ABSTRACT
Vegetation stoichiometry represents plant nutrition limitation status. Whether it can affect the species diversity of plant community remains to be explored. In this study, we examined plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) concentrations and stoichiometry, and further analyzed the relationship between stoichiometry and species diversity in Artemisia ordosica community and Salix psammophila community in sand land of the Ningxia Habahu National Nature Reserve. The results showed that, for the S. psammophila community growing in mobile and semi-fixed sand dunes, there was a significant negative correlation between Simpson index and vegetation C/N ratio, but no significant correlation between Simpson index and vegetation N/P ratio. For A. ordosica community distributed in semi-fixed and fixed dunes, the Shannon index had a significant positive correlation with vegetation N/P ratio and a significant negative correlation with vegetation C/N ratio. Combined the vegetation stoichiometry with the results of regression analysis (RDA), P concentration and thus N/P ratio had different influences on the species diversity for A. ordosica community and S. psammophila community. Our results showed that vegetation stoichiometry has an important influence on species diversity of plant community in sand land.
