Carbon accumulation in the bulk soil and different soil fractions during the rehabilitation of desertified grassland in Horqin Sandy Land (Northern China)

• Autorzy: Li Y. , Zhao X. , Wang S. , Zhang F. , Lian J. , Huang W. , Mao W.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Desertification, which affects more than two-thirds of the world's arid and semi-arid regions, is a significant global ecological and environmental problem. There is a strong link between desertification of the drylands and emission of CO₂ from soil and vegetation to the atmosphere. The Horqin Sandy Land is a severely desertified area in China's agro-pastoral ecotone due to its fragile ecology, combined with unsustainable land management. We estimated changes of organic carbon content in the bulk soil (0–5 cm), in the light-fraction of soil organic matter (based on density fractionation), and in the various particle-size fractions in areas with mobile sand dunes after implementing grazing exclusion (12 and 27 years) and tree and shrub planting (22 and 24 years). Carbon stocks in the bulk soil and all soil density and particle-size fractions increased significantly in the exclosure and plantation plots. The average rates of carbon accumulation in the bulk soil in the exclosure and plantation plots were 16.0 and 17.8 g m⁻² y⁻¹, respectively, versus corresponding values of 2.3 and 7.1 g m⁻² y⁻¹ for the light fraction, 4.3 and 8.0 g m⁻² y⁻¹ for the coarse fraction, 5.0 and 3.4 g m⁻² y⁻¹ for the fine sand, 4.5 and 4.2 g m⁻² y⁻¹ for the very fine sand, and 1.8 and 1.8 g m⁻² y⁻¹ for the silt clay fraction. The older the exclosure and plantation, the more carbon accumulated in the bulk soil and in each fraction. The carbon pool exceeded the level in non-desertified grasslands after 27 years of grazing exclosure and 24 years of the shrub plantation. Our results suggest that both grazing exclusion and planting trees and shrubs can restore desertified grassland, creating a high potential for sequestering soil carbon, but that the plantations appeared to accumulate soil carbon faster than the exclosures.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

carbon sequestration; desertification; grassland; organic carbon; environmental problem; ecological problem; climate change; Horqin Sandy Land; China

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Polish Journal of Ecology
• Rocznik: 2015
• Tom: 63
• Numer: 1
• Opis fizyczny: p.88-101,fig.,ref.

Twórcy

autor

Li Y.

• Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

autor

Zhao X.

• Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

autor

Wang S.

• Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

autor

Zhang F.

• School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, China

autor

Lian J.

• Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

autor

Huang W.

• Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

autor

Mao W.

• Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Bibliografia

• H. An, G. Li 2014 — Differential effects of grazing on plant functional traits in the desert grassland — Pol. J. Ecol. 62: 239–251.
• F. Bernhard-Reversat 1981 — Participation of light and organomineral fractions of soil organic matter in nitrogen mineralization in sahelian savanna soil — Zbl. Bakt. II Abt. 136: 281–290.
• C.Y. Cao, D.M. Jiang, X.H. Teng, Y. Jiang, W.J. Liang, Z.B. Cui 2008 — Soil chemical and microbiological properties along a chronosequence of Caragana microphylla Lam. plantations in the Horqin sandy land of northeast China — Appl. Soil Ecol. 40: 78–85.
• Y.P. Chen, Y.Q. Li, T. Awada, J.J. Han, Y.Q. Luo 2012 — Carbon sequestration in the total and light fraction soil organic matter along a chronosequence in grazing exclosures in a semiarid degraded sandy site in China — J. Arid Land, 4: 411–419.
• F.S. Chen, D.H. Zeng, T.J. Fahey, P.F. Liao 2010 — Organic carbon in soil physical fractions under different-aged plantations of Mongolian pine in semi-arid region of northeast China — Appl. Soil Ecol. 44: 42–48.
• B.T. Christensen 2001 — Physical fractionation of soil and structural and functional complexity in organic matter turnover — Eur. J. Soil Sci. 52: 345–353.
• S.C. Cunningham, K.J. Metzeling, R. MacNally, J.R. Thomson, T.R. Cavagnaro 2012 — Changes in soil carbon of pastures after afforestation with mixed species: sampling, heterogeneity and surrogates — Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 158: 58–65.
• M.R. Davis, L.M. Condron 2002 — Impact of grassland afforestation on soil carbon in New Zealand: a review of paired-site studies — Austral. J. Soil Res. 40: 675–690.
• S. De Gryze, J. Six, K. Paustian, S.J. Morris, E.A. Paul, R. Merckx 2004 — Soil organic carbon pool changes following land-use conversions. — Global Change Biol. 10: 1120–32.
• B.H. Ellert, J.R. Bettany 1995 — Calculation of organic matter and nutrients stored in soils under contrasting management regimes — Can. J. Soil Sci. 75: 529–538.
• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) 2004 — Carbon sequestration in drylands — World Soil Resources Report 102FAO, Rome, Italy.
• FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) 2006 — FAO/IUSS Working Group WRB, World reference base for soil resources 2006 — World Soil Resources Reports 103.FAO, Rome, Italy.
• C. Feller, M.H. Beare 1997 — Physical control of soil organic matter dynamics in the tropics — Geoderma, 79: 69–116.
• A.S. Grandy, G.P. Robertson 2007 — Land-use intensity effects on soil organic carbon accumulation rates and mechanisms — Ecosystems, 10: 58–73.
• R.J. Haynes 2000 — Labile organic matter as an indicator of organic matter quality in arable and pastoral soils in New Zealand — Soil Biol. Biochem. 32: 211–219.
• N.P. He, Y.H. Zhang, J. Z. Dai, X. G. Han, T. Baoyin, G.R. Yu 2012 — Land-use impact on soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration in typical steppe ecosystems, Inner Mongolia — J. Geogr. Sci. 22: 859–873.
• U. Helldén, C. Tottrup 2008 — Regional desertification: a global synthesis — Global Planet. Change, 64: 169–176.
• IPCC 2007 — Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, Eds: R.K. Pachauri, A. Reisinger] — IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.
• H.H. Janzen, C.A. Campbell, S.A. Brandt, G.P. Lafond, L. Townley-Smith 1992 — Light-fraction organic matter in soils from long-term crop rotations — Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 56: 1799–1806.
• E.G. Jobbágy, R.B. Jackson 2000 — The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and its relation to climate and vegetation — Ecol. Appl. 10: 423–436.
• M.U.F. Kirschbaum 2000 — Will changes in soil organic carbon act as a positive or negative feedback on global warming — Biogeochemistry, 48: 21–51.
• R. Lal 1996 — Deforestation and land-use effects on soil degradation and rehabilitation in western Nigeria. II. Soil chemical properties — Land Degrad. Develop. 7: 87–98.
• R. Lal 2001 — Potential of desertification control to sequester carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect — Clim. Change. 51: 35–72.
• R. Lal 2009 — Sequestering carbon in soils of arid ecosystems — Land Degrad. Develop. 20: 441–454.
• Y.Q. Li, J. Brandie, T. Awada, Y.P. Chen, J.J. Han, F.X. Zhang, Y.Q. Luo 2013 — Accumulation of carbon and nitrogen in the plant-soil system after afforestation of active sand dunes in China's Horqin Sandy Land — Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 177: 75–84.
• Y.Q. Li, X.Y. Zhao, Y.P. Chen, Y.Q. Luo, S.K. Wang 2012 — Effects of grazing exclusion on carbon sequestration and the associated vegetation and soil characteristics at a semi-arid desertified sandy site in Inner Mongolia, northern China — Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 807–819.
• A.Z. Liang, X.M. Yang, X.P. Zhang, N. McLaughlin, Y. Shen, W.F. Li 2009 — Soil organic carbon changes in particle-size fractions following cultivation of Black soils in China — Soil Till. Res. 105:21–26.
• J. Liu, Y. Zhang, B. Wu, S. Qin, Z. Lai 2014 — Changes in soil organic carbon and its density fractions after shrub-planting for desertification control — Pol. J. Ecol. 62: 205–216.
• X.M. Liu, H.L. Zhao, A.F. Zhao 1996 — Characteristics of sandy environment and vegetation in the Horqin Sandy Land — Science Press, Beijing, China (in Chinese).
• M. Malagnoux 2007 — Arid Land Forests of the World: Global Environmental Perspectives — Available on: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/ah836e/ah836e00.pdf.
• D.W. Nelson, L.E. Sommers 1982 — Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter (In: Methods of soil analysis, Eds: A.L. Miller R.H., D.R Keeney) — American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI. pp. 539–577.
• R. Niu, X. Zhao, J. Liu, Y. Qin 2013 — Effects of land use/cover change on topsoil carbon and nitrogen in the middle of Heihe River basin — Pol. J. Ecol. 67: 43–55.
• A.D. Noble, I.P. Little, P.J. Randall 1999 — The influence of Pinus radiata, Quercus suber, and improved pasture on soil chemical properties — Austral. J. Soil Res. 37: 509–526.
• M.D. Nosetto, E.G. Jobbágy, J.M. Paruelo 2006 — Carbon sequestration in semi-arid rangelands: comparison of Pinus ponderosa plantations and grazing exclusion in NW Patagonia — J. Arid Environ. 67: 142–156.
• J.L. Parker, I.J. Fernandez, L.E. Rustad, S.A. Norton 2002 — Soil organic matter fractions in experimental forested watersheds — Water Air Soil Pollut. 138: 101–121.
• S.F. Pei, H. Fu, C.G. Wan 2008 — Changes in soil properties and vegetation following exclosure and grazing in degraded Alxa desert steppe of Inner Mongolia, China — Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 124: 33–39.
• J.F. Perez-Quezada, C.A. Delpiano, K.A. Snyder, D.A. Johnson, N. Franck 2011 — Carbon pools in an arid shrubland in Chile under natural and afforested conditions — J. Arid Environ. 75: 29–37.
• C. Poeplau, A. Don 2013 — Sensitivity of soil organic carbon stocks and fractions to different land-use changes across Europe — Geoderma, 192: 189–201.
• M.D. Robles, I.C. Burke 1998 — Soil organic matter recovery on Conservation Reserve Program fields in Southeastern Wyoming — Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 62: 725–730.
• T. Sasaki, S. Okubo, T. Okayasu, U. Jamsran, T. Ohkuro, K. Takeuchi 2011 — Indicator species and functional groups as predictors of proximity to ecological thresholds in Mongolian rangelands — Plant Ecol. 212: 327–342.
• C.H. Sequeira, M.M. Alley, B.P. Jones 2011 — Evaluation of potentially labile soil organic carbon and nitrogen fractionation procedures — Soil Biol. Biochem. 43: 438–444.
• G. Shrestha, P.D. Stahl 2008 — Carbon accumulation and storage in semi-arid sagebrush steppe: effects of long-term grazing exclusion — Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 125: 173–181.
• J. Six, P. Callewaert, S. Lenders, Gryze S. De, S.J. Morris, E.G. Gregorich, E.A. Paul, K. Paustian 2002 — Measuring and understanding carbon storage in afforested soils by physical fractionation — Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 66: 1981–1987.
• Y.K. Soon, M.A. Arshad, A. Haq, N. Lupwayi 2007 — The influence of 12 years of tillage and crop rotation on total and labile organic carbon in a sandy loam soil — Soil Till. Res. 95: 38–46.
• Y.Z. Su, H.L. Zhao 2003 — Soil properties and plant species in an age sequence of Caragana microphylla plantations in the Horqin Sandy Land. North China — Ecol. Eng. 20: 223–235.
• C. Swanston, B.A. Caldwell, P.S. Homann, L. Ganio, P. Sollins 2002 — Carbon dynamics during a long-term incubation of separate and recombined density fractions from seven forest soils — Soil Biol. Biochem. 34: 1121–1130.
• S. Trumbore 2009 — Radiocarbon and soil carbon dynamics — Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 37: 47–66.
• UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) 1992 — Earth Summit Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development — UNEP, New York.
• S.R. Verón, J.M. Paruelo, M. Oesterheld 2006 — Assessing desertification — J. Arid Environ. 66: 751–763.
• S.C. Wofsy 2001 — Where has all the carbon gone? — Science, 292: 2261–2263.
• H.L. Zhao, X.Y. Zhao, R.L. Zhou, T.H. Zhang, S. Drake 2005 — Desertification processes due to heavy grazing in sandy rangeland, Inner Mongolia — J. Arid Environ. 62: 309–319.
• R.L. Zhou, Y.Q. Li, H.L. Zhao, S. Drake 2008 — Desertification effects on C and N content of sandy soils under grassland in Horqin, northern China — Geoderma, 145: 370–375.
• X. Zuo, X. Zhao, H. Zhao, T. Zhang, S. Wang, J. Knops, A. Kochsiek 2013 — Spatial pattern and heterogeneity of soil seed bank in sandy grasslands under restoration and grazing in Horqin Sand Land, Northern China — Pol. J. Ecol. 61: 369–379.

Identyfikatory

DOI

10.3161/15052249PJE2015.63.1.008