Plant community characteristics, soil nutrients and their interactions in artificial grassland with different establishment years in the Three Rivers Headwater Region

Abstract

Clarifying the relationship between plant and soil characteristics under different establishment years of artificial grassland can improve the adaptive management ability of alpine grassland, which is of great significance to the sustainable development of alpine grassland ecosystems. This study used field quadrat surveys and indoor analyses to determine the plant community and soil nutrient characteristics of artificial grasslands with different establishment years and analyzed the characteristic differences and internal relations under different establishment years combined with correlation analysis and redundancy analysis. The results showed that the vegetation coverage decreased significantly (p < .05) after the establishment of 5 years, the biomass of artificial grassland decreased with the increase in establishment years and the species diversity index showed a “V-shaped” change. With the increase in establishment years, the total nutrients of the artificial grassland increased, and the available nutrients decreased. The results of correlation analysis and redundancy analysis showed that soil nutrients in the 0–30 cm soil layer were intrinsically correlated with biomass and soil pH, soil water content and soil bulk density were significantly correlated with plant community changes during the establishment of artificial grassland. This study will help to clarify the changes in plant and soil characteristics of artificial grassland with different establishment years and provide a scientific and theoretical basis for restoring degraded alpine grassland.