The distribution of soil microbial parameters based on aggregate fractions in successional grassland restoration ecosyst
- PDF / 2,004,182 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 42 Downloads / 183 Views
The distribution of soil microbial parameters based on aggregate fractions in successional grassland restoration ecosystems on the Loess Plateau Zhijing Xue1,2 · Zhongming Wen1 · Zhengchao Zhou2 · Shaoshan An1 Received: 12 December 2019 / Accepted: 19 June 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Soil microbial biomass and microbial metabolic quotients have been identified as the most effective indicators of a response to ecosystem development and disturbance. In order to determine the effects of grassland restoration programs, we analyzed the distribution of soil microbial parameters in different aggregate fractions at 1 yr. (1 year), 10 yr. (10 years) and 30 yr (30 years). Results show that Cmic (soil microbial biomass carbon) and Pmic (soil microbial biomass phosphorus) increased with grassland succession, the greatest values were concentrated at a micro-aggregate size. However, qCO2 (soil microbial metabolic quotient) decreased as the years under restoration increased. qCO2 was significantly correlated with SOC (soil organic carbon), TN (soil total nitrogen), Pmic (negatively) and Cmic (positively). Natural succession of grassland alters soil microbial properties positively, which plays a major role in aggregate formation. The time under vegetation rehabilitation impacts soil microbial parameters at different aggregate sizes, macro-aggregate size is the key factor in soil stability improvement in the process of natural restoration, especially for the aggregate size of 2–3 mm. Keywords Vegetation restoration · Recovered chronosequence · Soil microbial parameters · Soil microbial metabolic · Soil aggregate size
1 Introduction Soil microbes are known to play a key role in terrestrial ecosystem functions, such as carbon and nutrient cycling, plant growth stimulation, and degradation of organic matter [24]. Vegetation restoration is regarded as an effective strategy for controlling intensive soil erosion and its extensive effects [7]. Grassland is the mot common terrestrial ecosystem on Earth with a crucial function of regulating climate and maintaining a balanced ecosystem [5]. The Loess Plateau of China covers 62.38 × 106 ha which includes 20.15 × 106 ha of grassland, with 91.2% of that area being occupied by natural grassland. But widespread stress practice, intensive cultivation, overgrazing
and large-scale monocultures have caused the area to acquiesce to soil erosion and a series of related eco-environment problems [11]. The Grain to Green program, a national ecological restoration program implemented in 1999, has made remarkable advances in vegetation recovery on the Loess Plateau [10]. Several countermeasures have been implemented including eco-environment rehabilitation using engineering and biological approaches [48]. Natural grassland protection and restoration is one of the important parts of a vegetation restoration program [23]. A growing body of ecological research on plant–microbe interactions in soil during vegetation restoration has recently been conducted. Positive and negative
Data Loading...
