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Effects of forest expansion on mountain grassland: changes within soil organic carbon fractions

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Abstract

Background and aims

Grassland abandonment followed by forest succession is the dominant land-use change in the European Alps. We studied the impact of current forest expansion on mountain grassland on changes in physical soil organic carbon (SOC) fractions along a land-use and management gradient, focusing on changes in aggregate stability and particulate organic matter (POM).

Methods

Four successional stages were investigated: managed grassland, two transitional phases in which grassland abandonment led to colonization by Picea abies (L.) Karst., and old mixed forest dominated by Fagus sylvatica L. and P. abies. Soil samples collected from the mineral soil (0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, 10–20 cm) were fractionated following two procedures: 1) aggregate size fractionation, separating aggregates based on their dimension, and 2) size-density fractionation, separating stable aggregates from non-occluded POM.

Results

The dimension of aggregates assessed by aggregate size fractionation tended to increase, whereas SOC allocation to stable aggregates assessed by size-density fractionation decreased following conversion of grassland to forest (e.g. from 81 to 59 % in the 0–5 cm layer). The amount of SOC stored in POM increased by 3.8 Mg ha−1 in the integrated 0–20 cm layer from managed grassland to old forest.

Conclusions

The combination of two physical SOC fractionation procedures revealed that natural forest succession on abandoned grasslands led to a decline in physical SOC stability in the mineral soil, suggesting that SOC can become more susceptible to management and environmental change.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Matteo Girardi, Preben Frederiksen, Xhevat Haliti, Mads Madsen Krag for their support in laboratory work, Jonas Duus Stevens Lekfeldt and Sander Bruun for their helpful collaboration. Moreover we would like to thank Chiara Cerli, Maria Francesca Cotrufo and Michael Bahn for useful discussions on soil fractionation procedures. We also thank Teresa Gómez de la Bárcena for her comments on a manuscript draft and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable contribution to improve the manuscript. The project was financed by Fondazione Edmund Mach through a grant (Project Code AM08) awarded to C.G. and laboratory work was also supported by the University of Copenhagen.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via E. Mach 1, 38010, San Michele all’Adige, TN, Italy

    Claudia Guidi, Mirco Rodeghiero & Damiano Gianelle

  2. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Claudia Guidi & Lars Vesterdal

  3. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Jakob Magid

  4. Foxlab Joint CNR-FEM Initiative, Via E. Mach 1, 38010, San Michele all’Adige, TN, Italy

    Damiano Gianelle

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  1. Claudia Guidi
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  2. Jakob Magid
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  4. Damiano Gianelle
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Correspondence to Claudia Guidi.

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Guidi, C., Magid, J., Rodeghiero, M. et al. Effects of forest expansion on mountain grassland: changes within soil organic carbon fractions. Plant Soil 385, 373–387 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2315-2

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