Abstract:

Short-lived plants are an important part of vegetation to maintain the stability of Gurbantunggut Desert-Oasis Intertwined Zone， and rodent disturbance affects the growth of short-lived plants in many ways. It is of great significance to study the effects of rodent disturbance on short-lived plants for maintaining ecosystem stability in arid areas. In this study， short-lived plants in the southern margin of Gurbantungut Desert were studied. The growth status， diversity and soil physicochemical properties of short-lived plants were analyzed with or without rodent disturbance in the region. The results showed that： （1） The rodent disturbance changed the traits of short-lived plants， and the density of short-lived plants in the disturbed area was significantly higher than that in the control area， and the plant height was significantly lower than that in the control area. （2） Rodent disturbance increased Shannon-Wiener diversity index and Margalef abundance index of short-lived plants. （3） The contents of total phosphorus， total nitrogen， total potassium， available nitrogen， available phosphorus and total salt in soil were significantly different due to rodent disturbance. （4） There was a significant correlation between short-lived plant diversity and soil physicochemical factors in the control area， but no significant correlation between them in the disturbance area. Soil physicochemical factors could explain the variation of short-lived plant diversity well， and the cumulative explanation rates of short-lived plant diversity in control and disturbed areas were 97.99% and 86.84%， respectively. Moderate rodent disturbance in Gurbantunggut Desert can significantly change the physical and chemical properties of soil in local habitats， thus significantly increasing the diversity of short-lived plants， which is of great significance for improving the ecological stability of desert arid regions.

Key words: short-lived plants, rodent disturbance, redundancy analysis