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Overgrazing has been the primary cause of grassland degradation in the semi-arid grasslands of the agro-pastoral transition zone in northern China. However, there has been little evidence regarding grazing intensity impacts on vegetation change and soil C and N dynamics in this region. This paper reports the effects of four grazing intensities namely un-grazed (UG), lightly grazed (LG), moderately grazed (MG) and heavily grazed (HG) on vegetation characteristics and soil properties of grasslands in the Guyuan county in the agro-pastoral transition region, Hebei province, northern China. Our study showed that the vegetation height, canopy cover, plant species abundance and aboveground biomass decreased significantly with increased grazing intensity. Similarly, soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (STN) in the 0–50 cm were highest under UG (13.3 kg C m−2 and 1.69 kg N m−2) and lowest under HG (9.8 kg C m−2 and 1.22 kg N m−2). Soil available nitrogen (SAN) was significantly lower under HG (644 kg N hm−2) than under other treatments (725–731 kg N hm−2) in the 0–50 cm. Our results indicate that the pasture management of “take half-leave half” has potential benefits for primary production and livestock grazing in this region. However, grazing exclusion was perhaps the most effective choice for restoring degraded grasslands in this region. Therefore, flexible rangeland management should be adopted in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peatlands contain large amount of carbon stock that is vulnerable to release into the atmosphere. Mostly because of human impact, the peatlands at Zoige Wetlands face severe degradation, and the groundwater table is now lower than before, which has increased the population of the plateau zokor, a burrowing rodent. However, the impact of these changes on ecosystem carbon flows has not been studied. To investigate how the plateau zokor and the groundwater level alter the ecosystem respiration of the Zoige peatlands, we sampled the CO2 flux of hummocks shaped by the zokors and compared it with the CO2 flux of undisturbed sites with different groundwater table levels. The soil organic carbon (SOC), soil water content (SWC) and soil temperature at 5 cm (T5) were measured. SOC showed no significant difference among the four sampling sites and did not correlate with the CO2 flux, while SWC was found to partly determine the CO2 flux. A linear equation could adequately describe the relationship between the natural logarithm of the ecosystem respiration and the soil temperature. It is demonstrated that descending groundwater table might accelerate ecosystem respiration and the CO2 flux from hummocks was higher than the CO2 flux from the control site in the non-growing season. With rising temperature, the CO2 flux from the control site accelerated faster than that from the hummocks. Our results show that ecosystem respiration was significantly lower from hummocks than at the control site in the growing season. The results on the impact of zokors on greenhouse gas emissions presented in this paper provide a useful reference to help properly manage not only this, but other litter-burrowing mammals at peatland sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of sandification process was studied, by monitoring the changes of sediment characteristics, at marsh-sandy land intersections in China's Songnen region. A series of sediment collection plates were deployed in the region; after one year, sediments in these plates were analyzed for changes of mass and chemical characteristics. The sediment flux and the sand content of the sediments decreased with the increasing longitudinal distance between the sampling site and the centre line of a sand dune. The mean sediment flux was 29±14 kg m−2 yr−1 and 0.6±0.3 kg m−2 yr−1 in the sandy land and marsh, respectively. Strong, positive correlations were found between the concentrations of organic matter, total nitrogen, P, Fe, Ti, V and Zr, all of which were also negatively correlated with the sand content. The concentrations of organic matter, total nitrogen, P, Fe, Ti, V and Zr in the marsh sediment samples were all significantly greater than the corresponding concentrations of the sandy land (p<0.001). Sand content and Ti, V and Zr concentrations all proved to be valid indicators of sandification intensity, and they showed that the marsh could be divided into three distinct zones. Sand expansion extended about 88 m into the marsh. The mean sand content in the sediments of the sandy land was 91% and then 64% in the marsh, which in turn was higher than that of marshes outside the influence of sandification, suggesting that the marsh in the marsh-sandy land transitional area has already undergone extensive sandification in the past. The study results provide information on the wetland's function of indicating and buffering the sandification process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1950s, land reclamation from lakes has been a common human disturbance to ecosystems in China. It has greatly diminished the lake area, and altered natural ecological succession. However, little is known about its impact on the carbon (C) cycle. We conducted an experiment to examine the variations of chemical properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and C mineralization under four land uses, i.e. coniferous forest (CF), evergreen broadleaf forest (EBF), bamboo forest (BF) and cropland (CL) in a reclaimed land area from Taihu Lake. Soils and lake sediments (LS) were incubated for 360 days in the laboratory and the CO2 evolution from each soil during the incubation was fit to a double exponential model. The DOM was analyzed at the beginning and end of the incubation using UV and fluorescence spectroscopy to understand the relationships between DOM chemistry and C mineralization. The C mineralization in our study was influenced by the land use with different vegetation and management. The greatest cumulative CO2-C emission was observed in BF soil at 0–10 cm depth. The active C pool in EBF at 10–25 cm had longer (62 days) mean residence time (MRT). LS showed the highest cumulative CO2-C and shortest MRT comparing with the terrestrial soils. The carbohydrates in DOM were positively correlated with CO2-C evolution and negatively correlated to phenols in the forest soils. Cropland was consistently an outlier in relationships between DOM chemistry and CO2-evolution, highlighting the unique effects that this land use on soil C cycling, which may be attributed the tillage practices. Our results suggest that C mineralization is closely related to the chemical composition of DOM and sensitive to its variation. Conversion of an aquatic ecosystem into a terrestrial ecosystem may alter the chemical structure of DOM, and then influences soil C mineralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fern Dicranopteris dichotoma is an important pioneer species of the understory in Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) forests growing on acidic soils in the subtropical and tropical China. To improve our understanding of the role of D. dichotoma in nitrogen (N) uptake of these forests, a short-term 15N experiment was conducted at mountain ridge (MR, with low N level) and mountain foot (MF, with high N level). We injected 15N tracers as 15NH4, 15NO3 or 15N-glycine into the soil surrounding each plant at both MR and MF sites. Three hours after tracer injection, the fern D. dichotoma took up 15NH4+ significantly faster at MF than at MR, but it showed significantly slower uptake of 15NO3− at MF than at MR. Consequently, 15NO3− made greater contribution to the total N uptake (50% to the total N uptake) at MR than at MF, but 15N-glycine only contributed around 11% at both sites. Twenty-four hours after tracer injection, D. dichotoma preferred 15NH4+ (63%) at MR, whereas it preferred 15NO3− (47%) at MF. We concluded that the D. dichotoma responds distinctly in its uptake pattern for three available N species over temporal and spatial scales, but mainly relies on inorganic N species in the subtropical forest. This suggests that the fern employs different strategies to acquire available N which depends on N levels and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognized that global warming promotes soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition, and soils thus emit more CO2 into the atmosphere because of the warming; however, the response of SOC decomposition to this warming in different soil textures is unclear. This lack of knowledge limits our projection of SOC turnover and CO2 emission from soils after future warming. To investigate the CO2 emission from soils with different textures, we conducted a 107-day incubation experiment. The soils were sampled from temperate forest and grassland in northern China. The incubation was conducted over three short-term cycles of changing temperature from 5°C to 30°C, with an interval of 5°C. Our results indicated that CO2 emissions from sand (>50 µm), silt (2–50 µm), and clay (<2 µm) particles increased exponentially with increasing temperature. The sand fractions emitted more CO2 (CO2-C per unit fraction-C) than the silt and clay fractions in both forest and grassland soils. The temperature sensitivity of the CO2 emission from soil particles, which is expressed as Q10, decreased in the order clay>silt>sand. Our study also found that nitrogen availability in the soil facilitated the temperature dependence of SOC decomposition. A further analysis of the incubation data indicated a power-law decrease of Q10 with increasing temperature. Our results suggested that the decomposition of organic carbon in fine-textured soils that are rich in clay or silt could be more sensitive to warming than those in coarse sandy soils and that SOC might be more vulnerable in boreal and temperate regions than in subtropical and tropical regions under future warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total concentrations and chemical forms of heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the surface sediments of the Laizhou Bay and the surrounding marine area of the Zhangzi Island (hereafter referred to as Zhangzi Island for short) were obtained and multiple indices and guidelines were applied to assess their contamination and ecological risks. The sedimentary conditions were fine in both of the two studied areas according to the marine sediment quality of China. Whereas the probable effects level guideline suggested that Ni might cause adverse biological effects to occur frequently in some sites. All indices used suggested that Cd posed the highest environmental risk in both the Laizhou Bay and the Zhangzi Island, though Cd may unlikely be harmful to human and ecological health due to the very low total concentrations. The enrichment factor (EF) showed that a substantial portion of Cr was delivered from anthropogenic sources, whereas the risk assessment code (RAC) indicated that most Cr was in an inactive state that it may not have any adverse effect either. Moreover, the results of EF and geoaccumulation index were consistent with the trend of the total metal concentrations except for Cd, while the results of RAC and potential ecological risk factor did not follow the same trend of their corresponding total metal concentrations. We also evaluated the effects of using different indices to assess the environmental impact of these heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook. has been widely planted in subtropical China to meet increasing timber demands, leading to short-rotation practices that deplete soil nutrients. However, increased nitrogen (N) deposition offsets soil N depletion. While long-term experimental data investigating the coupled effects related to short rotation practices and increasing N deposition are scarce, applying model simulations may yield insights. In this study, the CenW3.1 model was validated and parameterized using data from pure C. lanceolata plantations. The model was then used to simulate various changes in long-term productivity. Results indicated that responses of productivity of C. lanceolata plantation to increased N deposition were more related to stand age than N addition, depending on the proportion and age of growing forests. Our results have also shown a rapid peak in growth and N dynamics. The peak is reached sooner and is higher under higher level of N deposition. Short rotation lengths had a greater effect on productivity and N dynamics than high N deposition levels. Productivity and N dynamics decreased as the rotation length decreased. Total productivity levels suggest that a 30-year rotation length maximizes productivity at the 4.9 kg N ha−1 year−1 deposition level. For a specific rotation length, higher N deposition levels resulted in greater overall ecosystem C and N storage, but this positive correlation tendency gradually slowed down with increasing N deposition levels. More pronounced differences in N deposition levels occurred as rotation length decreased. To sustain C. lanceolata plantation productivity without offsite detrimental N effects, the appropriate rotation length is about 20–30 years for N deposition levels below 50 kg N ha−1 year−1 and about 15–20 years for N deposition levels above 50 kg N ha−1 year−1. These results highlight the importance of assessing N effects on carbon management and the long-term productivity of forest ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]