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Stability and micro-topography effects of Sophora moorcroftiana community for fixation of sandy land under natural restoration, southern Tibetan Plateau
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  • Chengrui Liao,
  • Haidong Li,
  • Guoping Lv,
  • Meirong Tian,
  • Jiarong Tian,
  • Huihui Shi,
  • Yannan Xu
Chengrui Liao
Nanjing Forestry University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Haidong Li
Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences
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Guoping Lv
Nanjing Forestry University
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Meirong Tian
Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences
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Jiarong Tian
Nanjing Forestry University
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Huihui Shi
Nanjing Forestry University
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Yannan Xu
Nanjing Forestry University
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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.
10 Apr 2020Submitted to Land Degradation & Development
13 Apr 2020Submission Checks Completed
13 Apr 2020Assigned to Editor
18 Apr 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
05 May 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
22 Jun 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
11 Aug 20201st Revision Received
12 Aug 2020Submission Checks Completed
12 Aug 2020Assigned to Editor
27 Aug 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
04 Sep 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
30 Sep 20202nd Revision Received
03 Oct 2020Submission Checks Completed
03 Oct 2020Assigned to Editor
26 Oct 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
03 Nov 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
18 Nov 20203rd Revision Received
18 Nov 2020Submission Checks Completed
18 Nov 2020Assigned to Editor
21 Nov 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
05 Dec 2020Editorial Decision: Accept