Abstract
Background and aims
The abandonment of alfalfa fields is increasing in a semi-arid region. To determine the change of soil physicochemical properties and plant diversity in abandoned alfalfa fields for a long-term is essential for vegetation restoration. This study surveyed alfalfa fields of different planting ages in 2003 (1–30 years), 2014 (12–41 years), and 2022 (20–49 years) to explore the change in various indicators using a space-for-time method.
Results
The results suggested that abandoned alfalfa fields converted into natural grasslands after 15 years, where the abundances of Gramineae and Asteraceae (59.1–84.0%) increased, whereas those of legumes decreased (16.5–9.4%). As the plant composition changed, the soil water content (SWC) decreased by 19.0% 1–15 years after abandonment, but increased by 54.5% 15–49 years after abandonment. The plant diversity (Margalef, Pielou, Simpson, and Shannon–Wiener indices), and soil organic carbon (SOC), and total nitrogen (TN) contents increased by 0.5% to 51.5% with the number of years alfalfa planting. Furthermore, the plant composition significantly affected the SWC through the soil physicochemical characteristics and plant diversity.
Conclusions
This study demonstrated that the longest time of alfalfa planting was 15 years. Furthermore, the plant composition changed from alfalfa to local grasses due to the natural succession of abandoned alfalfa fields, with increases in SWC, SOC, TN, and plant diversity in the semi-arid region.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings obtained in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Code availability
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Funding
This work was supported by The Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA23070202), the Research and Demonstration on Driving Mechanism and Resistance Control Technology of Secondary Desertification in Yulin Desert Oasis (YF-2022–9), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41977016).
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Jun Fan contributed to the study conception and design. Qian Zhang and Mulin Jia conducted material preparation and data collection. Qian Zhang and Changchun Shi contributed to data analysis, disscussion, conclusions, and references. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Qian Zhang and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhang, Q., Fan, J., Jia, M. et al. Impacts of long-term abandonment of alfalfa plantations on soil physicochemical properties and plant diversity in an agricultural pastoral ecotone. Plant Soil 493, 519–534 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06246-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06246-6