Storage of biomass and net primary productivity in desert shrubland of Artemisia ordosica on Ordos Plateau of Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

Biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) are two important parameters in determining ecosystem carbon pool and carbon sequestration. The biomass storage and NPP in desert shrubland of Artemisia ordosica on Ordos Plateau were investigated with method of harvesting standard size shrub in the growing season (June–October) of 2006. Results indicated that above-and belowground biomass of the same size shrubs showed no significant variation in the growing season (p>0.1), but annual biomass varied significantly (p<0.01). In the A. ordosica community, shrub biomass storage was 699.76-1246.40 g·m⁻² and annual aboveground NPP was 224.09 g·m⁻²·a⁻¹. Moreover, shrub biomass and NPP were closely related with shrub dimensions (cover and height) and could be well predicted by shrub volume using power regression.

Keywords

Shrub biomass / Net primary productivity / Artemisia ordosica community / Ordos Plateau / Inner Mongolia