Abstract
Purpose
Wet meadows formed on alluvial deposits potentially store large amounts of soil carbon (C) but its stability is subject to the impacts of management practices. The objective of this study was to quantify and characterize soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) in mountain wet meadows across ranges of meadow hydrology and livestock utilization.
Materials and methods
Eighteen wetlands in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains representing a range of wetness and livestock utilization levels were selected for soil sampling. In each wetland meadow, whole-solum soil cores delineated by horizon were analyzed for total and dissolved organic C (DOC) total (TN) and mineral nitrogen and soil water content (SWC). Multiple regression and GIS analysis was used to estimate the role of wet meadows in C storage across the study area landscape.
Results and discussion
Average solum SOC contents by wetland ranged from 130 to 805 Mg ha−1. All SOC and TN components were highly correlated with SWC. Regression analyses indicated subtle impacts of forage utilization level on SOC and TN concentrations, but not on whole-solum, mass-per-area stocks of SOC and TN. Proportions of DOC and TN under seasonally wet meadows increased with increasing utilization. GIS analysis indicated that the montane landscape contains about 54.3 Mg SOC ha−1, with wet meadows covering about 1.7% of the area and containing about 12.3% of the SOC.
Conclusions
Results indicate that soil organic C and N content of meadows we sampled are resilient to current light to moderate levels of grazing. In seasonally wet meadows, higher proportions of DOC and N with increasing utilization indicate vulnerability to loss. Partial drying of the wettest and seasonally wet meadows could result in losses of over five % of landscape SOC.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams WA (1973) The effect of organic matter on the bulk and true densities of some uncultivated podzolic soils. J Soil Sci 24:10–17
Albaladejo J, Ortiz R, Garcia-Franco N, Navarro A, Almagro M, Pintado J, Martínez-Mena M (2013) Land use and climate change impacts on soil organic carbon stocks in semi-arid Spain. J Soils Sediments 13:265–277
Alexander EB (1980) Bulk densities of California soils in relation to other soil properties. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44:689–692
Allen-Diaz B, Jackson RD (2000) Grazing effects on spring ecosystem vegetation of California's hardwood rangelands. J Range Manage 53:215–220
Blake GR, Hartge KH (1986) Bulk density. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis, part 1: physical and mineralogical methods. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 363–375
Budge K, Leifeld J, Hiltbrunner E, Fuhrer J (2010) Litter quality and pH are strong drivers of carbon turnover and distribution in alpine grassland soils. Biogeosci Discuss 7:6207–6242
Cabrera ML, Beare MH (1993) Alkaline persulfate oxidation for determining total nitrogen in microbial biomass extracts. Soil Sci Soc Am J 57:1007–1012
Cao G, Tang Y, Mo W, Wang Y, Li Y, Zhao X (2004) Grazing intensity alters soil respiration in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. Soil Biol Biochem 36:237–243
Choromanska U, DeLuca TH (2001) Prescribed fire alters the impact of wildfire on soil biochemical properties in a ponderosa pine forest. Soil Sci Soc Am J 65:232–238
Cole DN, Van Wagtendonk JW, McClaran MP, Moore PE, McDougald NK (2004) Response of mountain meadows to grazing by recreational pack stock. J Range Manage 57:153–160
DeLuca TH, Keeney DR (1993) Soluble organics and extractable nitrogen in paired prairie and cultivated soils of central Iowa. Soil Sci 155:219–228
Doane TA, Horwath WR (2003) Spectrophotometric determination of nitrate with a single reagent. Anal Lett 36:2713
Fleischner TL (1994) Ecological costs of livestock grazing in western North America. Conserv Biol 8:629–644
Franzluebbers AJ (2010) Achieving soil organic carbon sequestration with conservation agricultural systems in the southeastern United States. Soil Sci Soc Am J 74:347–357
Ganjegunte GK, Vance GF, Preston CM, Schuman GE, Ingram LJ, Stahl PD, Welker JM (2005) Soil organic carbon composition in a northern mixed-grass prairie: effects of grazing. Soil Sci Soc Am J 69:1746–1756
Gardner WH (1986) Water content. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Physical and mineralogical methods, part 1. Agronomy Monograph 9. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 503–507
Gee GW, Bauder JW (1986) Particle-size analysis. In: Klute A (ed) Methods of soil analysis Part 1: physical and mineralogical methods. Agronomy monograph 9. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 383–411
Hayhoe K, Cayanc D, Field CB, Frumhoffe PC, Maurerf EP, Millerg NL, Moserh SC, Schneideri SH, Cahilld KN, Cleland EE, Daleg L, Drapekj R, Hanemannk RM, Kalkstein LS, Lenihan J, Lunch CK, Neilson RP, Sheridan SC, Vervillee JH (2004) Emissions pathways, climate change, and impacts on California. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101:12422–12427
Interagency Technical Team (1999) Sampling vegetation attributes. BLM/RS/ST-96/002+1730, 176 pp
Jackson RD, Allen-Diaz B, Oates LG (2006) Spring-water nitrate increased with removal of livestock grazing in a California oak savanna. Ecosystems 9:254–267
Kattelmann R (1996) Flooding from rain-on-snow events in the Sierra Nevada. In: Bathala C (ed) North American Water and Environment Congress & Destructive Water. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, pp 1145–1146
Kattelmann R, Embury M (1996) Riparian areas and wetlands, Status of the Sierra Nevada. Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project. University of California, Davis, p 66
Kayranli B, Scholz M, Mustafa A, Hedmark Å (2010) Carbon storage and fluxes within freshwater wetlands: a critical review. Wetlands 30:111–124
Loheide S, Deitchman R, Cooper D, Wolf E, Hammersmark C, Lundquist J (2009) A framework for understanding the hydroecology of impacted wet meadows in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges, California, USA. Hydrogeol J 17:229–246
Manrique LA, Jones CA (1991) Bulk density of soils in relation to soil physical and chemical properties. Soil Sci Soc Am J 55:476–481
Mitra S, Wassmann R, Vlek PLG (2005) An appraisal of global wetland area and its organic carbon stock. Curr Sci 88:25–35
Nelson DW, Sommers LE (1996) Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Sparks DL (ed) Methods of soil analysis, part 3: chemical methods. Agronomy Monograph 9. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 961–1010
Neter J, Wasserman W, Kutner MH (1990) Applied linear statistical models. Irwin, Boston, 1181 pp
Norton JB, Monaco TA, Norton JM, Johnson DA, Jones TA (2004) Soil morphology and organic matter dynamics under cheatgrass and sagebrush-steppe plant communities. J Arid Environ 57:445–466
Norton JB, Jungst LJ, Norton U, Olsen HR, Tate KW, Horwath WR (2011) Soil carbon and nitrogen storage in upper montane riparian meadows. Ecosystems 14:1217–1231
Norton JB, Mukhwana EJ, Norton U (2012) Loss and recovery of soil organic carbon and nitrogen in a semiarid agroecosystem. Soil Sci Soc Am J 76:505–514
Olsen SR, Sommers LE (1982) Phosphorus. In: Page AL, Miller RH, Keeney DR (eds) Methods of soil analysis, part 2: chemical and microbiological properties. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 403–427
Pietola L, Horn R, Yli-Halla M (2005) Effects of trampling by cattle on the hydraulic and mechanical properties of soil. Soil Tillage Res 82:99–108
Potter DA (2005) Riparian plant community classification: west slope Central and Southern Sierra Nevada, California, General Technical Report. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Albany
Potter CS, Davidson EA, Verchot LV (1996) Estimation of global biogeochemical controls and seasonality in soil methane consumption. Chemosphere 32:2219–2246
Prichard SJ, Peterson DL, Hammer RD (2000) Carbon distribution in subalpine forests and meadows of the Olympic Mountains, Washington. Soil Sci Soc Am J 64:1834–1845
Roche LM, Latimer AM, Eastburn DJ, Tate KW (2012) Cattle grazing and conservation of a meadow-dependent amphibian species in the Sierra Nevada. PLoS ONE 7:e35734
SAS Institute (2010) SAS user's guide. SAS Institute, Cary
Shan Y, Chen D, Guan X, Zheng S, Chen H, Wang M, Bai Y (2011) Seasonally dependent impacts of grazing on soil nitrogen mineralization and linkages to ecosystem functioning in Inner Mongolia grassland. Soil Biol Biochem 43:1943–1954
Sickman JO, Melack JM, Stoddard JL (2002) Regional analysis of inorganic nitrogen yield and retention in high-elevation ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains. Biogeochemistry 57–58:341–374
Soil Survey Division Staff (1993) Soil survey manual. USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, Washington, p 437
Soil Survey Staff (2013a) Web Soil Survey. Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Soil Survey Staff (2013b) National cooperative soil survey soil characterization data. Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Sulak L, Huntsinger L (2002) Sierra Nevada grazing in transition: the role of Forest Service grazing in the foothill ranches of California, A report to: The Sierra Nevada Alliance, the California Cattlemen's Association, and the California Rangeland Trust, pp 35
Thomas GW (1996) Soil pH and soil acidity. In: Sparks DL (ed) Methods of soil analysis, part 3: Chemical methods. Agronomy Monograph 9. American Society of Agronomy and Soil Science Society of America, Madison, pp 475–490
Trimble SW, Mendel AC (1995) The cow as a geomorphic agent—a critical review. Geomorphology 13:233–253
Walker JT, Vose JM, Knoepp J, Geron CD (2009) Recovery of nitrogen pools and processes in degraded riparian zones in the southern Appalachians. J Environ Qual 38:1391–1399
Weatherburn MW (1967) Phenol-hypochlorite reaction for determination of ammonia. Anal Chem 39:971–974
Weisberg S (1982) Applied linear regression. Wiley, New York, 283 pp
Western Regional Climate Center (2011) Historical climate information. Desert Research Institute, Reno
Wood SH (1975) Holocene stratigraphy and chronology of mountain meadows, Sierra Nevada, California, PhD dissertation, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 204 pp
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science, the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources analytical lab advisory committee, and the University of Wyoming College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. We thank Urszula Norton, Timothy Doane, Mary Innes, Jocelyn Glatthaar, Heather Enloe and Zachary Faulkner for their field and laboratory support. We are also grateful to Leslie Roche for utilization levels and hydrological rankings and for reviewing earlier drafts, to Ken Tate, and Anthony O'Geen for review of earlier drafts, to Erin Bast for help with GIS analysis, and to Larry Munn for assistance with soil classification.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Zucong Cai
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Norton, J.B., Olsen, H.R., Jungst, L.J. et al. Soil carbon and nitrogen storage in alluvial wet meadows of the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains, USA. J Soils Sediments 14, 34–43 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0797-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0797-9