Dataset Information

Topsoil and Deep Soil Organic Carbon Concentration and Stability Vary with Aggregate Size and Vegetation Type in Subtropical China.

ABSTRACT: The impact of reforestation on soil organic carbon (OC), especially in deep layer, is poorly understood and deep soil OC stabilization in relation with aggregation and vegetation type in afforested area is unknown. Here, we collected topsoil (0-15 cm) and deep soil (30-45 cm) from six paired coniferous forests (CF) and broad-leaved forests (BF) reforested in the early 1990s in subtropical China. Soil aggregates were separated by size by dry sieving and OC stability was measured by closed-jar alkali-absorption in 71 incubation days. Soil OC concentration and mean weight diameter were higher in BF than CF. The cumulative carbon mineralization (Cmin, mg CO2-C kg-1 soil) varied with aggregate size in BF and CF topsoils, and in deep soil, it was higher in larger aggregates than in smaller aggregates in BF, but not CF. The percentage of soil OC mineralized (SOCmin, % SOC) was in general higher in larger aggregates than in smaller aggregates. Meanwhile, SOCmin was greater in CF than in BF at topsoil and deep soil aggregates. In comparison to topsoil, deep soil aggregates generally exhibited a lower Cmin, and higher SOCmin. Total nitrogen (N) and the ratio of carbon to phosphorus (C/P) were generally higher in BF than in CF in topsoil and deep soil aggregates, while the same trend of N/P was only found in deep soil aggregates. Moreover, the SOCmin negatively correlated with OC, total N, C/P and N/P. This work suggests that reforested vegetation type might play an important role in soil OC storage through internal nutrient cycling. Soil depth and aggregate size influenced OC stability, and deep soil OC stability could be altered by vegetation reforested about 20 years.

SUBMITTER: Fang XM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5457303 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Topsoil and Deep Soil Organic Carbon Concentration and Stability Vary with Aggregate Size and Vegetation Type in Subtropical China.

Fang Xiang-Min XM Chen Fu-Sheng FS Wan Song-Ze SZ Yang Qing-Pei QP Shi Jian-Min JM

PloS one 20150929 9

The impact of reforestation on soil organic carbon (OC), especially in deep layer, is poorly understood and deep soil OC stabilization in relation with aggregation and vegetation type in afforested area is unknown. Here, we collected topsoil (0-15 cm) and deep soil (30-45 cm) from six paired coniferous forests (CF) and broad-leaved forests (BF) reforested in the early 1990s in subtropical China. Soil aggregates were separated by size by dry sieving and OC stability was measured by closed-jar alk ...[more]

PMID: 26418563

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Project description:Soil microbes regulate the carbon cycle and affect the formation and stabilization of soil aggregates. However, the interactions between the soil microbial community and soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions, organic carbon (OC) content in aggregates, and soil aggregate stability after afforestation are remain poorly understood. In our study, we investigated SOC fractions in bulk soil, aggregate-associated OC content, soil aggregate stability, and soil bacterial community with high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing at sites representing natural secondary forest (NF) and managed forest (MF), with cropland (CL) as reference in a degraded karst region of Southwest China. Our results showed that afforestation remarkably increased the SOC fraction and OC content in aggregates, the mean weight diameter (MWD), and the mean geometric diameter (GMD). The most dominant bacterial phyla detected were Acidobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, Proteobacteria, and Chloroflexi across all soils. Afforestation remarkably altered the relative abundances of most of the dominant soil bacteria at the phylum, class, and order levels. Interestingly, such changes in the abundance of soil bacteria taxa had significantly effects on SOC fraction, aggregate-associated OC content, MWD, and MGD. The abundance of dominant bacterial taxa such as Methylomirabilota, Latescibacterota, Methylomirabilia, MB-A2-108, norank_Latescibacterota; Dehalococcoidia, Rokubacteriales, Gaiellales, Microtrichales, norank_c__MB-A2-108, norank_c__norank_p__Latescibacterota, Rhizobiales, and S085 not only remarkably increased but also had significant positive effects on SOC fractions and aggregate-associated OC content after afforestation. Moreover, MWD and MGD were positively correlated with the relative abundance of Methylomirabilota, Methylomirabilia, Rokubacteriales, Latescibacterota, and Rhizobiales. Results indicated the importance of certain soil bacteria for regulating SOC storage and soil aggregate stability. We concluded that afforestation on cropland could alter the abundance of soil bacteria, and these changes modulate the stability of soil aggregates and SOC fractions.

Project description:The construction of linear transport infrastructure has severe effects on ecosystem functions and properties, and the restoration of the associated roadslopes contributes to reduce its impact. This restoration is usually approached from the perspective of plant cover regeneration, ignoring plant-soil interactions and the consequences for plant growth. The addition of a 30 cm layer of topsoil is a common practice in roadslope restoration projects to increase vegetation recovery. However topsoil is a scarce resource. This study assesses the effects of topsoil spreading and its depth (10 to 30 cm) on two surrogates of microbial activity (β-glucosidase and phosphatase enzymes activity and soil respiration), and on plant cover, plant species richness and floristic composition of embankment vegetation. The study also evaluates the differences in selected physic-chemical properties related to soil fertility between topsoil and the original embankment substrate. Topsoil was found to have higher values of organic matter (11%), nitrogen (44%), assimilable phosphorous (50%) and silt content (54%) than the original embankment substrate. The topsoil spreading treatment increased microbial activity, and its application increased β-glucosidase activity (45%), phosphatase activity (57%) and soil respiration (60%). Depth seemed to affect soil respiration, β-glucosidase and phosphatase activity. Topsoil application also enhanced the species richness of restored embankments in relation to controls. Nevertheless, the depth of the spread topsoil did not significantly affect the resulting plant cover, species richness or floristic composition, suggesting that both depths could have similar effects on short-term recovery of the vegetation cover. A significant implication of these results is that it permits the application of thinner topsoil layers, with major savings in this scarce resource during the subsequent slope restoration work, but the quality of topsoil relative to the original substrate should be previously assessed on a site by site basis.

Dataset Information

Topsoil and Deep Soil Organic Carbon Concentration and Stability Vary with Aggregate Size and Vegetation Type in Subtropical China.

Publications

Topsoil and Deep Soil Organic Carbon Concentration and Stability Vary with Aggregate Size and Vegetation Type in Subtropical China.

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