Dexiang Wang

• PhD
• Professor at Northwest A&F University

Insects and pathogens interact with plant species, influencing the natural regeneration of plant populations. However, the mechanisms by which they mediate the early regeneration process remain unclear. Herein, we evaluated the pest and disease status of 380 Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata seedlings and its effects on their photosynthetic and phys...

Soil microorganisms are often limited by nutrients, representing an important control of heterotrophic metabolic processes. However, how nutrient limitations relate to microbial community structure and stability remains unclear, which creates a knowledge gap to understanding microbial biogeography and community changes during forest restoration. He...

Soil seed bank plays a significant role in the natural recovery and the succession of forest. A large number of natural secondary forests are distributed in the Qining Mountains, China. However, it remains unclear how the soil seed banks develop and influence the recovery of secondary forests. We explored the aboveground vegetation and soil seed ba...

The Chinese pine (Pinus tabuliformis) community on the ridge is one of the most important zonal forest communities on the southern slope of the mid-Qinling Mountains. This study aimed to investigate the driving factors of Chinese pine population distribution in the ridge habitats and its adaptability characteristics. Population age structure and th...

Microbial metabolism changes in soil systems along a vegetation restoration gradient have attracted considerable attention; however, the differences in microbial metabolic limitations between the rhizosphere and bulk soil and their drivers during natural secondary forest restoration after disturbance have rarely been investigated. Here, we used mul...

Vegetation restoration is assumed to enhance carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems, where plant producers and microbial decomposers play key roles in soil C cycling. However, it is not clear how the nutrient limitation patterns of plants and soil microbes might change during vegetation restoration. We investigated the nutrient limitati...

Plant litter decomposition is a crucial pathway for carbon (C) and nutrient cycling, and controls the net primary productivity in ecosystems worldwide. However, little is known about how multi-type litter (leaf and different diameter fine roots) decomposition rates and nutrient release change at the community level following whole-tree harvesting (...

Forest bathing is considered an economical, feasible, and sustainable way to solve human sub-health problems caused by urban environmental degradation and to promote physical and mental health. Mountain forests are ideal for providing forest baths because of their large area and ecological environment. The regulatory mechanism of a mountain forest...

Forest regeneration mechanisms of Pinus tabulaeformis, Pinus armandii, and Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata as the constructive species have been the focus of ecologists and silviculturists, and research to better understand the future of forest community composition, succession patterns, and other aspects of far-reaching influence. However, the in...

Simple Summary Fine roots of different sizes make critical contributions to carbon stocks and terrestrial productivity, but the changed characteristics of fine roots with different diameters at different soil depths under thinning disturbances remain poorly understood. In our study, we aimed to elucidate the response characteristics of fine roots w...

Clarifying the characteristics of soil microbial nutrient limitation and its driving mechanisms during vegetation restoration after farmland abandonment has important implications for revealing soil nutrient cycling and maintaining ecosystem stability. To determine the limitation of soil microbial nutrients and its relationship with soil properties...

Soil and litter play important roles in ecosystem nutrient storage and cycling, which both affect plant growth and ecosystem productivity. However, the potential linkages between soil and litter nutrient characteristics and nutrient characteristics of different plant functional groups (PFGs) remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the carbon...

Background: Fine roots make critical contributions to carbon stocks and terrestrial productivity, and multidiameter-class fine roots exhibit functional heterogeneity. However, the dynamic characteristics of multidiameter-class fine roots at different soil depths following thinning disturbances are poorly understood. We investigated the biomass, pro...

The negative air ions (NAI) in a forest play an important and positive role in promoting the health of people using the forest for recreation. The purpose of this study was to explore the environmental characteristics that can effectively represent high concentrations of NAI in mountain forests to help the recreational users to seek out sites with...

Carbon (C):nitrogen (N):phosphorous (P) stoichiometry and nutrient resorption are important indicators of biogeochemical cycles and functioning in ecosystems. However, the response of multi-ecological component (plant, litter and soil) stoichiometry and tree nutrient resorption of multi-plant functional species to medium-term whole-tree harvesting...

Soil and litter play important roles in ecosystem nutrient stroage and cycling, which both affect plant growth and ecosystem productivity. However, the potential contributions of soil and litter nutrient characteristics to the nutrient characteristics of different plant functional groups (PFGs) remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the car...

Background Seed dispersal by scatter-hoarding animals can affect the developmental dynamics of plant communities. However, how animals might participate in plant inter-community competition has rarely been investigated. Forest community junction is an area where the competition between plant communities is most prominent and animal activity is more...

Background Carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometric ratios are important indicators of ecosystem function and productivity. However, few studies have assessed the nutrient relationship between plant, litter and soil, and the nutrient stock in different secondary mixed forest types. Methods We investigated the C, N and P concentra...

A revised Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model with updated secondary organic aerosol (SOA) yields and a more detailed description of SOA formation from isoprene (ISOP) oxidation was applied to study the spatial distribution of SOA, its components and precursors in Shaanxi in July of 2013. The emissions of biogenic volatile organic compou...

Research Highlights: Natural regeneration is important in pine–oak mixed forests (Pinus armandii Franch., Pinus tabuliformis Carr., and Quercus aliena Bl. var. acuteserrata Maxim.ex Wenz.), but allelopathy as a limiting factor has not been studied. Our research provides insights into allelopathy in pine–oak mixed forest litter. Background and Objec...

Disturbance is the driving force of forest succession, which can change forest structure and surface vegetation. Disturbance also affects rodent-mediated seed dispersal. In this study, numbered plastic tags were used to examine the responses of rodent dispersal behavior to the fates of Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata acorns at three habitats forme...

Rodents in forest communities have a feeding preference for tree seeds. This preference will lead to different predation and storage strategies for rodents, resulting in different diffusion patterns of tree seeds. In this study, the seed fate of Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata, Pinus armandii, and Pinus tabuUformis was studied to analyze the seed...

Although the spatial mapping and fertility assessment of soil chemical properties (SCPs) are well studied in the Loess Plateau region of China at farmland scale, little is known about spatial mapping the SCPs and their fertility and their influence factors at urban forest scale. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare the performance of tw...

The optimized semivariograms parameters used in the OK and RK based on the modeling dataset. (DOCX)

Spatial distribution maps of total annual precipitation (TAP) and mean annual air temperature (MAT) during 1951–2013. (PDF)

Spatial distribution maps for the auxiliary terrain variables used in the RK interpolation method. (a) Hr, relative elevation; (b) β, slope; (c) A, aspect; (d) cosA; e) sinA; (f) Cv, slope of slope; (g) Ch, slope of aspect; (h) QFD, range of change in the elevation; (i) M, terrain roughness on the surface; (j) RPI, relative position index; (k) TWI,...

Pearson correlation coefficients for the eight SCPs of each soil layers and the diameter at breast height (DBH). (DOCX)

Semivariograms of the raw or log-transformed data for the eight SCPs using the OK interpolation method. TN, TP, TK, AN, AP, AK, OM and pH are proxy for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium and pH, respectively. The range data: 0–20, 20–40, 40–60 represents the depth of soil...

Overview of the 95 sample plots used in this study. (DOCX)

Importance values (%) for tree species in the 95 sample plots. (DOCX)

Pearson correlation coefficients for the eight SCPs of each soil layers and the total number of plant species (TNPS). (DOCX)

Semivariograms based on the interpolated residuals obtained by OLS for the eight SCPs using the RK interpolation method. (PDF)

Numerous studies have investigated air pollution in severely polluted plains, but the characteristics of pollutants are not well understood in other terrain regions. In this study, air pollution characteristics were analyzed in three typical terrain regions (plateau, plain, and mountain regions) in Shaanxi, based on hourly ambient monitoring of par...

Different types of seeds could be dispersed in various ways. Rodents show a significant preference in the microhabitats of predation sites and caching methods after seeds removal. Understanding the relationship between storing behavior and microhabitat is the key to study seedling establishment. The objective of this study was to reveal the effects...

In this study Yan’an City, a typical hilly valley city, was considered as the study area in order to explain the relationships between the surface urban heat island (SUHI) and land use/land cover (LULC) types, the landscape pattern metrics of LULC types and land surface temperature (LST) and remote sensing indexes were retrieved from Landsat data d...

A high-resolution inventory of primary atmospheric pollutants from coal-fired power plants in Shaanxi in 2012 was built based on a detailed database compiled at unit level involving unit capacity, boiler size and type, commission time, corresponding control technologies, and average coal quality of 72 power plants. The pollutants included SO2, NOx,...

This study investigated a typical pine-oak mosaic mixed forest in the Qinling Mountains, China. In the sample plot, the population structure and spatial distribution of the stems were analyzed for the predominant species, to identify the mechanisms of species coexistence and successional trends of the forest. The population structures of all specie...

Background Understanding interspecific associations in old-growth forests will help to reveal mechanisms of interspecific replacement in the process of forest development and provide a theoretical basis for vegetation restoration and reestablishment. In this study, we analyzed interspecific associations of eleven dominant tree populations of varyi...

Background: The Qinling Mountains in China contain large areas of clear-cut and secondary forests. An assessment of the quality of these secondary forests would greatly increase our understanding of stand dynamics and succession and the capacity for ecological restoration. We investigated and assessed the quality of secondary forests Chinese pine (...

Understanding the mechanisms of assembly of tree communities is very important for restoring and managing pine-oak mixed forests in the Qinling Mountains, China, but the essential mechanisms remain largely unexplored. The objective of this research was to uncover the underlying mechanisms of species coexistence and to identify the key environmental...

Analysis of the spatial structure and dynamics of tree populations in a forest contributes to the understanding of the microenvironment of the studied populations and helps to elucidate and promote better forest management. This paper attempts to explore the characteristics of the spatial structure and development dynamics of three predominant tree...

It is generally accepted that leaf litter covers seeds, which may be beneficial for their survival, but it is unclear whether leaf litter contributes in different ways to the survival of plant seeds with contrasting sizes. In this study, we examined the effect of different levels of leaf litter coverage on seed predation and foraging/caching for sm...

The mid-altitude zone of the Qinling Mountains in China was once dominated by birch and pine-oak belts but are now mainly covered by secondary growth following large-scale deforestation. Assessing the recovery and sustainability of these forests is essential for their management and restoration. We investigated and compared the tree species composi...

Understanding the factors that allow the successful regeneration of species is a key step toward the conservation and management of forests. In this study, canonical correspondence analysis was used to examine the relationships between the distribution of the regenerating species in pine-oak mixed forests and 18 environmental factors of topography,...

Deforestation is a major driver of forest loss and fragmentation, threatening forest biodiversity worldwide. The conservation and restoration of secondary vegetation is thus an important developmental goal. Birch and pine-oak belts have been the two main types of vegetation in the mid-altitude zone of the Qinling Mountains in China but are now main...

Deforestation is a major driver of forest loss and fragmentation, threatening forest biodiversity worldwide. The conservation and restoration of secondary vegetation is thus an important developmental goal. Birch and pine-oak belts have been the two main types of vegetation in the mid-altitude zone of the Qinling Mountains in China but are now main...

Urban plants are capable of reducing environmental pollutions through bioaccumulation contaminants in their tissues. The accumulation of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Cd, Cr, and Zn) in leaves of nine tree species and five shrub species from Yan׳an city of China were investigated, and total metal accumulation capacities of different plants were evaluated u...

Average PM2.5 concentrations of ∼250 μg m−3 and peak concentrations of ∼500 μg m−3 were observed in Xi'an, the largest city in Northwest China during an extreme event in January 2013. The source-oriented versions of the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model with anthropogenic emissions from Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Researc...

Urban forests have important aesthetic values contributing to the quality of urban life. The aesthetic difference in urban forests can cause negative or positive externalities, e.g., the loss or increase of non-priced benefits. Urban forestry planning, therefore, should systematically assess and commensurately measure the aesthetic value of urban f...

Recent studies have demonstrated the higher likelihood of regeneration in forest gaps compared with the understory for the dominant species in pine-oak mixed forest. Here, we tested whether rodent seed predation or dispersal was beneficial for gap regeneration. We tracked the seed predation and dispersal of Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata and Pinu...

We studied relations between natural seedling reproduction and above ground environment in a longleaf pine ecosystem. Forty-eight 0.05 ha circular plots were sampled under single-tree selection, grouptree selection and control stands in three main longleaf pine areas in south Alabama, USA. We measured six above-ground environment factors, viz. cano...

Assessing forest ecosystem health is an effective way for forest resource management. Taking as an example Pinus tabulaeformis Carr., a superior afforestation species in northern China, this study establishes a forest health assessment model and a three-level indicator system using the analytic hierarchy process. The results showed that Pinus tabul...

Purpose Heavy metals pollution of city soil has become a serious environmental issue. Attention has been given to the issue of soil contamination in big cities, but little research has been done in the Loess Plateau, which is the largest loess deposition area in the world. The aim of this study was to assess the contamination of topsoil. Materials...

The Pinus armandii and Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata mixed forest is one of the major forest types in the Qinling Mountains, China. P. armandii is considered to be a pioneer species during succession and it is usually invaded by late successional Q. aliena var. acuteserrata. However, the mechanism that underlies its invasion remains unclear. In...

The nutritious acorns produced by oak trees (Quercus spp.) are attacked frequently by insects that feed on seed reserves. However, previous studies have partly considered the effects of insect infestations on animal seed dispersal and subsequent plant regeneration. In this study, we tested whether the effects of insect infestations on seed dispersa...

Natural seedling regeneration and tree establishment are affected by various environmental factors. In this study, we established eight, eight, six, and four independent forest stands (each stand was further divided into five subplots) respectively based on the altitudinal gradient, stand density, slope location, and slope aspect to investigate the...

Natural regeneration differences between oak and pine are common in the Qinling Mountains of central China. Thus, we examined whether this difference could be explained by seed dispersal. We investigated the seed dispersal of Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata Maxim. and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. and the regeneration characteristics of both species w...

An investigation was conducted in a forest farm in the Xiaoxing' an Mountains in autumn, 2009 and 2010 to study the effects of Quercus mongolica acorn quantity and rodent density on the seed dispersal of five tree species (Juglans mandshurica, Pinus koraiensis, Corylus mandshurica, Corylus heterophylla, and Q. mongolica). In the farm, there was an...

To analyze the altitudinal distribution of seed plants in the central area (∼590 km2) of the Qinling Mountains (central China), supporting a giant panda population, we conducted floristic surveys at discrete altitude intervals and reviewed the data in published floras for the area. We found that there are 2031 species of seed plants in the study ar...

To contribute to a better understanding of the regeneration strategy of Betula albosinensis forests and the likely reasons behind either the successful recovery or failure after strip clearcutting, we compared the population structures and spatial patterns of B. albosinensis in eight B. albosinensis stands in Qinling Mountains, China. Four cut and...

To clarify the differential responses of lianas and vines to rainfall, we investigated the distribution and abundance of climbers along the rainfall gradient in the Qinling Mountains of China. In our study, 28 climbing species were investigated across a rainfall gradient of 500–1,200 mm. Results indicated that most lianas and vines show restricted...

By using sampling plot method, an investigation was conducted on the regeneration characteristics of woody plant seedlings in five kinds of typical secondary forests (Pinus tabulaeformis, Quercus valiena var. acuteserrata, Betula albo-sinensis, Picea asperata, and Pinus armandii) in Qinling Mountains. There was an obvious species differentiation of...

An investigation was conducted on the species composition and population diameter-class structure of a typical secondary Betula albo-sinensis forest in Xiaolongshan of west Qinling Mountains, and the spatial distribution pattern and interspecific correlations of the main populations were analyzed at multiple scales by the O-ring functions of single...

It is not known if the species composition of herbaceous plant assemblies within tree-fall gaps is determined stochastically or whether it follows species-specific and environmentally-determined patterns. We applied three methods, fitting species abundance distribution models, comparing community similarities, and testing species–environmental vari...

The study with sampling plot method showed that in Pinus tabulaeformis secondary forests in Qinling Mountains, there were 36 tree species in regeneration layer, occupying 51.4% of the total. The dominant species were Quercus glandulifera, Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata, and Corylus heterophylla. The seedling bank was abundant, and with lower heig...

This work was focused on soil physical properties between 1722~2162m under Pinus armandii forest in Qinling Moutains,China. The soil physical properties were measured in three depth layers, 0- 20cm,20-50cm and 50-80cm. Results showed soil physical properties varied with altitudes. The Soil density was fluctuated with altitudes, water holding capaci...

The reserves of woody debris and litter from natural Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata forest and natural Pinus tabulaeformis forest in the Xiaolong Mountains were studied by fixed-area-quadrats sampling. The results indicated that coarse woody debris (CWD) and fine woody debris (FWD) from the Q. aliena var. acuteserrata forest were 29 350.92 kg hm2...

The field approach underlying a vegetation study influences the results of biodiversity assessments. In our paper we compared two main field survey approaches for forest vegetation recording, the chinese and the european ("phyto-sociological") one, for their differences and efficiency when applied to the plant communities of temperate forests. The...

To better understand the effects of forest gap on the herbaceous species community in a mixed birch-fir forest of Taibai Mountain in Qinling, CCA ordination and random permutation test were employed to analyze the distribution pattern of the species composition across a gradient of gap size, and the relationships between the distribution of 55 herb...

The community characteristics of Pinus armandi forest distributed on the mid-west zone of Qinling Mountains' south slope were investigated. The results showed that there were 166 seed plants belonging to 51 families, 111 generas. Among them, 65 genera, 66.7% of the total, belonged to temperate biome. There was a closely relationship between Pinus a...

The altitudinal distribution patterns of angiosperms in Mt. Taibai, Qinling Mountains, China, were examined based on data of regional flora and Digital Elevation Model. Possible factors determining the distribution, such as geographical area effect and mid-domain effect (MDE) were assessed. The richness and density at species, genus, and family lev...