Dataset Information

Soil C, N, P and Its Stratification Ratio Affected by Artificial Vegetation in Subsoil, Loess Plateau China.

ABSTRACT: Artificial vegetation restoration can induce variations in accumulation and distribution of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). However, little is known about variations in soil C, N and P nutrient fraction stratification following artificial vegetation in Loess Plateau China. Based on the hypothesis that re-vegetated can improve soil quality and stratification ratios (SR) can be used as an indicator to evaluate soil quality. This study measured contents and storages of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and their SRs in topsoil (0-20 cm) and subsoil (20-60 cm) in three 30-year re-vegetated lands that had been converted from arable land (Robinia pseudoacacia L., Caragana Korshinskii Kom. and abandoned cropland with low interferences and few management measures) and one slope cropland (SC) as a control for three soil profiles(0-20 cm, 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm) from June 2009 to June 2013. The results showed that the contents and storages of SOC, TN and TP in re-vegetated land were significantly higher than those in the SC in both topsoil and subsoil. The storages of SOC, TN and TP in the topsoil (0-20 cm) of the re-vegetated lands increased by 16.2%-26.4%, 12.7%-28.4% and 16.5%-20.9%, respectively, and increased by smaller but significant amounts in subsoil from 2009 to 2013. The SRs for SOC, TN and TP in the re-vegetated lands were mostly >2 (either for 0-20:20-40 cm or 0-20:40-60 cm) and greater than that in the SC. The SRs showed an increasing trend with increasing restoration age. The results also showed that the land use type and soil depth were the most influential factors for the SRs and storages, and the SRs of SOC and TN had significantly positive correlations with their storages. The SRs were concluded to be a good indicator for evaluating the soil quality, which can be significantly enhanced through vegetation restoration. Moreover, vegetation restoration can significantly enhance SOC, TN and TP accumulation in both topsoil and subsoil.

SUBMITTER: Deng J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4795550 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Soil C, N, P and Its Stratification Ratio Affected by Artificial Vegetation in Subsoil, Loess Plateau China.

Deng Jian J Sun Pingsheng P Zhao Fazhu F Han Xinhui X Yang Gaihe G Feng Yongzhong Y Ren Guangxin G

PloS one 20160317 3

Artificial vegetation restoration can induce variations in accumulation and distribution of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). However, little is known about variations in soil C, N and P nutrient fraction stratification following artificial vegetation in Loess Plateau China. Based on the hypothesis that re-vegetated can improve soil quality and stratification ratios (SR) can be used as an indicator to evaluate soil quality. This study measured contents and storages of soil organi ...[more]

PMID: 26987057

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Project description:Soil bacterial communities play an important role in nutrient recycling and storage in terrestrial ecosystems. Loess soils are one of the most important soil resources for maintaining the stability of vegetation ecosystems and are mainly distributed in northwest China. Estimating the distributions and affecting factors of soil bacterial communities associated with various types of vegetation will inform our understanding of the effect of vegetation restoration and climate change on these processes. In this study, we collected soil samples from 15 sites from north to south on the Loess Plateau of China that represent different ecosystem types and analyzed the distributions of soil bacterial communities by high-throughput 454 pyrosequencing. The results showed that the 142444 sequences were grouped into 36816 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on 97% similarity. The results of the analysis showed that the dominant taxonomic phyla observed in all samples were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Planctomycetes. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were the two most abundant groups in all samples. The relative abundance of Actinobacteria increased from 14.73% to 40.22% as the ecosystem changed from forest to sandy, while the relative abundance of Proteobacteria decreased from 35.35% to 21.40%. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria had significant correlations with mean annual precipitation (MAP), pH, and soil moisture and nutrients. MAP was significantly correlated with soil chemical and physical properties. The relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Planctomycetes correlated significantly with MAP, suggesting that MAP was a key factor that affected the soil bacterial community composition. However, along with the MAP gradient, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria had narrow ranges that did not significantly vary with the soil and environmental factors. Overall, we conclude that the edaphic properties and/or vegetation types are driving bacterial community composition. MAP was a key factor that affects the composition of the soil bacteria on the Loess Plateau of China.

Project description:Global temperatures will continue to increase in the future. The ∼640,000-km2 Loess Plateau (LP) is a typical arid and semi-arid region in China. Similar regions cover ∼41% of the Earth, and its soils are some of the most severely eroded anywhere in the world. It is very important to understand the vegetation change and its ecological threshold under climate change on the LP for the sustainable development in the Yellow River Basin. However, little is known about how vegetation on the LP will respond to climate change and what is the sustainable threshold level of vegetation cover on the LP. Here we show that the temperature on the LP has risen 0.27 °C per decade over the past 50 years, a rate that is 30% higher than the average warming rate across China. During historical times, vegetation change was regulated by environmental factors and anthropogenic activities. Vegetation coverage was about 53% on the LP from the Xia Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. Over the past 70 years, however, the environment has gradually improved and the vegetation cover had increased to ∼65% by 2021. We forecast future changes of vegetation cover on the LP in 2030s, in 2050s and in 2070s using SDM (Species Distribution Model) under Low-emission scenarios, Medium-emission scenarios and High-emission scenarios. An average value of vegetation cover under the three emission scenarios will be 64.67%, 62.70% and 61.47%, respectively. According to the historical record and SDM forecasts, the threshold level of vegetation cover on the LP is estimated to be 53-65%. Currently, vegetation cover on the LP has increased to the upper limit of the threshold value (∼65%). We conclude that the risk of ecosystem collapse on the LP will increase with further temperature increases once the vegetated area and density exceed the threshold value. It is urgent to adopt sustainable strategies such as stopping expanding vegetation area and scientifically optimizing the vegetation structure on the LP to improve the ecological sustainability of the Yellow River Basin.

Dataset Information

Soil C, N, P and Its Stratification Ratio Affected by Artificial Vegetation in Subsoil, Loess Plateau China.

Publications

Soil C, N, P and Its Stratification Ratio Affected by Artificial Vegetation in Subsoil, Loess Plateau China.

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