| Abstrakt: |
This study assessed the impact of prickly pear plantations (PPPs) on soil characteristics and plant diversity in arid and semi-arid steppes of northeastern Algeria. The symbiosis of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) with Opuntiaficus-indica roots was seasonally estimated. In arid and semi-arid climates, stations with PPPs were studied along with unplanted rangelands (NP). At each station, soil physicochemical parameters, namely pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total and active CaCO3, organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (Nt), plant-available phosphorus (PAP), and C/N ratio, were determined. Vegetation was surveyed using vegetation cover and species abundance, which were used to compute species diversity indices, disturbance index, and plant functional traits. Mycorrhizal infectivity and intensity were measured for PPPs of both climates. Regardless of the climatic region, PPPs significantly improved vegetation cover (P < 0.01), species abundance (P = 0.015), species richness (P < 0.001), and SOM (P < 0.001) compared to the NP. Plant functional traits revealed that plant community was dominated by therophytes (41–80%), anemochorous (34–48%) and zoochorous species (6–44%), ruderal-stress-tolerant species (80%), and arido-passive species (61–90%), with a Mediterranean chorological trend (61–89%). Endomycorrhizal symbiosis (mycorrhizal frequency = 58–90%, mycorrhizal intensity = 3–25%) was high in roots of PPPs. Redundancy analysis revealed that SOM, EC, Nt, and PAP were positively associated with diversity parameters in PPPs. The multifactorial analysis indicated a close linkage between soil, vegetation parameters, and plant functional traits in planted stations compared to NP. This study suggests that PPPs can significantly improve soil properties and contribute to the rehabilitation of arid and semi-arid rangeland steppes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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