Relationship between community characteristics of desert plants and ecological threshold of groundwater depth

The characteristics of desert plantcommunities are comprehensively influenced byfactors such as arid environment, soil conditions, and groundwater depth, presenting unique structural and functional traits. Through field quadrat surveys and diversity index analysis, this study reveals the response mechanism of desert plant community characteristics to groundwater depth and their ecological thresholds. The results show that: (1) The constructive species, Tamarix and Populus, have the highest occurrence frequencies across different groundwater depths, accounting for 34% and 19% respectively. Within the groundwater depth range of 3.77-5.99 m, the average coverage of the shrub layer reaches 42.7%, which is significantly higher than that in other intervals (P P < 0.05).