Response Of Plant Community Structure And Diversity In Subalpine Meadow To Shrub And Moss Removal

The nurse effect of shrubs on alpine plant communities has been revealed,but the ecological function of moss is often overlooked.In this study,we studied the response of plant community structure and diversity in subalpine meadow to shrub and moss removal through six consecutive years of shrub and moss removal experiments(shrub removal(Potentilla fruticosa),removal of moss plants,removal of shrubs and moss and unremoved control group),which provides ecological theoretical basis for vegetation restoration and biodiversity protection in alpine meadows.The research results are as follows:1.The removal of shrubs and the removal of shrubs and mosses all increased thecoverage of Elymus nutans,Roegneria nutans and Artemisia annua,whichshowed that the dominant shrubs on the subalpine meadow are in a competitiverelationship with the dominant grass species.The response of the plants undershrubs to the removal of shrubs and mosses is species-specific.2.The removal of shrubs and the removal of shrubs and moss,all increased thecoverage of grass,sedge,forbs functiona groups;the removal of moss reducedthe coverage of grass functional groups,which showed that the dominant grassplants are in a competitive relationship with the dominant shrub and thedominant grass plants are in a promoting relationship with moss.3.The removal of shrubs and the removal of shrubs and moss,all increased thecoverage of the total species richness and forb richness;the removal of moss,increased the total species richness,which showed that the change of the totalrichness of the reserved species under the shrub caused by the forb richness.The shrub increased the forb richness,indicated that the dominant shrubs insubalpine meadows are in a competitive relationship with the forb.In the firstyear of removal,the competition relationship between moss and forb wassignificant,as the removal time increased,the interaction between them were gradually weakened.