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Effects of long-term planting on PhytOC storage and its distribution in soil physical fractions in Moso bamboo forests in subtropical China

  • Soils, Sec 1 • Soil Organic Matter Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling • Research Article
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Abstract

Purpose

Phytoliths are siliceous substances that are abundant within intercellular spaces and inside cells of numerous types of plants. During the formation of phytoliths, between 0.2 and 5.8% of organic carbon (C) can be occluded within the phytoliths. Phytolith-occluded C (PhytOC) in terrestrial ecosystems is a stable C sink and can be distributed in organic matter that is not strongly associated with soil minerals (LFOM) or that is strongly associated with mineral particles (forming organo-mineral complexes) (HFOM). We (1) investigated the impact of plantation age and soil depth on the size of the PhytOC pool and its distribution in soil physical fractions in Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) forests; and (2) explore the relationship among phytoliths and PhytOC (and their fractions) concentrations and the soil properties.

Materials and methods

We used a chronosequence approach by sampling 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-year-old Moso bamboo stands to examine the effect of plantation age on PhytOC storage and its distribution between the LFOM and HFOM pools.

Results and discussion

Our results showed that PhytOC concentration and the concentration of PhytOC in LFOM and HFOM increased with increasing stand age in the topsoil (0–30 cm) but not in the subsoil (30–100 cm). Long-term planting of Moso bamboo forests increased the soil PhytOC pool size, as well as the LFOM- and HFOM-PhytOC fractions. The LFOM- and HFOM-PhytOC concentrations were positively correlated with soil organic C concentrations. The HFOM-PhytOC concentration was positively correlated with that of water-soluble silicon.

Conclusions

We conclude that the increasing bamboo plantation age will promote PhytOC storage in the bulk soil and physical fractions in subtropical China. Management practices that increase PhytOC input and decrease PhytOC output should be developed in the future to increase PhytOC storage in bamboo plantations.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this research is from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 31270667 and 41601234, respectively) and the State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture (grant number 20180207).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin’an, 311300, Zhejiang, China

    Chengpeng Huang, Yongchun Li, Xiaoqiang Gong, Jiasen Wu, Da Dong, Scott X. Chang & Peikun Jiang

  2. Zhejiang Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center for Bamboo Resources and High-efficiency Utilization, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin’an, 311300, Zhejiang, China

    Chengpeng Huang, Yongchun Li, Jiasen Wu, Da Dong & Peikun Jiang

  3. School of Environmental and Resources Science, Zhejiang A&F University, Lin’an, 311300, Zhejiang, China

    Chengpeng Huang, Yongchun Li, Jiasen Wu, Da Dong & Peikun Jiang

  4. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, 442 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, T6G 2E3, Canada

    Chengpeng Huang, Yongchun Li, Xiaoqiang Gong & Scott X. Chang

  5. Institute of Chinese Medicinal Materials, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, Jiangsu, China

    Lin Jin

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  1. Chengpeng Huang
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  2. Yongchun Li
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Huang, C., Li, Y., Jin, L. et al. Effects of long-term planting on PhytOC storage and its distribution in soil physical fractions in Moso bamboo forests in subtropical China. J Soils Sediments 20, 2317–2329 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02570-x

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