Stability and micro-topography
effects of Sophora moorcroftiana community for fixation of sandy
land under natural restoration, southern Tibetan Plateau
Chengrui Liao1, 2, 3, Haidong Li2,
*, Guoping Lv1, 2, 3, Meirong
Tian2, Jiarong Tian1, 2, 3, Huihui
Shi1, 3, Yannan Xu1, 3, *
1Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
2 Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences,
Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing 210042, China
3 Centre of Co-Innovation for Sustainable Forestry in
Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
E-mail address: nfuxyn@njfu.edu.cn; lihd2020@163.com
Telephone numbers: 18905188069; 13951793216
Abstract: The Tibetan Plateau, a vulnerable eco-region for
global warming, has huge value of science and practice on ecological
restoration to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Sophora
moorcroftiana shrubs, which are widely distributed in the middle
reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River basin, have been recovered on
desertified land benefiting from natural restoration during the past
decades. However, the effects of habitat conditions in different
topographies on population structure and distribution of S.
moorcroftiana have been rarely reported. Here, we achieve the variation
of vegetation and micro-topography of S. moorcroftiana population
by a series of field surveys with
Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS)
during natural restoration in 2017. The results indicate that the
positive correlation between height and CPA reached the 99% confidence
level (p < 0.01). The plant height was significantly
correlated with the elevation and slope (r = 0.167 and 0.145,
respectively; p < 0.01). While the distribution ofS. moorcroftiana population decreased along increasing elevation,
and the trend of distribution was decreasing firstly, increasing
secondly and decreasing finally with increasing slope. The habitat
conditions on the southwest slope of approximately 20°-25° with
altitudes of 3593-3643 m most favor to the distribution of S.
moorcroftiana population in this region. These will help to understand
the effect of micro-topography on population structure and distribution
of Sophora moorcroftiana in southern Tibetan Plateau and assess
the effectiveness of natural restoration of Sophora moorcroftianain different topographies.
Key word: population structure; spatial distribution;
micro-topography; Sophora moorcroftiana ; Tibetan Plateau