Interactions of the indigenous evergreen shrub Sabina vulgaris with coexisting species in the Mu Us sandland

Abstract

Aims: Facilitation is widespread in plant communities and particularly common in highly stressful environments. In the semi-arid Mu Us sandland where soil water and nutrients are short and grazing is heavy, many species grow within the large patches formed by the dense individuals of the unpalatable clonal shrub Sabina vulgaris, the only natural evergreen shrub species in the Mu Us sandland. However, the interactions between S. vulgaris and these coexisting species remain unclear, and we hypothesize that S. vulgaris can facilitate at least some species because within the patches vegetation is not grazed and soil water and nutrients may also be higher. Methods: We measured the maximum height, coverage and number of individuals of each vascular species, little cover and thickness of biological crust at the soil surface in 1 m × 1 m plots in three types of microsites associated with 40 patches of S. vulgaris: (i) at the center, (ii) at the inner edge and (iii) outside the patches. We also took soil samples and measured soil water content and content of total N, P, K and organic matter. Important Findings: Soil water, nitrogen, organic matter and litter cover were the highest at the patch center, lowest outside the patches and intermediate at the inner edge of the patches, whereas thickness of biological crust was greater outside than at the center or at the inner edge. Among the 32 species recorded, six species preferred to occur within the patches, suggesting that S. vulgaris can facilitate these species most likely by grazing exclusion, increasing water and/or nitrogen resources in soil. However, most (19) species did not show preference and seven preferred outside. Also, species richness, pooled cover and number of individuals of all species were greater outside than within the patches, and such effects did not vary with the size of the S. vulgaris patches. These results suggest that the dominant interactions between S. vulgaris and the coexisting species are competition. The findings add to our knowledge that facilitation can be shown even when the competitive effects from the potential nurse plants are very strong. © 2012 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Botanical Society of China. All rights reserved.