Variability in groundwater depth and composition and their impacts on vegetation succession in the lower Heihe River Basin, north-western China

Zhu, J; Yu, J; Wang, P; Yu, Q; Eamus, D

Variability in groundwater depth and composition and their impacts on vegetation succession in the lower Heihe River Basin, north-western China

Zhu, J Yu, J Wang, P Yu, Q

Eamus, D

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Marine and Freshwater Research, 2014, 65 (3), pp. 206 - 217
Issue Date:: 2014-03-03

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	Variability in groundwater depth and....pdf	Published Version	915.96 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Zhu, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Yu, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wang, P	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Yu, Q https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6950-1821	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Eamus, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2765-8040	en_US
dc.date.issued	2014-03-03	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Marine and Freshwater Research, 2014, 65 (3), pp. 206 - 217	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1323-1650	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36170
dc.description.abstract	Plant-community structure and groundwater attributes were investigated in Ejina Delta in north-western China to understand spatial variability of groundwater depth and composition and their impacts on vegetation succession. Geostatistical methods and ordination analysis were performed to analyse the data. In addition, we tried to obtain vegetation successional series by using an approach of spatial sequences instead of temporal sequences. The findings of the present study were as follows: (1) the coefficient of variation for groundwater depth (GWD), salinity (SAL), total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, SO42-, HCO3-, NO3-, Cl-and F-ranged from 0.04 to 1.53; (2) GWD, Mg2+, TDS, EC, Ca2+, HCO3-, NO3-and pH showed strong spatial autocorrelation, whereas K+ and SAL showed moderate spatial autocorrelation; (3) canonical correspondence analysis revealed that groundwater heterogeneity, especially GWD, followed by pH, SAL, TDS, EC and HCO3-, had an important impact on vegetation succession, and thus showed a prevalence of groundwater attributes-based niche differentiation among plant communities; and (4) there were two vegetation successional processes (drought and salinisation) in the lower Heihe River Basin, and salinisation processes increased with drought processes. Our results indicated that high spatial variability of groundwater attributes contributes to promoting maintenance of species and landscape diversity in the lower Heihe River Basin.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Marine and Freshwater Research	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1071/MF13082	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Marine Biology & Hydrobiology	en_US
dc.title	Variability in groundwater depth and composition and their impacts on vegetation succession in the lower Heihe River Basin, north-western China	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	3	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	65	en_US
utslib.for	0602 Ecology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	3	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	65	en_US

Abstract:

Plant-community structure and groundwater attributes were investigated in Ejina Delta in north-western China to understand spatial variability of groundwater depth and composition and their impacts on vegetation succession. Geostatistical methods and ordination analysis were performed to analyse the data. In addition, we tried to obtain vegetation successional series by using an approach of spatial sequences instead of temporal sequences. The findings of the present study were as follows: (1) the coefficient of variation for groundwater depth (GWD), salinity (SAL), total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, SO42-, HCO3-, NO3-, Cl-and F-ranged from 0.04 to 1.53; (2) GWD, Mg2+, TDS, EC, Ca2+, HCO3-, NO3-and pH showed strong spatial autocorrelation, whereas K+ and SAL showed moderate spatial autocorrelation; (3) canonical correspondence analysis revealed that groundwater heterogeneity, especially GWD, followed by pH, SAL, TDS, EC and HCO3-, had an important impact on vegetation succession, and thus showed a prevalence of groundwater attributes-based niche differentiation among plant communities; and (4) there were two vegetation successional processes (drought and salinisation) in the lower Heihe River Basin, and salinisation processes increased with drought processes. Our results indicated that high spatial variability of groundwater attributes contributes to promoting maintenance of species and landscape diversity in the lower Heihe River Basin.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36170