Search

Aims Recent research has suggested that microbial necromass has a disproportionate influence on soil organic C accumulation. But few field studies have followed the bacterial and fungal necromass vacations during plant residue decomposition. Methods We investigated in a 512-days culture experiment with a perennial C3 herb (St.B, S. bungeana) to trace the formations of muramic acid (MurA) vs. Glucosamine (GluN), and investigate the relationships between MurA, GluN and soil C fractions. Results The results showed that the bacteria community dominates the decomposition process due to soil pH (>7) and microbial metabolic C-, P-limitations. The dynamics of MurA changed from fluctuating variations to a significant increase. Bacterial necromass has been in a balance of accumulation and decomposition at early and middle periods. The entombing effect in the later stage resulted in bacterial necromass accumulation. While in the case of microbial metabolism limitation, GluN will lose its physicochemical protection and be degraded. Microorganisms regulate the turnover of POC, MAOC and MBC by microbial biomass and necromass. The utilization of soil C fractions is the direct cause of SOC decline, while microbial necromass only plays an indirect role. The priming effecting caused by one-time input of high C/N ratio plant residues leads to the absence of SOC accumulation in the short term. Conclusions With the synergistic effect of soil C fractions, the production of microbial biomass and the degradation of cellular residues maintain microbial stoichiometric homeostasis. In addition to soil pH, microbial biomass stoichiometry co-determines microbial necromass formation.

The abstract is available here: https://uscholar.univie.ac.at/o:1639163

Belowground carbon (C) input is a key component of the global C cycle. However, how does fencing affect Belowground net primary production (BNPP) and the contribution of root derived C to belowground C input remains poorly studied. In this study, the in-growth soil cores-13C method was used to quantify net root C input. Five different plant communities of different fencing years (1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 25 years, 30 years) in the Loess Plateau of China, characterized by herbs and shrubs were investigated. BNPP was increased with the increase of fencing years: 61.54~140.23 gC·m− 2·yr− 1. Root derived C in soil represented a considerable contribution to BNPP varying from 57 to 81 %, and the proportion of root derived C to BNPP was decreased with the fencing years. The contribution of root derived C to soil organic carbon (SOC) was 3 %~5 % during one-year growth. Our results underline the fact that fencing is an effective means to improve the BNPP and plant community. Root derived C rather than root biomass contributes to the SOC sequestration in grassland soils with different fencing years. Fencing increases the contribution of root derived C to SOC mainly by increasing root C content.

This interview with Allan Barr was conducted via email by Baorong Wang between January and April 2020. Throughout the entire process, altogether seven batches of questions were sent out to the inte...

Microbial biomass and necromass are increasingly considered to be the main source of organic carbon (C) formation in soils. However, quantitative information on the contribution of microbial necromass to soil organic carbon (SOC) formation and the factors driving microbial necromass accumulation, decomposition and stabilization during initial soil formation in biological crusts (biocrusts) have remained elusive. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the composition of microbial necromass and its contributions to SOC sequestration in a biocrust formation sequence consisting of five stages: bare sand stage, cyanobacteria stage, cyanobacteria-moss stage, moss-cyanobacteria stage, and moss stage on sandy parent material on the Loess Plateau. The fungal and bacterial necromass C content was analyzed based on cell wall biomarkers, i.e. amino sugars. Microbial necromass was an important source of SOC, and was incorporated into the particulate and mineral-associated organic C (MAOC). Because bacteria have smaller and thinner cell wall fragments as well as more proteins than fungi, bacterial necromass mainly contributed to the MAOC pool, while fungal residues contributed more to the particulate organic C (POC) pool. MAOC saturation by microbial necromass and the fact that POC accumulated more rapidly than MAOC during initial soil formation suggest that the clay content was the limiting factor for stable C accumulation in this sandy soil. Microbial necromass exceeding the MAOC saturation level was further stored in the labile POC pool (especially necromass from fungi). Activities of four enzymes (i.e., β-1,4-glucosidase, β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, leucine aminopeptidase, and alkaline phosphatase) increased with fungal and bacterial necromass, suggesting that the increasing activity of living microorganisms led to an accelerated turnover and formation of necromass. Microbial N limitation raised the production of N acquisition enzymes (e.g., β-1,4-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase and leucine aminopeptidase) to break down necromass compounds, leading to further increases of bio-available N in soil solution. The decrease of microbial N limitation along the biocrust formation chronosequence is an important factor triggering microbial necromass accumulation during initial soil development. High microbial N demands and insufficient clay protection led to fast necromass reutilization by microorganisms and thus, resulted in a low necromass accumulation coefficient, that is, the ratio of microbial necromass to living microbial biomass (on average, 9.6). Consequently, microbial necromass contribution to SOC during initial soil formation by biocrusts was lower (12-25%) than commonly found in fully developed soils (33%-60%, literature data). Nitrogen limitation of microorganisms and increased ratios between N-acquiring enzyme activities and microbial biomass N, as well as limited clay protection and MAOC saturation resulted in a low contribution of microbial necromass to SOC during initial development of this biocrust-covered sandy soil. in summary, soil development led not only to SOC accumulation, but also to increased contribution of microbial necromass to SOC, while the plant biomass contribution to SOC decreased.

The impact of the long-term uneven precipitation distribution model on the diversity and community composition of soil C-fixing microorganisms in arid and semiarid grasslands remains unclear. In 2015, we randomly set up five experimental plots with precipitation gradients on the natural restoration grassland of the Loess Plateau (natural precipitation, NP; ± 40% natural precipitation: decreased precipitation (DP), DP40; increased precipitation (IP), IP40; ± 80% natural precipitation: DP80; IP80). In the third and fifth years after the experimental layout (spanned two years), we explored the cbbL-genes, which are functional genes in the Calvin cycle, harboring microbial diversity and community composition under different precipitation treatments. The results showed that the increase in mean annual precipitation significantly changed the cbbL-harboring microbial alpha diversity, especially when controlling for 40% natural precipitation. The response of the dominant microbial communities to interannual increased precipitation variation shifted from Gammaproteobacteria (Bradyrhizobium) to Betaproteobacteria (Variovorax). The structural equation model showed that precipitation directly affected the cbbL-harboring microbial diversity and community composition and indirectly by affecting soil NO

To explore carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) dynamics during leaf litter decomposition, we investigated the temporal variability of soil microbial biomass and associated soil enzyme activities. Our 342-day leaf litter (Quercus wutaishanica) decomposition experiment at the Loess Plateau (China) sheds light on how soil microorganisms – mainly the soil microbial biomass C, N, P, and soil enzyme activities – maintain element homeostasis of C, N, and P by producing soil enzymes during various phases of litter decomposition. Overall, the highest soil enzyme activities were measured in summer, whereas soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and soil microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) were highest in winter. Soil water content and soil temperature had significant effects on soil enzyme activities and stoichiometry. The results indicate that the stoichiometry of extracellular enzyme activities (lnBG:lnNAG:lnAP) changes significantly between individual stages of litter decomposition. The resources available for microorganisms were restricted by C and P, while P limitation progressively decelerated during decomposition and C limitation was enhanced at the latest stage. Strong positive correlations between ecological indicators of microbial element limitation and soil enzyme activities indicated that microbes allocate C and nutrients towards soil enzyme production to mine for scarce nutrients. This adaptation strategy enabled the soil microorganisms to maintain element homeostasis. Soil MBC, MBN, soil microbial biomass phosphorus (MBP), MBC:MBN, MBC:MBP, and MBN:MBP rarely showed significant correlations with soil or leaf litter C, N, P, C:N, C:P, and N:P. This suggests no resource dependency of microbial element composition but supports the concept of element homeostasis of soil microorganisms. Besides compensating for element imbalances by adjusting soil enzyme production, the microorganisms also adjusted element use efficiencies such as C use efficiency. We conclude that the maintenance of element homeostasis by soil microorganisms induces a tight co-regulation of enzymes involved in covering their C and nutrient supply during successive litter degradation.

A change in precipitation caused by climate change is an important factor that affects the biodiversity and ecological function of arid and semi-arid regions, but its influence on the composition and function of the soil fungi community in the grasslands of the Loess Plateau remains unclear. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted an in-situ simulation experiment using five precipitation gradients (natural precipitation, increased and decreased by 40%, and 80%) in a natural restoration grassland for three years. The composition of soil fungal communities and their functions were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing techniques. Although the change of precipitation did not change the diversity index of soil fungi, it changed the composition and function of dominant fungal community groups. Specifically, decreased precipitation resulted in an increase in the relative abundance of Dothideomycetes and Boeremia by up to 12.17% and 9.93%, respectively, while these decreased with increased precipitation. The abundance of Basidiomycota, Glomeromycota, and Agaricomycetes abundance decreased by up to 11.27%, 6.96%, and 11.46% with decreased precipitation, but also decreased by up to 10.9%, 1.73%, and 10.51% with increased precipitation, respectively. However, the abundance of Ascomycota, Pezizomycetes, and norank_Pezizales increased by up to 22.58%, 7.45%, and 6.95% with decreased precipitation, and increased by up to 12.05%, 8.43%, and 5.81% with increased precipitation, respectively. The number of dominant fungal groups with interactive relationships weakened by 34.93% and 8.7% under decreased precipitation by 80% and increased 80%, respectively. Precipitation change had no significant effect on the proportion of saprotrophs, while a decrease of precipitation increased the endophyte-plant pathogens by up to 58.0% and decreased arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi by up to 92.6%. In brief, the dominant soil fungal communities could adapt and respond to climate change by altering the proportion of different dominant fungal groups by responding to moisture patterns with changes in the interrelationships between microbial communities and the proportional distribution of functional groups.

Microbial necromass plays an essential role in soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation. Nevertheless, how microbial necromass carbon (C) concentrations and their contributions to SOC sequestration change from litter to mineral soil and what factors influence its accumulation remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a field experiment to investigate the compositional distribution characteristics of microbial necromass C and its contributions to SOC sequestration in an oak forest (Quercus wutaishanica) litter-mineral soil profile of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The present study estimated the microbial necromass C concentrations based on the microbial cell wall's biomarker amino sugars. Our results demonstrated that microbial necromass C increased from the Oi1 to Oa layers but decreased from the Ah1 to AB horizons. The highest accumulation of microbial necromass C was found at the litter-mineral soil interface (i.e., total microbial necromass in the Oa layer was 39.5 Mg ha−1, and Ah1 was 22.8 Mg ha−1). The contribution of total microbial necromass C to SOC increased from Oi1 to Ah2. Specifically, the total microbial necromass C accounted for 40.7%, 47.7%, and 37.0% of the average bulk SOC in the Ah1, Ah2, and AB horizons of the oak forest mineral soil, respectively. The ratio of fungal to bacterial necromass C decreased from litter to mineral soil, indicating that the relatively higher bacterial necromass C increasingly accumulated in the deeper litter layers and upper mineral soil horizons. Fungal and bacterial necromass C increased with increasing labile organic C, nitrogen (N), and labile inorganic phosphorus (P), suggesting that higher easily accessible soluble nutrients lead to higher microbial biomass levels, which in turn lead to higher microbial necromass accumulation. Overall, our findings suggested that microbial demand for C or N influences the quantity of soluble nutrients and further lead to changes in microbial necromass C decomposition/accumulation.

Although forests account for only 27% of the total land area, they store approximately 80% of the aboveground carbon (C) and 40% of soil C globally. However, there is currently little information regarding the input and distribution of photoassimilates of trees in plant–soil systems. To quantify the belowground C input and allocation to plant–soil pools, we pulse labeled 5-year-old pioneer (Populus davidiana) and climax (Quercus wutaishanica) species with 13CO2 under field conditions. The 13C allocation dynamics were traced in the leaves, branches, roots, and soil microorganisms, rhizosphere and bulk soil under Populus davidiana and Quercus wutaishanica over 21 days. 13C recovery (% of assimilated 13C) in the leaves of Populus davidiana and Quercus wutaishanica decreased from nearly 90% at 6 h after labeling to 40% and 45% at 21 days, respectively. Continuous assimilate allocation from above- to belowground increased 13C recovery in roots from 0.4% at 6 h after labeling to 9.5% in Populus davidiana and from 1.5% to 15% in Quercus wutaishanica at 21 days after labeling. The recently assimilated C was detected in the soil immediately after labeling. The 13C amounts in the bulk and rhizosphere soil of the climax species Quercus wutaishanica was two-fold greater than that under the pioneer species Populus davidiana. The total belowground net C input (including that in roots) by Populus davidiana and Quercus wutaishanica was 109 and 283 g C m−2 yr−1 (top 20 cm of soil), respectively, including rhizodeposition of 4.2 and 28 g C m−2 yr−1. Consequently, the belowground C allocation and soil C sequestration increase from pioneer to climax tree species.

Despite the recognized importance of the contribution of microbial necromass to soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, at a global scale, there has been no quantification for cropland, grassland, and forest ecosystems. To address this knowledge gap, the contents of fungal and bacterial necromass were estimated based on glucosamine and muramic acid contents in cropland (986 samples), grassland (278 samples), and forest (452 samples) soils. On an average, microbial necromass C contributed 51%, 47%, and 35% to the SOC in cropland, grassland, and forest soils, respectively, in the first 20 cm of topsoil. The contribution of microbial necromass to SOC increased with soil depth in grasslands (from 47% to 54%) and forests (from 34% to 44%), while it decreased in croplands (from 51% to 24%). The microbial necromass accumulation coefficient (the ratio between necromass and living microbial biomass C) was higher in soil from croplands (41) and grasslands (33) than in forest (20) soils. These results suggest that the turnover of living microbial biomass is faster in grassland and cropland soils than in forest soils, where the latter contains more partially decomposed plant residues. Fungal necromass C (>65% of total necromass) had consistently higher contributions to SOC than bacterial necromass C (32–36%) in all soils due to i) a larger living fungal biomass than bacterial biomass, and ii) fungal cell compounds being decomposed slowly and, thus able to persist longer in soil. The ratio of fungal:bacterial necromass C increased from 2.4 to 2.9 in the order of croplands

In this paper, novel L-lysine-modified graphene oxide (Lys-GO) was synthesized through amidation. The morphological and structural properties of Lys-GO were characterized using infrared spectrometry, scanning electronic microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The as-prepared Lys-GO material was systematically investigated in a series of batch adsorption experiments for the removal of methylene blue (MB) and copper ions (Cu2+) from wastewater. These results showed that Lys-GO is a bifunctional adsorbent for the removal of dyes and metal ions, and excellent adsorption efficiency was obtained. The maximum adsorption capacities for MB dye and Cu2+ were 1679.1 mg/g and 186.9 mg/g at 35 °C, respectively. The kinetics of adsorption followed well the linear pseudo-second-kinetic model. The isotherm results indicated that MB adsorption can be described with the Langmuir isotherm model, while the adsorption of Cu2+ can be described with the Freundlich model. The excellent adsorption capacity indicated that the Lys-GO may be a promising adsorption material for the removal of environmental pollutants.

Republican China (1912–49) saw the rise and fall of a sub-field of source cultureinitiated foreign language translations of Chinese literature targeted at both expatriate and domestic audiences in China. This unique translation phenomenon, which challenges Gideon Toury’s generally held assumption that “translations are facts of target cultures,” has hitherto been under-researched in and outside of China. This paper presents the findings of a case study of George Kin Leung’s English translation of Lu Xun’s fictional masterpiece A Q Zhengzhuan (The True Story of Ah Q). Four socio-cultural factors which engendered the emergence of this sub-field in the early Republican years are analyzed. Inspired by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the field of cultural production, this putative sub-field of restricted production is interpreted as functioning primarily on the basis of the accumulation of symbolic capital. Leung’s participation in the dynamics of this historical field is examined by tracing his professional trajectory, followed by an analysis of his motivation for translating A Q Zhengzhuan – to make a name for himself or to accumulate symbolic capital in the field. It is then found through text analysis that Leung’s version shows a combination of overall literalness and occasional license. A tentative explanation is sought by drawing on André Lefevere’s theory of rewriting. The primary conclusion is that Leung’s literalistic approach to translation was dictated by the intended readership and the translation norm (i.e., literal translation) that prevailed in 1920s’ China, while the liberties Leung took with the original text reveal the influence ofhis ideology, poetics and aesthetics.

Chapter Four of Fusheng Liuji (Six Chapters of a Floating Life), a unique autobiographical prose work by early Qing-dynasty author Shen Fu (1763-1825), records Shen's travel to many parts of the country and contains a multitude of place names, whose rich cultural connotations pose a great challenge to the translator. Drawing on Javier Franco Aixelá’s taxonomy of translation strategies for treating culture-specific items, this paper attempts to describe the translation strategies adopted by world-renowned writer and translator Lin Yutang to handle these place names. An analysis of twenty-four examples indicates that Lin tended to preserve Chinese culture carried by the place names through employing cultural conservation strategies, including linguistic translation, transliteration, transliteration plus linguistic translation, transliteration plus annotation, and linguistic translation plus annotation. Furthermore, Lin occasionally resorted to such cultural substitution strategies as absolute universalization and domestication. It is concluded that on the whole Lin adopted a source-oriented approach to translation when working on Shen Fu's work. This study sheds fresh light on Lin's selection of translation strategies in the early years of his lifelong career as “a native interpreter of Chinese culture for Western readers”. Keywords: Place Names, Chinese Culture, Lin Yutang, Translation Strategies

Vegetation type and topographic characteristics are important factors that affect the amount and spatial distribution of the forest floor and the soil carbon cycling. However, the relationships among vegetation type, topographic characteristics, forest floor properties, soil properties and soil labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions remain to be elucidated. Here, we conducted a field observational study to explore the relationships between the soil LOC fractions (microbial biomass carbon (MBC), extractable organic carbon (EOC) and permanganate oxidizable carbon (Pox-C)) and forest floor characteristics under various vegetation types (forest, forest-steppe and steppe) and topographic features (slope position and aspect). Our results showed that the vegetation type and topography are both important factors that significantly influence the forest floor properties (i.e., stock, thickness and coverage). The soil total nitrogen and phosphorus were significantly increased, and the soil pH and bulk density were decreased, with an increase in litter stock, coverage and thickness. Simultaneously, the SOC and soil LOC fractions were increased significantly with the increase in litter stock, coverage and thickness. Over 50% of the variation in the SOC and soil LOC fractions was jointly explained by environmental factors, litter properties and soil properties. Our results demonstrated that the SOC and soil LOC fractions are directly influenced by soil physical and chemical properties (e.g., pH, bulk density and soil total nitrogen) and indirectly affected by external environmental factors. Changes in vegetation and topography lead to increases in the litter stock, coverage, thickness and water content in the backslope position and northern slope, which could create favorable soil nutrient and environmental conditions (e.g., higher soil moisture and lower bulk density) to further enhance SOC and soil LOC fraction sequestration. The forest floor potentially links environmental factors and soil properties and serves as an important factor for soil C cycling.

Elucidating the mechanism of nitrogen conversion during composting is crucial for controlling nutrient loss and improving the quality of compost. To explore the enzymatic mechanism of organic conversion during composting, composting experiments using vegetable waste and chicken manure mixed with wheat straw and corn stalk as two separate treatments: WS and CS, respectively, were conducted in 63 L aerated static pile reactors for 33 d. The changes in the nitrogen fractions and related-enzymes activities were analyzed during different periods. The total nitrogen content increased by 34.3% during WS and decreased by 6.22% during CS after 33d of composting. The ammounium nitrogen content decreased by 79.6% and 51.4% during WS and CS. The nitrate, nitrite, organic, acid-insoluble organic nitrogen contents increased by approximately 52.6–123.9%, 590.9–5875%, 59.1–213.8%, and 764.4–7834.1%, respectively. The amount of total hydrolysable organic nitrogen increased by 18.8% during WS and decreased by 26.7% in CS. Structural equation modeling revealed that the contributions of different types of nitrogen to the formation of NH4+ during WS composting decreased as follows: amine nitrogen (AN) > amino acid nitrogen (AAN) > amino sugar nitrogen (ASN) > hydrolysable unknown nitrogen (HUN), while the corresponding nitrogen contributions during CS decreased as follows: AAN > AN > HUN > ASN. The AN and AAN were most easily converted into NH4+ during WS and CS, respectively, while ASN was synthesized from NH4+ during vegetable waste composting. Using redundancy analysis it was revealed that nitrate reductase (50.1%), nitrite reductase (23.2%) and urease (7.1%) played leading roles in nitrogen transformation. Furthermore, total organic carbon (59.6%) was the main factor that affected enzymes activities.

As the “Grain for Green” project goes on in the Loess Plateau, some drawbacks, such as the low survival rate, the appearances of dry soil layers and little old trees are appearing, especially for introduced tree species. Ecological stoichiometry, which indicates the balance of elements and the flow of energy, plays a vital role in exploring biogeochemical cycling in ecosystems. To investigate the carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balance and flow of energy, the stoichiometry characteristics and stoichiometry homeostasis for introduced and natural forests on the Loess Plateau, four typical forests were selected, including three introduced forests composed of Robinia pseudoacacia (R. pseudoacacia), Pinus tabuliformis (P. tabuliformis) and Platycladus orientalis (P. orientalis) and a natural forest composed of Quercus wutaishansea (Q. wutaishansea) and the C, N and P in the plant-litter-soil system were measured. The results showed that the C, N and P contents and C:N:P in leaves, branches, fruits, litters and soils varied widely and were influenced strongly by forest species. The N content in R. pseudoacacia leaves, branches, fruits and litters and the soil C, N and P contents in Quercus wutaishansea were higher than those in other forest species. The soil C:N:P stoichiometry in Quercus wutaishansea was higher than that in introduced forest species, while the reverse was found for plant tissues and litter C:N:P. According to the leaf N:P, with the exception of R. pseudoacacia, growth of the other three forest species was limited by N. The N, P and N:P homeostasis exist in trees, especially in Quercus wutaishansea, forest species and plant tissues had significant effects on the strength of homeostasis. Overall, the results of C, N and P content and stoichiometric homeostasis revealed that the natural forest was more adaptable to the arid environment in the Loess Plateau compared to the introduced forests.

Revegetation in fragile ecosystems is an efficient means to increase aggregate stability and thus reduce soil erosion. However, the influence of large-scale afforestation on soil aggregate stability and erodibility in the Loess Plateau is not well understood. To assess the sustainability and suitability of widespread, long-term planting of plantations in terms of soil aggregate stability (mean weighted diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD)) and erodibility (K), we performed a large-scale investigation of soil aggregate stability and soil erodibility of Robinia pseudoacacia (RP) and Caragana korshinskii (CK) plantations on the Loess Plateau. The results showed that the soil macroaggregate fraction (>0.25 mm) content under RP and CK plantations had a decreasing trend with increasing latitude. Moreover, soil aggregate stability and soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents in RP and CK plantations decreased with increasing latitude. RP and CK plantations did not always result in improvement of soil aggregate stability and the accumulation of SOC and TN, which depended on the latitude and precipitation conditions. Specifically, RP planting in the south warm temperate forest subzone (STFZ) and north warm temperate forest subzone (NTFZ) could enhance the macroaggregate content (>5 mm), soil aggregate stability and soil nutrients, while CK planting for the improvement of the soil macroaggregate content, soil aggregate stability and soil nutrients in the temperate forest steppe subzone (TFSZ) was more effective than was RP planting. Correlation analysis showed that the latitude, longitude and mean annual precipitation (MAP) were significantly correlated with soil MWD, GMD, K values, SOC and TN across the RP and CK plantations, and soil MWD, GMD, and K values were significantly correlated with SOC and TN in RP and CK plantations. The changing trends of SOC and TN with latitude and longitude were consistent with that of soil aggregate stability with latitude and longitude under RP and CK plantations, indicating that changes in the SOC and TN concentrations will cause changes in soil aggregate stability and erodibility. Additionally, the effects of RP and CK plantations on the soil aggregate stability, erodibility, SOC and TN content were different and distinguished by latitude and MAP. RP plantation resulted in more SOC and TN accumulation, enhanced the soil aggregate stability and decreased erodibility compared with CK plantation in areas with MAP >500 mm or latitude 36° N, CK plantation had slight advantages over RP plantation. This study indicated that the changes in soil aggregate stability, erodibility, SOC and TN accumulation following RP and CK plantations had different patterns along latitude and precipitation gradients. Therefore, the 36° N or 500 mm precipitation threshold may be the dividing line for planting RP and CK plantations. Overall, our study produces unique insights into the relative significance of environmental factors that influence aggregate stability at large scales and is useful for selecting suitable afforestation species and locations to optimize forest management with sustainable production.