Article
Agronomy
Kaikai Fan, Yuchun Yan, Dawei Xu, Shuzhen Li, Yue Zhao, Xu Wang, Xiaoping Xin
Summary: Grazing and mowing have significant impacts on the greenhouse gas flux in semiarid grasslands. The study found that grazing and mowing increased soil temperature, reduced soil water content and soil inorganic N content, leading to enhanced CH4 uptake and inhibited N2O emissions. The contribution of the spring thaw to the annual N2O budget was small.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Jinbo Li, Ying Zhao, Afeng Zhang, Bing Song, Robert Lee Hill
Summary: Short-term grazing exclusion may increase N2O emissions, particularly during freeze-thaw cycles. Soil liquid water content is the primary environmental factor influencing N2O emissions.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Nouran T. Bahgat, Philipp Wilfert, Leon Korving, Mark van Loosdrecht
Summary: The study assessed the recovery of phosphorus, nitrogen, methane, and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from aerobic granular sludge (AGS) wastewater treatment plants. About 30% of sludge organics are recovered as EPS and 25-30% as methane via alkaline anaerobic digestion (AD). It was found that a significant portion of phosphorus and nitrogen are present in EPS and can be recovered through chemical precipitation. Ammonium recovery is feasible from the AD centrate due to its high concentration.
Article
Soil Science
Xuesong Wang, Wenwu Zhao, Shiliang Liu, Yiming An, Paulo Pereira
Summary: This study investigated the impacts and trajectories of local ecosystems in preventing dust emissions in Inner Mongolia. The results showed that the ecosystems successfully prevented a significant amount of mineral dust emissions, especially in spring and central regions of Inner Mongolia. The study also identified the distribution and frequency of areas benefiting from the prevention of dust emissions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kuan Chen, Genbatu Ge, Gang Bao, Liga Bai, Siqin Tong, Yuhai Bao, Luomeng Chao
Summary: The study reveals an increase in extreme climate events in Inner Mongolia's steppe areas, which has significant impacts on vegetation. Warming-related extreme climate indices are on the rise, while extreme precipitation indices show regional variability.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xin Lyu, Xiaobing Li, Hong Wang, Jirui Gong, Shengkun Li, Huashun Dou, Dongliang Dang
Summary: The study focused on soil wind erosion in arid and semi-arid regions, using a decision framework to understand and manage the issue. By combining models and analysis, the study highlighted the ecological impacts of soil wind erosion and provided suggestions for sustainable development in the region. The results emphasized the need for urgent conservation and management efforts due to worsening trends in soil wind erosion.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Ying Zhao, Haixia Wang, Bing Song, Pengfei Xue, Wangchen Zhang, Stephan Peth, Robert Lee Hill, Rainer Horn
Summary: Assessing the uncertainties in soil water transport modeling is a challenging task, and this study evaluates the effects of three widely-used parameter estimation methods on small-scale water dynamics. The results show that the input of soil hydraulic parameters has a greater impact on soil moisture simulation compared to evapotranspiration partitioning and representation of root water uptake function.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Qingqing Sun, Junjie Yang, Shan Wang, Fengyan Yang, Guangming Zhang, Cunzheng Wei, Xingguo Han, Jinshan Li
Summary: Nitrogen enrichment alters the structure of species interaction networks, reducing complexity and increasing hierarchical differences. In intransitive networks, species diversity is not only maintained but also increased.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Xin Lyu, Xiaobing Li, Jirui Gong, Shengkun Li, Huashun Dou, Dongliang Dang, Xiaojing Xuan, Hong Wang
Summary: This study utilized various models to estimate grassland aboveground biomass (AGB) and found that the back-propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN) inversion model had the highest simulation capability. The spatial distribution and temporal trends of AGB in the study area were closely related to precipitation, providing valuable insights for remote sensing monitoring and sustainable development of regional grasslands.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Jiahua Zheng, Bin Zhang, Feng Zhang, Tianqi Zhao, Qi Wang, Guodong Han, Mengli Zhao
Summary: This study evaluated the response of ecosystem multifunctionality to grazing exclusion in Inner Mongolia and compared it with mowing and grazing. The results showed that fencing mainly improved multifunctionality by increasing soil nutrient contents. Plant and fungal diversity were comparable between fencing and grazing, but lower than under mowing. Bacterial diversity was similar between all three management practices. Structural equation modeling revealed that soil moisture was the main driver of multifunctionality in the fencing and mowing plots, while plant and bacterial diversity drove multifunctionality in the grazing plots.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wenbang Gao, Hongtao Jiang, Shuai Zhang, Chunxing Hai, Baoyuan Liu
Summary: Grazing exclusion with fencing is effective in restoring degraded vegetation and enhancing soil quality in arid and semi-arid desert steppe areas. The longer the area is fenced, the greater the improvement in both vegetation and soil properties.
INTERNATIONAL SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wei Liu, Wenping Yuan, Sutie Xu, Changliang Shao, Longyu Hou, Wenfang Xu, Huiqiu Shi, Qingmin Pan, Linghao Li, Paul Kardol
Summary: Through a study on CH4 uptake in the steppe ecosystems of Inner Mongolia, it was found that the seasonal and spatial patterns of CH4 uptake are heterogeneous, mainly influenced by soil moisture, with different types of steppe soils showing varying capacities for CH4 uptake.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Agronomy
Shan Cong, Daowei Zhou, Qiang Li, Yingxin Huang
Summary: From the study of temperate steppe grasslands in northern China, it was found that fencing can increase aboveground plant biomass, litter biomass, and carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus stocks in the soil. However, prolonging the duration of fencing does not have further positive effects on biomass production and soil nutrient accumulation.
Article
Thermodynamics
Geng Liu, Shida Sun, Chao Zou, Bo Wang, Lin Wu, Hongjun Mao
Summary: A comprehensive investigation was conducted on vehicle emissions in Inner Mongolia. Findings show that emissions vary in different regions and times. It is suggested to adopt controls on in-use vehicles and vehicle population constraint policies in the region.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yuehua Wang, Zhongwu Wang, Haigang Li, Tingting Shen, Xin Zhang, Jiangwen Li, Guodong Han
Summary: This study investigated the effects of stocking rates on plant communities and soils in a desert steppe and found that increasing stocking rates decreased plant input and increased wind erosion output, leading to reduced soil organic carbon retention. Therefore, decreasing grazing intensity is key to improving soil organic carbon retention in the desert steppe.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Qiushi Ning, Liangchao Jiang, Guoxiang Niu, Qiang Yu, Jushan Liu, Ruzhen Wang, Sha Liao, Jianhui Huang, Xingguo Han, Junjie Yang
Summary: The effects of mowing on soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment are still not clear.
Article
Plant Sciences
Hui Wu, Junjie Yang, Wei Fu, Matthias C. Rillig, Zhenjiao Cao, Aihua Zhao, Zhipeng Hao, Xin Zhang, Baodong Chen, Xingguo Han
Summary: Nitrogen enrichment has negative effects on biodiversity and ecosystem stability, while arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play important roles in ecosystem stability and functioning. This study investigated the ecological impacts of N enrichment on AM fungal communities in a grassland ecosystem. The results showed that AM fungal biomass decreased continuously with increasing N addition levels, while AM fungal diversity remained stable until a threshold of 20 g N m(-2) yr(-1) was reached. Above this threshold, AM fungal diversity dramatically decreased, indicating a potentially unstable state of the AM fungal community.
Review
Plant Sciences
Nianpeng He, Pu Yan, Congcong Liu, Li Xu, Mingxu Li, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Guangsheng Zhou, Guoyi Zhou, Shirong Liu, Xuhui Zhou, Shenggong Li, Shuli Niu, Xingguo Han, Thomas N. Buckley, Lawren Sack, Guirui Yu
Summary: With the rapid accumulation of plant trait data, there are major opportunities to integrate these data into predicting ecosystem primary productivity across different spatial extents. However, scaling up to the ecosystem scale has remained challenging. This study demonstrates the need to combine community-level traits and environmental factors to predict ecosystem productivity at landscape or biogeographic scales, and highlights the potential for integrating traits into ecological models to estimate productivity-related ecosystem functions and anticipate the response of terrestrial ecosystems to global change.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Hai-Yang Zhang, Xiao-Tao Lu, Cun-Zheng Wei, Jeff R. Powell, Xiao-Bo Wang, Ding-Liang Xing, Zhu-Wen Xu, Huan-Long Li, Xing-Guo Han
Summary: Understanding the mechanisms behind community assembly and biodiversity patterns is crucial in the fields of ecology and evolution. The size of an organism's genome (GS) has been suggested to potentially impact its ability to tolerate environmental stress and therefore influence community assembly. However, the role of GS in driving beta-diversity (spatial variation in species composition) is still uncertain.
Article
Ecology
Wentao Luo, Taofeek O. Muraina, Robert J. Griffin-Nolan, Wang Ma, Lin Song, Wei Fu, Qiang Yu, Alan K. Knapp, Zhengwen Wang, Xingguo Han, Scott L. Collins
Summary: Recurrent droughts caused by climate change have uncertain effects on grassland ecosystems. A 6-year experiment was conducted in a semiarid grassland, which experienced two drought periods separated by a recovery period. The initial drought reduced aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) due to limited growth of certain plant species, but total ANPP recovered as grass productivity compensated for forb productivity. However, the subsequent drought had a greater impact on total ANPP, resulting from declines in both grass and forb productivity. Soil moisture directly influenced ANPP responses during the initial drought, and indirectly during the subsequent drought by affecting functional diversity.
Article
Ecology
Wentao Luo, Robert J. Griffin-Nolan, Lin Song, Niwu Te, Jiaqi Chen, Yuan Shi, Taofeek O. Muraina, Zhengwen Wang, Melinda D. Smith, Qiang Yu, Alan K. Knapp, Xingguo Han, Scott L. Collins
Summary: Plant traits are significant indicators of plant strategies and can affect how communities and ecosystems respond to climate extremes, such as severe drought. However, there is limited research on the immediate and delayed effects of drought on community-weighted mean (CWM) plant traits, particularly regarding the roles of interspecific and intraspecific trait variability in these responses.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Shuang-Li Hou, Feike A. Dijkstra, Xiao-Tao Lu, Xing-Guo Han
Summary: Increasing atmospheric nitrogen deposition leads to ecosystem N-P imbalances, which alters plant N:P ratios and has important consequences on ecosystem services. A field experiment in a temperate semiarid grassland showed that changes in species composition have a more sensitive effect on community-level plant N:P ratio than arithmetic means of different species. This exacerbation of plant N-P imbalances is caused by the dominance of two species with higher N:P stoichiometry flexibility stimulated by N inputs.
Review
Plant Sciences
Jing Lu, Ruzhen Wang, Jordi Sardans, Josep Penuelas, Yong Jiang, Xingguo Han
Summary: This review summarizes the studies on grassland phenology and its associations with tradeoffs in plant resource investment, functional traits, environmental and genetic regulators, genome size (GS), and management practices. It identifies several knowledge gaps, including the lack of clarity on the constraints of resource acquisition and allocation strategies on phenology, the tuning of phenology by functional traits, the role of keystone regulatory genes, the links between GS and phenology, and the effects of management practices on phenological stages. These gaps highlight the need for further research to improve understanding of plant community responses and evolutionary mechanisms under global environmental change.
CRITICAL REVIEWS IN PLANT SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Textiles
Xiaohui Song, Caixia Xie, Wenfang Guan, Huadong Qin, Yishen Ye, Zhi Ma, Xingguo Han
Summary: In this study, wild jujube pit (WJ) was combined with hydroxyapatite (HA) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) for 3D printing. The properties of the materials and their samples were investigated, showing that the addition of WJS or HA improved the reactivity of PLA and increased its hydrophilicity and biodegradability. The introduction of HA and WJS also enhanced the tensile strain and plasticity of PLA. Porous PLA/WJS/HA scaffolds with interconnected pores and a rougher surface were successfully fabricated, demonstrating excellent stiffness.
FIBERS AND POLYMERS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Jianqiang Qian, Zhiming Zhang, Yawei Dong, Qun Ma, Qiang Yu, Jinlei Zhu, Xiaoan Zuo, Caitlin M. Broderick, Scott L. Collins, Xingguo Han, Wentao Luo
Summary: Climate change is expected to increase extreme drought in grassland ecosystems. However, there is limited research on the response of bud banks to drought and their relationship with above-ground plant structure. This study found that the legacy effects of drought on bud banks can affect grassland functioning and resilience. Incorporating bud bank dynamics will improve projections of grassland ecosystems under future climate change.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Jiamei Sun, Bin Zhang, Qingmin Pan, Wei Liu, Xiaoliang Wang, Jianhui Huang, Dima Chen, Changhui Wang, Xingguo Han
Summary: As precipitation patterns become more extreme worldwide, our understanding of grassland responses to extreme drought and wet years, as well as the relationship between precipitation and above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP), remains unclear. This study addresses this research gap by conducting a multi-level precipitation gradient experiment and a long-term observational study in a grassland ecosystem.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Guo-Jiao Yang, Carly Stevens, Zi-Jia Zhang, Xiao-Tao Lu, Xing-Guo Han
Summary: Through a study on a temperate meadow steppe, it was found that nitrogen enrichment had a nonlinear positive effect on above-ground and total net primary productivity (NPP), but a negative effect on below-ground NPP. Soil nitrogen enrichment played a key role in driving the negative impact on below-ground NPP and the earlier occurrence of the NPP nitrogen saturation threshold. This suggests that previous studies on the positive effects of nitrogen deposition on primary productivity might have overestimated its impact on above-ground productivity.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Wentao Luo, Wang Ma, Lin Song, Niwu Te, Jiaqi Chen, Taofeek O. Muraina, Kate Wilkins, Robert J. Griffin-Nolan, Tianxiao Ma, Jianqiang Qian, Chong Xu, Qiang Yu, Zhengwen Wang, Xingguo Han, Scott L. Collins
Summary: Grasslands are expected to face more frequent and severe droughts in the future. This study focuses on understanding the responses and recovery of grasslands to drought using functional traits, particularly bud and clonal traits. The research found that drought reduced total above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) over a four-year period, but post-drought recovery was driven by the rapid recovery of rhizomatous and bunch grasses.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Wei Yang, Junjie Yang, Yi Fan, Quankuan Guo, Nana Jiang, Olubukola Oluranti Babalola, Xingguo Han, Ximei Zhang
Summary: The study investigates the stability of plant and soil microbial community in response to nitrogen (N) deposition. The researchers conducted a long-term field trial in a semiarid steppe, examining resistance and resilience of plants and microbes to N addition. The results show that plant resistance is negatively correlated with N application rate, while microbial resistance is independent of N rate. Mowing reduces plant resistance and resilience, but improves soil microbial resilience. This study provides important insights into the resistance-resilience relationship and offers a theoretical basis for the conservation of semiarid steppe.
Article
Plant Sciences
Pei Zheng, Ruonan Zhao, Liangchao Jiang, Guojiao Yang, Yinliu Wang, Ruzhen Wang, Xingguo Han, Qiushi Ning
Summary: Plant litter decomposition is crucial for carbon balance and nutrient turnover in terrestrial ecosystems, and is affected by anthropogenic nitrogen input. Previous short-term studies may have underestimated the real effect of nitrogen on litter decomposition. Therefore, long-term experiments are necessary to evaluate the dynamics of litter decomposition under nitrogen enrichment. In a 4-year experiment, the addition of nitrogen consistently decreased the decomposition rate of Leymus chinensis litterfall, due to changes in soil environment, microbial activity, litter quality, and plant community. The findings improve our understanding of how increasing nitrogen input affects long-term litter decomposition and terrestrial carbon cycling.
JOURNAL OF PLANT ECOLOGY
(2023)