International Journal of Ecology

Research Article

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

Table 3

Correlation coefficients between plant functional groups and aboveground biomass. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients (). L: Legumes; CAB: Community aboveground biomass; S, Sedges; C₃: Grasses with the three-carbon photosynthetic pathway (C₃); W: Woody plants; Kobresia humilis meadow = KHM; Kobresia pygmaea meadow = KPM; Kobresia tibetica swamp meadow = KTS; Potentilla fruticosa scrub = PFS.


Community	Plant functional groups	2003	P	2004	P	2005	P
Community	Plant functional groups	Correlation coefficient (r)	P	Correlation coefficient (r)	P	Correlation coefficient (r)	P

KHM	L versus CAB	0.900	.037	0.866	.029	0.900	.037
	L versus S	0.600	.285	0.400	.505	0.500	.391
	C₃ versus S	−0.300	.624	−0.300	.624	−0.707	.188

KPM	L versus CAB	0.200	.747	0.800	.104	0.300	.624
	L versus S	0.500	.391	0.400	.505	0.900	.037
	C₃ versus S	−0.400	.624	−0.400	.505	−0.300	.624

KTS	S versus CAB	0.988	.002	0.982	.003	0.971	.006

PFS	L versus CAB	0.866	.029	0.898	.038	0.901	.037
	W versus CAB	0.540	.348	0.699	.189	0.818	.138
	L versus S	0.757	.139	0.388	.518	0.350	.564
	C₃ versus S	−0.457	.439	−0.558	.328	−0.534	.354