Effects of fire on the community characteristics of Stipa bungeana grassland

Abstract： A field survey was conducted to determine the effects of different fire periods after 2 and 10 years on the importance value of different plants, average height, cover, abundance, aboveground biomass, diversity and litter accumulation of Stipa bungeana community in the Yunwu Mountain. This study showed that S. bungeana and Carex rigesaens were the codominant species in the three blocks, and Artemisia sacrorum had become subdominant species in the plot with 2 years after fire and control, while Leymus secalinus had become subdominant species in the plots with 10 years after fire. The mean height of the community was significantly decreased two years after fire (P0.01), and the mean coverage of the community was significantly decreased ten years after fire (P0.05), and both the mean density of the community were significantly increased two and ten years after fire (P0.01). This study also showed that fire did not affect the aboveground biomass, diversity index, richness index and evenness index. The litter accumulation was control ten years after fire two years after fire.