Soil and plant components ecological stoichiometry in four steppe communities in the Loess Plateau of China

Zeng, Quanchao; Li, Xin; Dong, Yanghong; An, Shaoshan; Darboux, Frédéric

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2016.07.047

Cited by 86 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Thus, a total of 72 soil samples (under C. korshinskii and NG), and 54 samples of each of root and leaf for only of C. korshinskii were collected in this study area in mid-August 2014. Soil and plant samples were collected as previous studies descripted [9, 28]. Briefly, five soil cores (0–20 cm and 20–40 cm depths) were collected from each quadrat using a 3-cm diameter soil auger and mixed to obtain a composite sample.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ecological stoichiometry, especially for carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), plays an important role in analyzing composition, structure and function of a concerned community and ecological system [3]. It has been used in different different systems to explore the limited nutrition for varied plant groups [2, 4–9]. Generally, green leaf N:P ratio can indicate plant nutrition limitation, providing suggestive guide to the practice of vegetation management [3, 9–11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been used in different different systems to explore the limited nutrition for varied plant groups [2, 4–9]. Generally, green leaf N:P ratio can indicate plant nutrition limitation, providing suggestive guide to the practice of vegetation management [3, 9–11]. Leaf N:P ratio (mass ratio) has been suggested to be useful for indicating the shift between N—and P -limitation [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil, Leaf and Root Ecological Stoichiometry of Caragana korshinskii on the Loess Plateau of China in Relation to Plantation Age

2017

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Caragana korshinskii, a leguminous shrub, a common specie, is widely planted to prevent soil erosion on the Loess Plateau. The objective of this study was to determine how the plantation ages affected soil, leaf and root nutrients and ecological stoichiometry. The chronosequence ages of C. korshinskii plantations selected for this study were 10, 20 and 30 years. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) of C. korshinskii plantations significantly increased with increase in the chronosequence age. However, soil total phosphorous (STP) was not affected by the chronosequence age. The soil C: N ratio decreased and the soil C: P and N: P ratios increased with increasing plantation age. The leaf and root concentrations of C, N, and P increased and the ratios C: N, C: P, and N: P decreased with age increase. Leaf N: P ratios were >20, indicating that P was the main factor limiting the growth of C. korshinskii. This study also demonstrated that the regeneration of natural grassland (NG) effectively preserved and enhanced soil nutrient contents. Compared with NG, shrub lands (C. korshinskii) had much lower soil nutrient concentrations, especially for long (>20 years) chronosequence age. Thus, the regeneration of natural grassland is an ecologically beneficial practice for the recovery of degraded soils in this area.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil, Leaf and Root Ecological Stoichiometry of Caragana korshinskii on the Loess Plateau of China in Relation to Plantation Age

2017

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“…The Gaojiagou watershed consists of grasslands, a typical grass vegetation land. The soil type is loess, according to the Genetic Soil Classification of China (Zeng et al, 2016), or entisol, according to the USA taxonomy (Soil Survey Staff, 1999). The climate is characterized by cold dry winters and warm moist summers.…”

Section: Experimental Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Soil aggregate stability under different rain conditions for three vegetation types on the Loess Plateau (China)

Darboux

Cheng

Zhu

et al. 2018

CATENA

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Soil aggregate stability is essential for moderating the soil quality and preventing soil erosion. Vegetation restoration may effectively increase the stability of soil aggregates via soil organic matter. This study was designed to investigate the effects of vegetation types with long-term revegetation on the soil aggregate characteristics. Three vegetation type zones (grass land, forest-grass land and forest land) were selected in the Yanhe Watershed (northwest China) as the subjects. Soil aggregate stability was determined by the method of Le Bissonnais, including three disruptive tests: fast wetting (FW), slow wetting (SW) and mechanical breakdown (WS). The results showed that the mean weighted diameter (MWD) significantly differed from the tests and vegetation types. In the 0-10 cm soil layer, MWD ranged from 2.65 to 3.26 mm for the SW test, which corresponded to very stable soil aggregate; they ranged from 0.53 to 1.08 mm for the WS test, and from 0.57 to 1.96 mm for the FW test, both of which corresponded to very unstable soil aggregates. In the 10-20 cm soil layer, MWD ranged from 2.75 to 3.33 mm for the SW test, 0.39 to 0.83 mm for the WS test, and 0.44 to 1.37 mm for the FW test. The MWDs under the three tests were the lowest for the grass land at both soil layers, and the MWDs for the WS and FW tests were significantly lower than the MWD for the SW test. In all three tests, MWDs showed the same order: forest land > forest-grass land > grass land. MWD indicated that forest land had much stronger ability to resist soil erosion no matter the rain conditions. The correlations between soil organic matter content and MWD for the FW and WS tests were significant (P < 0.05). These results demonstrated that vegetation types had significant effects on the soil aggregates under the different rain conditions, and the soil organic matter and clay contents were significantly related to the soil aggregate stability. These results will guide the practice of reducing soil erosion for the different conditions and different vegetation types.

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“…Soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are important components of soil nutrients, they are major nutrient sources for plant growth, and also play an important role in global C and N cycle and balance [5][6]. There are many studies on soil C and N, mainly involving the effects of land use [7][8][9], management measures [10][11][12], restoration measures [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] on soil C and N, and the relationship between plant functional groups and soil factors [20][21][22]. However, most related research in China has been concentrated in the Loess Plateau area [10, 13-14, 17, 19, 22], but few studies have focused on alpine regions -especially the Sanjiangyuan region [12,18,[23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration Measures Supported Surface Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Density in Alpine Grassland of Sanjiangyuan Region, China

Chen¹,

Qi²,

FuQuan³

et al. 2020

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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Soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) have different responses to different restoration measures. In this paper, surface (0-30 cm) soil C and N densities under different restoration measures in the Sanjiangyuan region were investigated and analyzed. The results showed that although there was no significant difference between rest-grazing (RG) and normal grazing (NG) grassland, SOCD in RG increased by 10.15%, and total N density (TND) increased by 8.56% in the year of the experiment. Compared with cropland, 8 years after Grain for Green (GFG), SOCD increased by 10.49-19.31%, SICD increased by 22.47-54.20%, and TND increased by 1.3-17.45%. Compared with HTT (extreme degradation-black soil beach), 12 years after planting artificial grassland, SOCD increased by 43.97-77.21%, SICD increased by 89.19-716.22%, and TND increased by 49.16-71.40%. Conclusions: Differences in soil types and climatic zones were responsible for the differences in soil C and N in different regions. Short-term grazing rest in Sanjiangyuan region has a certain effect on soil fertility restoration. Implementing the GFG project in the agro-pastoral ecotone improved soil fertility and, concurrently, moderate disturbance should be carried out on the basis of increasing vegetation diversity. Artificial grassland planting on black soil beach can improve soil quality, and moderate grazing disturbance in winter had the best immobilization effect on SIC, while no disturbance in the whole year was beneficial to the accumulation of organic matter. Both biological and abiotic factors have affected soil C and N content and density, but the degree of the influence varied with geographic location.

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Soil and plant components ecological stoichiometry in four steppe communities in the Loess Plateau of China

Cited by 86 publications

References 32 publications

Soil, Leaf and Root Ecological Stoichiometry of Caragana korshinskii on the Loess Plateau of China in Relation to Plantation Age

Soil, Leaf and Root Ecological Stoichiometry of Caragana korshinskii on the Loess Plateau of China in Relation to Plantation Age

Soil aggregate stability under different rain conditions for three vegetation types on the Loess Plateau (China)

Restoration Measures Supported Surface Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Density in Alpine Grassland of Sanjiangyuan Region, China

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