Response of seedling emergence of Psammochloa villosa to precipitation change In Mu-Us Sandland, semiarid China

摘要

Altered precipitation regimes will occur in mid-latitude regions with increasing precipitation amount and frequency of extreme rainfall events ( IPCC 2007). This could alter the dynamics of soil water availability, which has important ecological consequences, particularly in water-limited ecosystems (Knapp era/ 2008). In semi-arid areas, water availability is one of the most important environmental factors affecting seedling emergence (Padgett et al 2000). The objective of this study was to evaluatethe effects of precipitation amount and precipitation frequency on seedling emergence of the dominant species in semiarid ecosystems.