Effects of different land use patterns on the aboveground and underground biomass of vegetation in eastern Qilian Mountains

The impacts of different land use patterns on the aboveground and underground biomass of alpine meadow in the eastern part of Qilian Mountains were studied.The five land use patterns,including natural grassland,returned farmland to naturally restorated grassland,slope farmland,abandoned cropland and sowed perennial grassland,were designed.The results showed there were significant differences in aboveground and underground biomass among 5 land use patterns.The order of aboveground biomass was slope farmlandsowed perennial grasslandnatural grasslandreturned farmland to naturally restorated grasslandabandoned cropland;The order of underground biomass was natural grasslandsowed perennial grasslandslope farmlandreturned farmland to naturally restorated grasslandabandoned cropland;Underground biomass moss mainly distributed within 0 to 10 cm soil layer.The relationship between aboveground biomass and vegetation coverage could be discribed as a quadratic function.The relationship between underground biomass and vegetation coverage could be discribed as a logarithmic function.The relationship between underground biomass and species number could be discribed as a quadratic function.The aboveground biomass was significantly(P0.05)correlated with vegetation coverage.The underground biomass was significantly(P0.05)respectively correlated with species and vegetation coverage.