Effects of soil nitrate:ammonium ratio on plant carbon:nitrogen ratio and growth rate of Artemisia sphaerocephala seedlings

Can soil nitrate： ammonium ratios influence plant carbon： nitrogen ratios of the early succession plant？ Can plant carbon： nitrogen ratios limit the plant growth in early succession？ To address these two questions, we performed a two-factor （soil nitrate： ammonium ratio and plant density） randomized block design and a uniform-precision rotatable central composite design pot experiments to examine the relationships between soil nitrate： ammonium ratios, the carbon： nitrogen ratios and growth rate of Artemisia sphaerocephala seedlings. Under adequate nutrient status, both soil nitrate： ammonium ratios and plant density influenced the carbon： nitrogen ratios and growth rate of A. sphaerocephala seedlings. Under the lower soil nitrate： ammonium ratios, with the increase of soil nitrate： ammonium ratios, the growth rates of plant height and shoot biomass of A. sphaerocephala seedlings decreased significantly; with the increase of plant carbon： nitrogen ratios, the growth rates of shoot biomass of A. sphaerocephala seedlings decreased significantly. Soil nitrate： ammonium ratios affected the carbon： nitrogen ratios of A. sphaerocephala seedlings by plant nitrogen but not by plant carbon. Thus, soil nitrate： ammonium ratios influenced the carbon： nitrogen ratios of A. sphaerocephala seedlings, and hence influenced its growth rates. Our results suggest that under adequate nutrient environment, soil nitrate： ammonium ratios can be a limiting factor for the growth of the early succession plant.

Effect of pine wood nematode invasion on pine community functions in the Pinghu region, Zhejiang Province, eastern China

In order to investigate the effect of invastion by pine wood nematode(PWN), this study analyzed several functional indices, i.e., the increment in DBH and stand volume and biomass, in the damaged stands with various mixed percentages of Pinus massoniana and P. thunbergii and with different levels of damage. According to the results of rate of change in increment of DBH and stand volume, the forest ecosystem resistance against PWN increased with a reduction in the mixed ratio of pine. The resistance was highest with a mixed percentage of 50%. The invasion of PWN changed the corresponding relationship of increment between DBH and stand volume(pure stands > 7:3 conifer and broadleaf > 6:4 conifer and broadleaf > 5:5 conifer and broadleaf) among the P. thunbergii stands when there is no damage, but for P. massoniana stands this phenomenon did not occur. For the increment rate of DBH and stand volume, this significant change in P. thunbergii forest indicates that the resistance of pure P. thunbergii forest was higher than that of P. massoniana. The invasion of PWN accelerates the succession from pure stands to mixed stands and then to the broadleaf evergreen stands.

Development of plant communities after restoration of the Antaibao mining site, China

To investigate the dynamic changes in the artificial vegetation in an abandoned mining site,we analyzed the re lationships among community types,environmental variables and community structure in the process of vegetation restoration in the Antaibao mining site,China by survey of the communities and use of biological dating methods.By means of the quantitative classification method(two-way indicator-species analysis,TWINSPAN)and the ordination technique(de-trended correspondence analysis,DCA;and de-trended canonical correspondence analysis,DCCA),the plant communities were classified into seven groups:community I,Robinia pseudoacacia+Pimus tabulaeformis-Caragana kor-shinskii-Agropyron cristatum;community II,Robinia pseudoacacia-Hippophae rhamnoides-Artemisia capil-laries;community II,Ulmus pumila-Elaeagmus angu-stifolia-Artemisia capillaries;community IV,Caragana korshinskii-Agropyron cristatum+Artemisia capillaries;community V,Hippophae rhamnoides-Elymus dahur-icus;community VI,Elaeagnus angustifolia+Hippophae rhamnoides-Brassica jucea;community VII,Hippophae rhammoides+Elaeagnus angustifolia-Salsola collina.We conclude that the community types and diversity are mainly influenced by the succession time and the soil organic matter content.The forest community is more adaptable to the special inhabitation than the shrub community.