Long-Term Enclosure Can Benefit Grassland Community Stability on the Loess Plateau of China

Jing Liu, Xue Yang, Hossein Ghanizadeh, Qian Guo, Yongming Fan, Bo Zhang, Xinhui Yan, Zhongming Wen and Wei Li
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Jing Liu: College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Xue Yang: College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Hossein Ghanizadeh: School of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand
Qian Guo: College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Yongming Fan: College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Bo Zhang: Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China
Xinhui Yan: College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Zhongming Wen: College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Wei Li: Institute of Soil and Water Conversion, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Fertilization and grazing are two common anthropogenic disturbances that can lead to unprecedented changes in biodiversity and ecological stability of grassland ecosystems. A few studies, however, have explored the effects of fertilization and grazing on community stability and the underlying mechanisms. We conducted a six-year field experiment to assess the influence of nitrogen (N) fertilization and grazing on the community stability in a long-term enclosure and grazing grassland ecosystems on the Loess Plateau. A structural equation modeling method was used to evaluate how fertilization and grazing altered community stability. Our results indicated that the community stability decreased in the enclosure and grazing grassland ecosystems with the addition of N. The community stability began to decline significantly at 4.68 and 9.36 N g m −2 year −1 for the grazing and enclosure grassland ecosystems, respectively. We also found that the addition of N reduced the community stability through decreasing species richness, but a long-term enclosure can alleviate its negative effect. Overall, species diversity can be a useful predictor of the stability of ecosystems confronted with disturbances. Also, our results showed that long-term enclosure was an effective grassland management practice to ensure community stability on the Loess Plateau of China.

Keywords: community stability; disturbances; diversity effect; grazing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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