of Chinese Ecosystem Research Network, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modelling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 11A, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jian Sun, Tianyu Zhan, Miao Liu, Zhenchao Zhang & Yi Wang

  2. Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Tottori, 6800001, Japan

    Jian Sun, Miao Liu & Atsushi Tsunekawa

  3. China Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Tianyu Zhan & Yi Wang

  4. School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Shiliang Liu

  5. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resource, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi, China

    Gao-lin Wu

  6. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Guohua Liu

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  1. Jian Sun
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  2. Tianyu Zhan
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Sun, J., Zhan, T., Liu, M. et al. Verification of the biomass transfer hypothesis under moderate grazing across the Tibetan plateau: a meta-analysis. Plant Soil 458, 139–150 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-019-04380-8

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