Features Of Vegetation Community And Physicochemical Properties Of Soil During Natural Restoration In Desertified Grassland

Considering the severe ecological impacts of land desertification, this paper mainly explores the natural restoration process, vegetation community features, and soil physicochemical properties of a desertified grassland called Huangyangtan (HYT). Replacing temporal sequence with spatial sequence, the grasslands with different degrees of desertification were selected as representative plots for different restoration stages, as measured by vegetation coverage and other indices. In addition, the survey data on vegetation in 11 consecutive years were obtained to derive the restoration trend and speed. The results show that: with the natural restoration of the desertified grassland, the vegetation community evolved and stabilised in the positive direction. The natural restoration of the desertified grassland was divided into three phases: severe to moderate desertification, moderate to slight desertification, and slight to non-desertification; the upgrading periods for the grasslands in the three phases were determined as 10, 8, and 12 years, respectively. During the natural restoration, the soil quality indicated a certain improvement. However, the soil recovery was slower than vegetation restoration. In addition, the vegetation community features had an exponential relationship with the physicochemical properties of soil. The research results provide scientific basis for ecological restoration in desertified grasslands.