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Contribution of dominant, common and rare species to α, β and γ diversity in three grassland types. A, meadow steppes; B, typical steppes; C, desert steppes. dominant, dominant species; common, common species; rare, rare species
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Background
Community species in different grassland types exhibit unique ecological traits and adaptation strategies, influencing the impact of grazing on species diversity at various scales. This study aimed to elucidate the response characteristics and rules of species diversity in different grassland types to grazing intensity by analyzing plant...
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Plant species diversity has long been a focal point in ecological studies. In order to study the changes in species diversity at different spatial scales (α, β, and γ diversities) in the restoration process of grassland vegetation in fragile desert steps, this study took desert steppe of Inner Mongolia as the research object and employed a two‐fact...
Citations
The effect of grazing intensity on plant diversity has been widely studied. In this study, desert steppes with different grazing intensities (no grazing (CK), light grazing (LG), moderate grazing (MG), heavy grazing (HG), and extremely heavy grazing (EG)) in Inner Mongolia were selected to study the changes in species diversity at different spatial scales (α, β, and γ diversity) and the α diversity of different plant groups (dominant species, common species, and rare species).The results showed that the α, β, and γ diversity first decreased and then increased with increasing grazing intensity, and β diversity was observed to be the most sensitive index to the grazing intensity. Grazing had the greatest impact on the α diversity of rare species and the least impact on the α diversity of common species. Therefore, rare species are of great significance for the maintenance and assessment of biodiversity. We concluded that grazing leads to a sensitive response of β diversity, and this sensitive phenomenon is mainly affected by rare species. The results could provide scientific bases for the protection of plant diversity and sustainable grazing in desert steppes.
