Increasing plant diversity exacerbates tufa dissolution: A case study of central Guizhou karst tufa landscape, China  

作　　者：LIU Zhiming ZHANG Zhaohui WANG Zhihui LI Chenyi SHEN Jiachen 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory for Information System of Mountainous Area and Protection of Ecological Environment of Guizhou Province,Guizhou Normal University,Guiyang 550025,China [2]School of Life Sciences,Guizhou Normal University,Guiyang 550025,China

出　　处：《Journal of Mountain Science》2025年第4期1343-1358,共16页山地科学学报(英文)

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No:32360052)。

摘　　要：Tufa is an important type of landscape in karst regions.In recent years,the loss of landscape diversity due to tufa dissolution is affecting the stability of local ecosystems.Therefore,determining the factors and their mechanisms involved in tufa dissolution is important for preserving regional landscape diversity and local ecosystem stability.In this study,we selected four tufa sites with different degrees of dissolution(undissolved tufa,lightly dissolved tufa,moderately dissolved tufa,and heavily dissolved tufa)in Xiangzhigou karst region of Guizhou Province as the study objects.We explored the effects of natural plant colonization on tufa dissolution using changes inαandβdiversity indices,soil physicochemical indicators,tufa components,and tufa substrate.The results indicated that the Shannon-wiener index,Simpson index and Patrick richness index gradually increased with tufa's increasing degree of dissolution.Additionally,the dissolution degree exhibited a significantly negative correlation with the species diversity(p<0.05).Natural vegetation colonization is the primary cause of changes in the proportion of tufa components and changes in the physicochemical properties of overlying tufa soils.The proportion of CaO components decreased significantly,and the proportion of loss on ignition components increased significantly.Soil organic carbon,pH,total nitrogen,available nitrogen,total phosphorus,available phosphorus,total potassium,available potassium,β-glucosidase,and urease gradually increased with deeper tufa dissolution and were negatively correlated with the degree of dissolution(p<0.05).It indicates that tufa is a process of dissolution into the soil and gradual improvement of the physicochemical properties of the overlying soil.Furthermore,scanning electron micrographs revealed the transition from dense to fragmented tufa structure under the influence of plants.In conclusion,this study found that improving plant diversity exacerbated tufa dissolution.Our findings provide a theoretical reference for the

关 键 词：Karst landform Tufa dissolution Natural vegetation colonization Vegetation diversity Soil formation Soil physicochemical properties 

分 类 号：P931[天文地球—自然地理学]