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The estimation of the size and changes of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is of great importance for decision makers to adopt proper measures to protect soils and to develop strategies for mitigation of greenhouse gases. In this paper, soil data from the Second State Soil Survey of China (SSSSC) conducted in the early 1980s and data published in the last 5 years were used to estimate the size of SOC stocks over the whole profile and their changes in China in last 20 years. Soils were identified as paddy, upland, forest, grassland or waste-land soils and an improved soil bulk density estimation method was used to estimate missing bulk density data. In the early 1980s, total SOC stocks were estimated at 89.61 Pg (1 Pg=103 Tg=1015 g) in China's 870.94 Mha terrestrial areas covered by 2473 soil series. In the paddy, upland, forest and grassland soils the respective total SOC stocks were 2.91 Pg on 29.87 Mha, 10.07 Pg on 125.89 Mha, 34.23 Pg on 249.32 Mha and 37.71 Pg on 278.51 Mha, respectively. The SOC density of the surface layer ranged from 3.5 Mg ha−1 in Gray Desery grassland soils to 252.6 Mg ha−1 in Mountain Meadow forest soils. The average area-weighted total SOC density in paddy soils (97.6 Mg ha−1) was higher than that in upland soils (80 Mg ha−1). Soils under forest (137.3 Mg ha−1) had a similar average area-weighted total SOC density as those under grassland (135.4 Mg ha−1). The annual estimated SOC accumulation rates in farmland and forest soils in the last 20 years were 23.61 and 11.72 Tg, respectively, leading to increases of 0.472 and 0.234 Pg SOC in farmland and forest areas, respectively. In contrast, SOC under grassland declined by 3.56 Pg due to the grassland degradation over this period. The resulting estimated net SOC loss in China's soils over the last 20 years was 2.86 Pg. The documented SOC accumulation in farmland and forest soils could thus not compensate for the loss of SOC in grassland soils in the last 20 years. There were, however, large regional differences: Soils in China's South and Eastern parts acted mainly as C sinks, increasing their average topsoil SOC by 132 and 145 Tg, respectively. In contrast, in the Northwest, Northeast, Inner Mongolia and Tibet significant losses of 1.38, 0.21, 0.49 and 1.01 Pg of SOC, respectively, were estimated over the last 20 years. These results highlight the importance to take measures to protect grassland and to improve management practices to increase C sequestration in farmland and forest soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Global climate change is generally expected to increase net primary production, resulting in increased soil carbon (C) inputs. To gain an understanding of how such increased soil C inputs would affect C cycling in the vast grasslands of northern China, we conducted a field experiment in which the responses of plant and microbial biomass and respiration were studied. • Our experiment included the below-ground addition of particulate organic matter (POM) at rates equivalent to 0, 60, 120 and 240 g C m−2, under either natural precipitation or under enhanced precipitation during the summer period (as predicted for that region in recent simulations using general circulation models). • We observed that addition of POM had a large effect on soil microbial biomass and activity and that a major part of the added C was rapidly lost from the system. This suggests that microbial activity in the vast temperate grassland ecosystems of northern China is energy-limited. Moreover, POM addition (and the associated nutrient release) affected plant growth much more than the additional water input. • Although we performed no direct fertilization experiments, the response of plant productivity to POM addition (and associated release of nutrients) leads us to believe that plant productivity in the semiarid grassland ecosystems of northern China is primarily limited by nutrients and not by water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annual growth rings of roots in perennial forbs have been used in studies of climate change and the ecology of grasslands. However, little has been done in this aspect of research in China. In this study, we report the characteristics of growth rings in the main roots of 13 herb species sampled in Duolun of the Inner Mongolia grassland in northern China. The results show that around two thirds of the species possess clearly demarcated annual rings in the root xylem. Some species of the same genera show different patterns in anatomical structure of the root xylem. Standardized annual ring widths of three species, Potentilla anserine L., Cymbaria dahurica L. and Lespedeza daurica (Laxm.) Schindl., show a common linear trend, indicating a continued favorable growth condition in the sampling sites. Our results provide evidence that growth rings in roots of some perennial forbs in the Inner Mongolia grassland can serve as a new and useful indicator of past changes in the grassland environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]