Plant community, stoichiometric N ratios, and15N absorption in the degraded and in non-degraded alpine meadow
Compared with the undegraded alpine meadow, species richness was significantly lower and the community similarity coefficient per quadrat decreased from 0.882 in the non-degraded meadow to 0.491 in the degraded alpine meadow (Table 2). Other plant community traits, such as aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, and root to shoot ratio (R/S), were significantly lower in the degraded alpine meadow than in the undegraded alpine meadow (Table 2). Aboveground N and root N were significantly higher in the degraded alpine meadow (Table 2). Plant15N absorption, i.e., plant aboveground15N, root 15N, total15N, and root 15N absorption efficiency were significantly higher in the degraded alpine meadow (Table 2).