A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland

Grassland soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage (SOC storage and SNC storage) have been regarded as indicators to evaluate impacts of global climate change on ecosystem functions due to their significant impact on atmospheric carbon (C) concentration. The variations in vegetation and soil propert...

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Autores principales:	Jinwei Zhang, Xuefeng Wu, Yujie Shi, Chengji Jin, Yuheng Yang, Xiaowei Wei, Chunsheng Mu, Junfeng Wang
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Grassland degradation Biomass production Species diversity Soil organic carbon storage Soil nitrogen storage Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f98dd331d8b4493882dd17d802df26da
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f98dd331d8b4493882dd17d802df26da2021-12-01T04:58:21ZA slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108037https://doaj.org/article/f98dd331d8b4493882dd17d802df26da2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21007020https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XGrassland soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage (SOC storage and SNC storage) have been regarded as indicators to evaluate impacts of global climate change on ecosystem functions due to their significant impact on atmospheric carbon (C) concentration. The variations in vegetation and soil properties in diverse vegetation patch types may change soil C and nitrogen (N) sequestration capacity. However, the quantities of SOC and SNC stored and the mechanisms behind the variation in this storage under diverse vegetation patches in grassland ecosystems are still unclear. Here we conducted a field experiment to measure the variations in vegetation composition, soil properties and SOC storage and SNC storage among five common vegetation patch types in the Eastern Eurasian steppe. Then we investigated the link between vegetation variation and the SOC and SNC storage. The results showed that (1) the combined effects of competitive ability and physiological stress drove the unimodal relationship between species diversity and soil pH. (2) Biomass production did not reach its maximum in patch types with the greatest plant diversity due to saline-alkaline stress, but the live vegetation N storage reached its maximum in these highly diverse patches due to complementary resource utilization effects. (3) Although biomass production of patches with the greatest biodiversity did not reach a maximum due to a slight increase in soil pH, the largest SOC and SNC storage values were found in the highly diverse patches. Our study implies that in natural grassland, high levels of species diversity may accelerate the decomposition rate, resulting in more recalcitrant organic C and N are released into the soil. At the same time, our observation that reductions in the area of the originally dominant patch type due to the expansion of other species during grassland degradation suggests that comprehensive measurements of SOC and SNC storage in different vegetation patches should be undertaken for accurate evaluation of the C and N sequestering capacity of grasslands. Our results can also help policy makers determine how to achieve sustainable development of grasslands based on C and N sequestration.Jinwei ZhangXuefeng WuYujie ShiChengji JinYuheng YangXiaowei WeiChunsheng MuJunfeng WangElsevierarticleGrassland degradationBiomass productionSpecies diversitySoil organic carbon storageSoil nitrogen storageEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 130, Iss , Pp 108037- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Grassland degradation Biomass production Species diversity Soil organic carbon storage Soil nitrogen storage Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Grassland degradation Biomass production Species diversity Soil organic carbon storage Soil nitrogen storage Ecology QH540-549.5 Jinwei Zhang Xuefeng Wu Yujie Shi Chengji Jin Yuheng Yang Xiaowei Wei Chunsheng Mu Junfeng Wang A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
description	Grassland soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage (SOC storage and SNC storage) have been regarded as indicators to evaluate impacts of global climate change on ecosystem functions due to their significant impact on atmospheric carbon (C) concentration. The variations in vegetation and soil properties in diverse vegetation patch types may change soil C and nitrogen (N) sequestration capacity. However, the quantities of SOC and SNC stored and the mechanisms behind the variation in this storage under diverse vegetation patches in grassland ecosystems are still unclear. Here we conducted a field experiment to measure the variations in vegetation composition, soil properties and SOC storage and SNC storage among five common vegetation patch types in the Eastern Eurasian steppe. Then we investigated the link between vegetation variation and the SOC and SNC storage. The results showed that (1) the combined effects of competitive ability and physiological stress drove the unimodal relationship between species diversity and soil pH. (2) Biomass production did not reach its maximum in patch types with the greatest plant diversity due to saline-alkaline stress, but the live vegetation N storage reached its maximum in these highly diverse patches due to complementary resource utilization effects. (3) Although biomass production of patches with the greatest biodiversity did not reach a maximum due to a slight increase in soil pH, the largest SOC and SNC storage values were found in the highly diverse patches. Our study implies that in natural grassland, high levels of species diversity may accelerate the decomposition rate, resulting in more recalcitrant organic C and N are released into the soil. At the same time, our observation that reductions in the area of the originally dominant patch type due to the expansion of other species during grassland degradation suggests that comprehensive measurements of SOC and SNC storage in different vegetation patches should be undertaken for accurate evaluation of the C and N sequestering capacity of grasslands. Our results can also help policy makers determine how to achieve sustainable development of grasslands based on C and N sequestration.
format	article
author	Jinwei Zhang Xuefeng Wu Yujie Shi Chengji Jin Yuheng Yang Xiaowei Wei Chunsheng Mu Junfeng Wang
author_facet	Jinwei Zhang Xuefeng Wu Yujie Shi Chengji Jin Yuheng Yang Xiaowei Wei Chunsheng Mu Junfeng Wang
author_sort	Jinwei Zhang
title	A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
title_short	A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
title_full	A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
title_fullStr	A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
title_full_unstemmed	A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
title_sort	slight increase in soil ph benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/f98dd331d8b4493882dd17d802df26da
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A slight increase in soil pH benefits soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage in a semi-arid grassland

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