Carbon，nitrogen，phosphorus and potassium ，being elem ents essential to
plant growth，play im portant roles in the growth and developm ent of plants and functioning of the individuals.
Ecological stoichiom etry is a discipline integrating the principles of ecology and stoichiom etry and studying
energy balance and m ass balance of m ultiple chem ical elem ents in living system s，and can be used to analyze
constraints and consequences of these m ass balances during ecological interactions. 【M ethod】This paper
was to characterize contents and eco-stoichiom etric proportions of carbon（C），nitrogen（N ），phosphorus
（P）and potassium （K ）in leaves and litter of eight dom inant species of plants，i.e. Pinus tabuliformis，
Populus L.，Robinia pseudoacacia L.，Hippophae rhamnoides，Amorpha fruticosa Linn，Stipa bungeana Trin，Medicago sativa Linn，Agropyron cristatum（Linn.）G aertn，in three different types of vegetation
（forest，shrub，and grass）in the revegetated area of the H eidaigou opencast coal m ining，Zhungeer，Inner
M ongolia by m eans of field surveying and sam pling and in-lab analysis，and further to explore relationships
of plant hom eostasis of degraded ecosystem s with vegetation type and N P lim iting rate，in an attem pt to
provide som e proposals for rational com bination of plant species in restoring and/or reestablishing vegetation
on the Loess Plateau and som e evidence for perfecting the theory of eco-stoichiom etry. 【R esult】R esults
show that the content of C，N ，P and K varied in the range of 418.2～564.1，7.19～33.21，0.82～2.37 and
4.98～32.77 g kg -1 ，respectively in leaves of the plants，and in the range of 368.9 ～562.3，3.98 ～22.65，
0.58～0.97 and 1.18 ～20.98 g kg -1 ，respectively in litter of the plants. A m ong the eight species of plants，
a decreasing order of non-nitrogen-fixing plant Hippophae rhamnoides ＞ nitrogen-fixing plants ＞ the other
non-nitrogen-fixing plants was observed. The leaves were higher than the litter in content of total carbon，
nitrogen，phosphorus and potassium ，especially N content in the leaves，which was even slightly higher than
the average of the country. But the P content in the leaves was lower than the average of the country. A m ong
the three types of vegetations，a decreasing order of shrubbery ＞ forest plants ＞ grass was found in content
of organic carbon in leaves；an order of shrubbery ＞ grass ＞ forest in TN and TP and an order of grass ＞
shrubury ＞ forest in TK . Eco-stoichiom etric characteristics of C，N ，P and K in leaves and litter varied with
species of the plant and the ratio of N ∶P，P∶K ，N ∶K ，C∶N ，C∶P and C∶K varied in the range of
7.16～22.45，0.036～0.23，0.70～4.55，14.92～64.44，218.54～557.36 and 12.78～121.14，respectively
in leaves and in the range of 6.97～23.78，0.076～0.64，0.92～6.71，16.09～160.28，292.89～1096.02
and 20.24～795.31，respectively，in litter. In term s of N ∶P ratio in leaves，the three types of vegetations
followed an order of shrubbery（18.86）＞ grass（15.44）＞ forest（14.68），indicating that P is the
m ajor lim iting factor for growth of shrub plants，while N and P the two factors lim iting developm ent of forest
and grass vegetations. 【Conclusion】It could，therefore，be concluded that for revegetation of the area，
shrubs are the priority choice. A ll the findings in the study m ay provide theoretical and practical guidance for
restoration and re-establishm ent of vegetation in the Zhungeer H eidaigou opencast coal m ining area.
修改评论