Abstract
Background and aims
Grasslands hold one of the most important soil carbon stocks in the world, which is vulnerable to climate change (i.e. precipitation) and human disturbance (i.e. land-use). This study aimed to investigate responses and mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition and accumulation to precipitation and land-use in an Inner Mongolian grassland.
Methods
Using a randomized complete block design with a split plot, an experiment with land-use regimes (fencing, grazing, and mowing, since 2011) and altered precipitation amount (wet, + 50% precipitation; CT, ambient precipitation; dry, −50% precipitation; since 2016) was conducted to explore their impacts on SOC decomposition (represented by soil heterotrophic respiration and extracellular enzyme activities) and accumulation (represented by SOC and its physical fractions) from samples collected in 2019.
Results
SOC decomposition significantly increased under wet treatment, but decreased under dry treatment. Wet treatment increased SOC accumulation via the increment of mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC), and vice versa for dry treatment. Precipitation amount may affect soil microbial biomass and activities via alterations of water supply, plant-derived carbon input, and other soil properties, leading to changes of SOC dynamics. Nevertheless, land-use regimes had little influences on SOC dynamics.
Conclusions
Compared to land-use regimes, precipitation treatments can significantly change SOC dynamics. Overall, SOC increased under higher precipitation amount, but decreased with less precipitation. We emphasize that the SOC stock in Inner Mongolia temperate grassland may have an unexpectable fast response to precipitation alteration, but more investigation is still needed in longer terms.
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Data availability
All data that support the findings of this study can be found in the article and/or Supporting Information.
Abbreviations
- SOM:
-
Soil organic matter
- SOC:
-
Soil organic carbon
- POM:
-
Particulate organic matter
- POC:
-
Particulate organic carbon
- MAOM:
-
Mineral-associated organic matter
- MAOC:
-
Mineral-associated organic carbon
- ANPP:
-
Aboveground net primary productivity
- BNPP:
-
Belowground net primary productivity
- NPP:
-
Net primary productivity
- Rh :
-
Soil heterotrophic respiration
- TN:
-
Total nitrogen
- EOC:
-
Extractable organic carbon
- AN:
-
Available nitrogen
- AP:
-
Available phosphorus
- MBC:
-
Microbial biomass carbon
- MBN:
-
Microbial biomass nitrogen
- qCO2 :
-
Microbial metabolic quotient
- PLFA:
-
Phospholipid fatty acid
- ACT:
-
Actinomycetes
- BG:
-
β-1,4-glucosidase
- CB:
-
Cellobiohydrolase
- NAG:
-
β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase
- LAP:
-
Leucine aminopeptidase
- POX:
-
Phenol oxidase
- PER:
-
Peroxidase
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Acknowledgements
We thank the staff at the Maodeng Grassland Ecosystem Research Station for providing logistic support in the field. We thank the staff at the Plant Science Facility of Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences for analytical support in the laboratory. We are also very grateful to Wenxuan Zhang, Guanpeng Chai and Shilong Zhang for their help in laboratory work.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31988102 and 32160274).
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Qin, W., Wang, Y., Yuan, X. et al. Responses of soil carbon dynamics to precipitation and land use in an Inner Mongolian grassland. Plant Soil 491, 85–100 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05858-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-022-05858-8