Effect of enclosure on reproductive allocation of wheatgrass Agropyronmongolicum populations in desert steppes

We studied the effects of enclosure cultivation on the reproductive allocation of a wheatgrass species Agropyron mongolicum in the Desert steppes of Northern China. The results showed that: (a) after enclosure cultivation, the height, clump width, coverage, and clump biomass of A. mongolicum significantly increased by 78.96% (p = .040), 63.50% (p = .013), 50.89% (p = .032), and 205.38% (p = .022), respectively, whereas density did not show a significant change (p = .330). (b) Enclosure cultivation significantly affected the biomass of A. mongolicum. Compared with cultivation outside the fence, root, leaf, and spike bio_x0002_mass of A. mongolicum inside the fence significantly increased by 183.52% (p = .020), 334.09% (p = .011), and 381.25% (p = .005), respectively. Our results demonstrate that the reproductive allocation of elemental nutrients and caloric values in nonreproductive and reproductive organs are plastic to arid environments.