Research Article

The Effects of Plant-Soil-Enzyme Interactions on Plant Composition, Biomass and Diversity of Alpine Meadows in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Table 1

Chemical properties of soil samples collected in four alpine meadow plant communities (Mean Β± SD). Numbers in parentheses indicate standard deviation ( 𝑛 = 6 ). Data from different communities at same year followed by the same letters were not significantly different at 0.05 levels (Duncan’s multiple range tests). 𝐢 m i c : Microbial biomass C, 𝑄 m i c : Soil microbial quotient. Kobresia humilis meadow = KHM; Kobresia pygmaea meadow = KPM; Kobresia tibetica swamp meadow = KTS; Potentilla fruticosa scrub = PFS.

CommunityYearSoil layer (cm)Soil organic C (g C kgβˆ’1 soil)Soil total N (g N kgβˆ’1 soil)Soil total P (g P kgβˆ’1 soil)Soil available N (mg/kg)Soil available P (mg/kg)Soil moisture (%) pH value

KHM20030–401.012b (0.11)5.76b (0.19)0.65a (0.02)31.60b (0.57)9.95a (0.67)41.62b (0.08)8.04a (0.02)
20040–400.983b (0.17)5.39b (0.16)0.63a (0.03)30.40b (0.14)11.28a (0.51)39.32b (0.11)8.02a (0.02)
20050–401.017b (0.13)5.37b (0.24)0.62a (0.05)29.65b (0.86)11.22a (1.08)38.43b (0.07)8.05a (0.01)

KPM20030–401.051b (0.61)6.03b (0.24)0.64a (0.04)36.10b (8.78)10.31a (1.12)36.27c (0.03)8.02a (0.03)
20040–401.086b (0.81)5.68b (0.24)0.63a (0.04)35.86b (2.35)11.13a (1.22)34.26c (0.04)8.03a (0.02)
20050–401.066b (0.12)5.67b (0.18)0.63a (0.05)37.39b (2.34)10.06a (2.02)35.19c (0.04)7.97a (0.03)

KTS20030–4092.79a (5.74)12.62a (0.34)0.65a (0.02)81.60a (1.57)11.28a (1.05)77.76a (0.04)7.40a (0.09)
20040–4094.89a (2.96)11.95a (0.25)0.64a (0.03)81.80a (2.12)12.83a (1.22)74.83a (0.05)7.31a (0.14)
20050–4094.68a (3.10)11.75a (0.34)0.63a (0.05)79.25a (1.15)13.81a (1.95)75.16a (0.07)7.20a (0.12)

PFS20030–400.685 b (0.05)5.04b (0.33)0.62a (0.05)30.33b (2.55)10.88a (0.94)43.22b (0.07)7.14a (0.02)
20040–400.605b (0.07)4.67b (0.15)0.64a (0.04)32.46b (2.45)11.58a (1.38)40.51b (0.06)7.16a (0.02)
20050–400.691b (0.07)4.66b (0.18)0.65a (0.06)32.12b (2.38)10.82a (1.36)40.51b (0.11)7.13a (0.03)