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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Functional Plant Ecology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1505526
This article is part of the Research Topic Response and Adaptation of Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon, Nitrogen, and Water Cycles to Climate Change in Arid Desert Regions View all 8 articles
Coupling relationships between vegetation and soil in different vegetation types in the Ulan Buh Desert and the Kubuqi Desert
Provisionally accepted- Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou, China
Desertification is a globally recognized ecological issue that poses severe threats to the environment, economic and social systems. Revegetation is the primary means to combat desertification, yet the effectiveness of revegetation practices requires reasonable quantification. To identify appropriate planting patterns for revegetation in different deserts and provide a basis for vegetation reconstruction in deserts, we conducted a comprehensive survey in the Ulan Buh Desert and the Kubuqi Desert of the Northern China. Data on vegetation and soil were collected from 54 representative sites, covering both natural and revegetation communities. The findings revealed that the diversity of herbaceous and woody species, and soil nutrient content increased after revegetation, in comparison to adjacent moving sand dunes. Additionally, the species diversity and soil conditions in revegetation areas, gradually approached those of natural vegetation communities, indicating a succession towards a state resembling natural conditions. Variations in the coupling of vegetation-soil systems were observed among different community types in both deserts. Notably, the communities dominated by Caragana korshinskii and Artemisia ordosica exhibited the strongest coupling in the vegetation-soil system, driven primarily by soil water and nutrients, as well as vegetation growth. Evaluation of vegetation-soil system coupling effect was used to evaluate the effectiveness of vegetation restoration and species selection in the wo deserts, which can serve as a reference for vegetation reconstruction and ecological restoration in desert areas.
Keywords: revegetation, Natural vegetation, Vegetation-soil system, Coupling coordination, revegetation construction
Received: 03 Oct 2024; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 han, Huo, Rui, Gong, Nan, Lian and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhishan Zhang, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Lanzhou, China
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