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Effects of plateau pikas’ foraging and burrowing activities on vegetation biomass and soil organic carbon of alpine grasslands

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Abstract

Aims

Quantitatively assess the foraging and burrowing effects of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae, hereafter pikas) on vegetation biomass and soil organic carbon at plot scale.

Methods

Combining field surveys and aerial photographing, we investigated pikas density, vegetation biomass, soil organic carbon and total nitrogen at quadrat-scale in 82 grassland sites of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We then upscaled these variables to plot-scale and eventually quantified pikas’ foraging and burrowing effects on aboveground biomass and soil organic carbon.

Results

Pikas have a wide distribution, with densities ranging from 40.29 to 71.40 ha−1. Under this density level, pikas consume approximate 21% to 40% of the total vegetation biomass, while their burrowing activity causes less than 1% vegetation biomass reduction. However, pikas burrowing transfers 1 to 5 T ha−1 of soil to the ground surface, which contains approximate 20 to 70 kg ha−1 of soil organic carbon and 2 to 5 kg ha−1 of total nitrogen.

Conclusions

Vegetation biomass is susceptible to the foraging influence of pikas. Pikas burrowing activity has a potential impact on soil organic carbon loss and thus vegetation growth. These results are conducive to improve our understanding of the effects of pikas on regulating alpine grasslands. Unmanned aerial vehicle is a feasible and efficient tool to perform the monitoring extensiveness plots and study the role of pikas.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr. Xiaogang Ye and Guanglin Meng for their help in field sampling. We also thank Dr. Zhaoye Zhou for her help in revising the manuscript. This study was jointly supported by grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC0406601), the National Natural Science Foundation (41690142, 41801030, 41701077) and the independent grants from the State Key Laboratory of Cryosphere Sciences (SKLCS-ZZ-2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Yu Qin, Yongjian Ding, Yan Qin, Wei Zhang & Zhiwei Wang

  2. Institute of Fragile Ecology and Environment, Nantong University, 999 Tongjing Road, Nantong, 226007, Jiangsu, China

    Shuhua Yi, Yi Sun, Baoping Meng & Huifang Zhang

  3. School of Geographic Sciences, Nantong University, 999 Tongjing Road, Nantong, 226007, Jiangsu, China

    Shuhua Yi, Yi Sun, Baoping Meng & Huifang Zhang

  4. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yongjian Ding, Yan Qin & Wei Zhang

  5. Qinghai Province Grasslands Station, 81 Shengli Road, Xining, 810008, China

    Xiumin Hou & Hongyan Yu

  6. College of Geomatics and Geoinformation, Guilin University of Technology, 12 Jiangan Road, Guilin, 541004, China

    Xiumin Hou & Hongyan Yu

  7. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Spatial Information and Geomatics, 12 Jiangan Road, Guilin, 541004, China

    Jianjun Chen

  8. Guizhou Institute of Prataculture, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, 550006, People’s Republic of China

    Zhiwei Wang

Authors
  1. Yu Qin
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  2. Shuhua Yi
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  3. Yongjian Ding
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  4. Yan Qin
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  5. Wei Zhang
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  6. Yi Sun
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  7. Xiumin Hou
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  8. Hongyan Yu
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  9. Baoping Meng
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  10. Huifang Zhang
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  11. Jianjun Chen
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  12. Zhiwei Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shuhua Yi.

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Responsible Editor: Gao-Lin Wu.

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Qin, Y., Yi, S., Ding, Y. et al. Effects of plateau pikas’ foraging and burrowing activities on vegetation biomass and soil organic carbon of alpine grasslands. Plant Soil 458, 201–216 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04489-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04489-1

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