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Effects of transforming multiple ecosystem types to plantations on soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations at the global scale

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Abstract

Purpose

To provide useful knowledges for plantation management, we assessed how the transforming of the different ecosystem types to tree plantation may affect soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) concentrations and what are the driving factors of ecosystem transformation effects.

Methods

We synthesized 4262 pairwise observations collected from 366 peer-reviewed publications using meta-analysis method to assess the effects of ecosystem transformation to plantation on soil C, N, and P concentrations.

Results

We found that (1) ecosystem transformation effects on soil C, N, and P concentrations significantly varied with former ecosystem types, with positive effects of transforming croplands, deserts, and grasslands to plantations on total C (TC), soil organic C (SOC), dissolved organic C (DOC), total N (TN), and/or available N (AN), but negative effects of transforming primary and secondary forests to plantations on TC, SOC, TN, AN, and/or available P (AP); (2) the concentrations of soil dissolved organic N (DON), ammonium (NH4+), and nitrate (NO3–) were not affected by ecosystem transformation regardless of the former ecosystem types; and (3) ecosystem transformation effects were impacted by a variety of moderator variables, with climate, mycorrhizal association, stand age, and soil moisture and pH the most important ones.

Conclusion

Transforming croplands, deserts, and grasslands to plantations will increase soil C, N, and/or P concentrations, but transforming primary and secondary forests to plantations had opposite effects. Our results help to better understand ecosystem transformation effects on soil C and nutrient concentrations, and will be useful for guiding afforestation and sustainable plantation managements under global environment change scenario.

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Data availability

Raw data used in the study were deposited in figshare with a DOI (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20402754.v1).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to than the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and useful suggestions that substantially improve the quality of our article. K.Y. was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31922052), and F.W. received funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32171641).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-Geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Shangsan Road 8, Cangshan District, Fuzhou, 350007, Fujian, China

    Yan Peng, Chaoxiang Yuan, Kai Yue, Guiqing Zhu, Xia Jin, Qiao Yang, Shuyuan Wei & Fuzhong Wu

  2. Fujian Sanming Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Sanming, 365002, Fujian, China

    Yan Peng, Kai Yue & Fuzhong Wu

  3. Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, University Malaysia Terengganu, 21030, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

    Petr Heděnec

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  1. Yan Peng
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  2. Chaoxiang Yuan
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  3. Petr Heděnec
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  4. Kai Yue
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Correspondence to Yan Peng.

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Peng, Y., Yuan, C., Heděnec, P. et al. Effects of transforming multiple ecosystem types to plantations on soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus concentrations at the global scale. Plant Soil 481, 213–227 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05632-w

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