Revegetation on sandy land has attracted worldwide attention, especially on the extremely fragile alpine eco-region of the Tibetan Plateau. However, the effectiveness of revegetation and its controlling factors have rarely been reported. We collected plant growths and species composition from seven field sites in 2011 and conducted a follow-up random investigation in 2016. The indicators, including richness and diversity, were used to compare the differences among these sites based on redundancy and cluster analyses. The results indicated that plant growth has different characteristics in different land types. The distribution and growth of Artemisia sphaerocephala, Artemisia younghusbandii and Heteropappus gouldii varied with topography, and the crown widths of A. sphaerocephala were 100.6 cm × 87.2 cm on barchan dune and 26.0 cm × 25.4 cm on moving sandy land at valley slopes. These species are likely the pioneer plants for revegetation on sandy land. It seems that sand-protecting barriers play an important role in revegetation. The stone and plastic checkerboard barriers increase plant diversity, while straw barrier promotes the plant growth. These findings provide useful guidance to the ongoing vegetation recovery on sandy land, an important component of the Project on Construction and Protection of Ecological Security Barriers on the Tibetan Plateau.

Climate warming is believed to have irreversible effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Secondary forests are non-negligible ecosystems in northern China that have attracted much attention because of their instability and sensitivity to global change. However, there is no consensus on the impact of warming on secondary forest succession. In this study, we explored the response of tree species diversity to climate warming in northern secondary forests in China using a series of field surveys combined with annual meteorological data from 2015 to 2021. Our results indicate that the temperature in the study area increased in spring and autumn, while the precipitation increased in spring, summer, and autumn from 2015 to 2021. Changes in species composition in the study area and climate warming were significant in the northern region of China. The importance values of many broadleaf tree species increased, whereas those of local coniferous and broadleaf tree species decreased. The Shannon–Wiener, Simpson, and Margalef indices for the pure forest were significantly lower than those for the broadleaf mixed forest and the conifer–broadleaf mixed forest (p < 0.05) in 2015 and 2021. The highest value for the Pielou index was in the conifer–broadleaf mixed forest (p < 0.05), whereas it was not significantly different between the pure forest and broadleaf mixed forest in 2021. Surprisingly, the secondary broadleaf mixed forest in northern China showed an unfavorable degradation trend under the influence of climate change, just the same as the secondary pure forest. Our work provides an experimental data source for research on secondary forests under various climate change scenarios and is an important reference for predicting and dealing with the impact of global climate change on the adaptive management and protection of secondary ecosystems.

The ecological restoration of aeolian sandy land has not only improved the function of ecosystem services, such as wind prevention and sand fixation, but has also indirectly reduced the regional economic losses caused by sandstorms. However, the interaction between vegetation and soil properties after natural and artificial restoration of the sandy land in southern Tibetan Plateau has not been sufficiently studied. In the present study, we selected four vegetation types, including artificial forest (A), revegetated shrub (B), natural shrub (C), and natural grassland (D), in the sandy land in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin, Tibet, China, and investigated the changes in soil particle size and nutrients at depths of 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm, finally examining the potential relationships between soil properties and leaf nutrients. Our results indicated that in the topsoil (0–20 cm), the natural shrub (C) and natural grassland (D) have greater silt content, recorded as 50.77% and 62.16%, respectively, compared to the artificial forest (A) and revegetated shrub (B). Natural grassland (D) had the highest silt content and the lowest soil bulk density (SBD) among the four vegetation types. There was no significant difference in the soil organic matter (SOM) in the topsoil of the different vegetation types. However, at the depth of 20–40 cm, the SOM content of the different vegetation types was in the following order: natural grassland (D) (23.37 g/kg) > natural shrub (C) (17.42 g/kg) > revegetated shrub (B) (14.85 g/kg) > artificial forest (A) (8.43 g/kg). The ammonium nitrogen content (NH₄‐N) in the revegetated shrub (B) was higher compared to the other vegetation types. The SOM content was significantly correlated with the total phosphorus (TP) and available phosphorus (AP) of the sandy land. The leaf total carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus exhibited a positive correlation with SBD, AP, and available potassium. These findings can provide useful information to optimize the patterns of natural and artificial restoration for controlling desertification in similar eco‐regions.

The impacts of global warming on species’ habitat suitability and consequent potential range shifts have attracted increasing scholarly attention. As keystone species in China’s climax communities, Quercus spp. are widely distributed across the country and play vital roles in ecological conservation, economic development, and recreational services. Current research primarily focuses on variations in biomass at regional/watershed scales or employs distribution modeling to predict population responses to climate change. This study investigates nationwide trends in stand volume of Quercus spp. across three elevation gradients, analyzing the impacts of forest age, origin, and temporal dynamics by integrating historical National Forest Inventory (NFI) datasets with meteorological records spanning 1948–2021. Our findings demonstrate a persistent warming trend throughout China from 1948 to 2021, exhibiting significant seasonal divergence in temperature variability patterns. The stand volume of Quercus spp. showed non-significant elevational variation (p > 0.05), but exhibited marked differences across temporal gradients and origins. Notably, natural forests demonstrated higher stand volume than plantations (p < 0.01). Moreover, significant interactive effects were observed among elevation, origin, and forest age (p < 0.05), particularly for natural Quercus spp. Their stand volume exhibited distinct age-dependent trajectories: (1) high-elevation stands (>3000 m) displayed a “decline-recovery” fluctuation during 41–80 years, (2) mid-elevation stands (500–3000 m) maintained steady increases, and (3) low-elevation stands (<500 m) followed parabolic patterns peaking at 61–80 years. Our work further validates differential migration patterns of Quercus spp. under global warming, providing novel mechanistic insights into their climate-responsive dynamics.