Stability and micro-topography effects of Sophora moorcroftiana
community for fixation of sandy land under natural restoration, southern
Tibetan Plateau
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 of S.
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 moorcroftiana in different topographies.