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Litter decomposition is the main source of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool, regarding as an important part of terrestrial ecosystem C dynamics. The turnover of SOC is mainly regulated by extracellular enzymes secreted by microorganisms. However, the response mechanism of soil C-degrading enzymes and SOC in litter decomposition remains unclear. To clarify how SOC fraction dynamics respond to C-degrading enzymes in litter decomposition, we used field experiments to collect leaf litter and SOC fractions from the underlying layer in Robinia pseudoacacia plantations on the Loess Plateau. Our results showed that SOC, easily oxidizable organic C, dissolved organic C, and microbial biomass C increased significantly during the decomposition process. Litter decomposition significantly decreased soil hydrolase activity, but slightly increased oxidase activity. Correlation analysis results showed that SOC fractions were significantly positively correlated with the litter mass, lignin, soil moisture, and oxidase activity, but significantly negatively correlated with cellulose content and soil pH. Partial least squares path models revealed that soil C-degrading enzymes can directly or indirectly affect the changes of soil C fractions. The most direct factors affecting the SOC fractions of topsoil during litter decomposition were litter lignin and cellulose degradation, soil pH, and C-degrading enzymes. Furthermore, regression analysis showed that the decrease of SOC stability in litter decomposition was closely related to the decrease of soil hydrolase to oxidase ratio. These results highlighted that litter degradation-induced changes in C-degrading enzyme activity significantly affected SOC fractions. Furthermore, the distribution of soil hydrolases and oxidases affected the stability of SOC during litter decomposition. These findings provided a theoretical framework for a more comprehensive understanding of C turnover and stabilization mechanisms between plant and soil.

Clarifying the changing trends and driving factors of soil respiration in fragile habitats under the background of climate change is of great significance for understanding the regional carbon cycle and the conversion of ecosystem carbon source and sink functions. This research focused on grasslands that had been naturally abandoned and restored for 12 years in the loess hilly region of northern Shaanxi, using an open top chamber (OTC) and artificially increased natural rainfall to simulate climate warming and precipitation increase and their interaction. Furthermore, we used a combination of field monitoring and indoor analysis to explore soil water content, temperature, and nutrient characteristics and the response characteristics of soil respiration rate to warming and increased precipitation and further analyzed the key factors driving changes in soil respiration. The results showed that:① warming (W) significantly increased the 5 cm soil temperature, with an average increase of 1.34℃ throughout the sampling year, whereas the increased precipitation (P50%) treatment significantly reduced the 5 cm soil temperature, reducing the average 5 cm soil temperature during the entire sampling year by 0.88℃ and increasing the soil water content (SWC) at the same time. The SWC was 13.12% and 16.45% higher than that in the control (CK), respectively. In addition, compared with that in the CK, the treatment of warming and increased precipitation (WP50%) not only increased soil temperature but also increased SWC; in general, the increase in temperature and precipitation played an antagonistic effect on the influence of soil temperature and humidity. ② P50% significantly increased the content of soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and labile organic carbon, causing changes in the soil stoichiometric ratio and the distribution characteristics of labile-recalcitrant carbon components, whereas W did not have a significant impact on organic carbon. In addition, soil total nitrogen and phosphorus and available nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients were not significantly different between treatments. ③ P50% significantly increased the

To reveal the change in the characteristics of soil microbial C-degrading enzyme activities and the response to the components of C during the restoration process of

Soil microorganisms play an important role in the circulation of materials and nutrients between plants and soil ecosystems, but the drivers of microbial community composition and diversity remain uncertain in different vegetation restoration patterns. We studied soil physicochemical properties (i.e., soil moisture, bulk density, pH, soil nutrients, available nutrients), plant characteristics (i.e., Shannon index [HPlant] and Richness index [SPlant], litter biomass [LB], and fine root biomass [FRB]), and microbial variables (biomass, enzyme activity, diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities) in different plant succession patterns (Robinia pseudoacacia [MF], Caragana korshinskii [SF] and grassland [GL]) on the Loess Plateau. The herb communities, soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities were strongly affected by vegetation restoration. And soil bacterial and fungal communities were significantly different from each other at the sites. Furthermore, LB and FRB were significantly positively correlated with SBacteria, soil microbial biomass, enzyme activities, Proteobacteria, Zygomycota and Cercozoa, while negatively correlated with Actinobacteria and Basidiomycota. In addition, soil water content (SW), pH and nutrients have important effects on the bacterial and fungal diversities, Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, Zygomycota and microbial biomass. Furthermore, plant characteristics and soil properties modulated the composition and diversity of soil microorganisms, respectively. Overall, the relative contribution of vegetation and soil to the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities illustrated that plant characteristics and soil properties may synergistically modulate soil microbial communities. And soil bacterial and fungal communities mainly depend on plant biomass and soil nutrients.

Clarifying the characteristic of soil enzymatic activity and stoichiometry variations as well as their influencing factors following farmland abandonment have important implications for understanding soil nutrient availability after revegetation and for illuminating the underlying mechanisms of soil nutrient cycling in ecosystems. To determine microbial nutrient limitations after farmland abandonment and to explore the driving factors of the variations in soil enzymatic activity and stoichiometry along a chronosequence of abandoned farmlands (0-, 10-, 20-, and 30-year-old) in the Loess Hilly Region, China, the potential activities of carbon (C)-, nitrogen (N)-, and phosphorus (P)-acquiring enzymes, soil physicochemical properties, and plant diversity and family composition were measured. The results showed that the activities of

To reveal nutrient resorption characteristics of为揭示丘陵沟壑区刺槐的养分重吸收特征及其驱动因素,研究该区不同林龄刺槐叶片全氮和全磷的浓度,以及土壤有机碳、全氮、全磷、铵态氮、硝态氮和速效磷浓度及其化学计量,分析了叶片氮磷重吸收效率与土壤养分特性之间的关系。结果表明: 植物和土壤的养分随林龄增长发生显著变化,而土壤总磷和速效磷浓度较低。氮重吸收效率随林分生长先增加后降低,范围为48.2%～54.0%,平均为48.5%;磷重吸收效率则显著增加,范围为45.2%～49.4%,平均为46.9%。氮重吸收效率与土壤氮素和氮磷比呈负向响应,而磷重吸收效率与氮磷比呈显著正相关,与土壤速效磷呈负相关。表明土壤养分有效性的变化负向驱动养分重吸收效率。由于该生境中刺槐林的固氮效应及磷限制,叶片养分重吸收策略对土壤氮磷比响应强烈。.

Soil aggregates are important carriers of soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation, and play an important role in the evaluation of soil structure and quality. Natural recovery can promote change in soil aggregate structure and quantity via the redistribution of SOC in the aggregates. Natural restoration from farmland is an important vegetation restoration model on the Loess Plateau. The changes in soil aggregate structure and soil carbon stock after natural restoration have received extensive attention. However, little is known about the continuous study of soil changes on the abandoned grassland during the recovery process. Therefore, to understand how SOC accumulates in the process of natural recovery and quantitatively analyze the contribution of aggregates to the total soil carbon pool, we selected four abandoned grasslands of different restoration ages on the Loess Plateau, China, and studied the changes in soil structure, soil total organic carbon (TOC), soil C:N, soil aggregate distribution, soil aggregate stable index (mean weight diameter, MWD; geometric mean diameter, GMD), and aggregate-associated SOC changes as well as their correlations from 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm soil layers in abandoned grasslands. In addition, we calculated the contribution of aggregates with different sizes to soil TOC stock. The results showed that:① natural restoration increased the macroaggregate amount, MWD, and GMD, but decreased the amount of microaggregate and silt-and clay-sized fractions. There are significant differences in the distribution and stability of aggregates between different soil layers; the promotion effect of the surface was higher than that of the subsurface soils. ② In the 42 years after abandoning recovery, soil TOC stock, macaggregate-and mesaggregate-associated SOC stock increased significantly, and varied with soil depth and years of abandonment (1.92 times, 10.2 times, and 3.61 times). In contrast, micaggregate-associated SOC stock decreased significantly, and silt-and clay-sized fractions-associated SOC stock showed no distinct change. In addition, natural restoration promoted the ratio of C:N; nevertheless, the ratio of C:N under the surface showed a reduced phenomenon after 42 years of abandonment. ③ The improvement in soil TOC stock depends primarily on changes in the macaggregate-associated organic carbon stocks, which account for 80% of macaggregate, and the significant increase in the amount of macaggregate is the main reason for the high contribution.The results of our study suggest that natural restoration is conducive to the accumulation of soil organic carbon, and improvement in soil structure and stability. Macroaggregate is the key factor in soil organic carbon accumulation and soil structure improvement in the process of natural restoration.

The trends of and relationships among the plant community, soil nutrients, and four soil enzymes were investigated after being abandoned for 10, 15, 20, 30, and 45 years to reveal the soil properties during the restoration in the Loess Hilly Region. The results indicate the following ranking of dominant plant community species

We investigated the species composition and diversity of four grassland communities with different slope aspects in the loess hilly area of China. The power law was used to analyze spatial heterogeneity of the community and spatial pattern of the population. The results showed that Artemisia sacrorum was the dominant species and occurred in each site. Other species had different status and contributed differently to the spatial pattern of communities. Moreover, the spatial patterns of communities responded differently to various slope aspects, with the degree of aggregation ranked as sunnyhalf-sunnyhalf-shadyshady. The spatial heterogeneity index of community was positively correlated with the Simpson diversity index, but was negatively correlated with Margalef richness, Shannon diversity and Pielou evenness. The relative spatial heterogeneity index of the dominant species (A. sacrorum), sub-dominant species (Lespedeza dahurica and Stipa bungeana), and a few associated species (Artemisia scoparia, Melica scabrosa) were larger than that of the community, which resulted in cluster distribution. However, the relative spatial heterogeneity index of most associated species (Phragmites communis, Sonchus arvensis, and Bothriochloa flaccidum) showed the similar trends with the distribution of the community. In contrast, the relative spatial heterogeneity index of Cephalanoplos segetum, Gueldenstaedtia multiflora and Artemisia giraldii was lower than that of the community. These differences reduced the aggregation degree of the community. In summary, the aggregation degree of community was determined by dominant species, sub-dominant species and occasional species. Specifically, the dominant species, sub-dominant species and some associated species could promote the aggregation of the community, but occasional species would reduce the cluster distribution.本研究以黄土丘陵沟壑区4种不同坡向的草地植物群落为研究对象,探讨其物种组成和多样性特征,并运用幂乘方法则分析了群落的空间异质性和种群空间格局.结果表明: 铁杆蒿在不同坡向均有分布,为群落优势种;其他物种在不同坡向群落中的地位及对群落空间格局的贡献不同.不同坡向植物群落的空间分布格局均为集群分布,且聚集程度大小为阳坡＞半阳坡＞半阴坡＞阴坡.群落空间异质性指数与Simpson多样性指数呈显著正相关,与Margalef丰富度指数、Shannon多样性指数和Pielou均匀度指数呈显著负相关.优势种铁杆蒿、亚优势种达乌里胡枝子和长芒草,以及少数伴生种如猪毛蒿、臭草的相对空间异质性指数大于群落整体空间异质性指数,使群落趋于集群分布;多数伴生种如芦苇、苦荬菜、白羊草的相对空间异质性指数与群落整体空间异质性指数相近,它们与群落自身分布状态一致;刺儿菜、米口袋、茭蒿等偶见种的相对空间异质性指数小于群落整体空间异质性指数,降低了群落的聚集程度.综上,群落的聚集程度主要由优势种、亚优势种和偶见种共同决定,其中优势种、亚优势种和部分伴生种促使群落呈聚集分布,偶见种则降低了群落的集群分布.

The depth of sampling is an important factor for evaluating soil stability. The objective of this study was to test soil aggregate particle-size fractions and soil organic carbon (SOC) in water-stable aggregate by vegetation restoration through 0-60 cm soil profile. We collected soil samples in 30 years old Robinia psendoacacia (Rr); Platycladus orientalis (Po); Pinus tabulaeformis (Pt); abandoned land (Ab), and slope cropland (Sc), which were separated into > 2, 2-1, 1-0.25, 0.25-0.053, and 0.25 mm water-stable aggregates (WSA) and mean weight diameter (MWD) were calculated in 0-60 cm soil depth. Results showed that soil aggregate fractions (> 0.25 mm) of four vegetation types were significantly ( P 0.25 mm) under Rr, Po, Pt, and Ab was higher more than 37.7, 92.4, 92.5, 79.1%, respectively in 40-60 cm compared with Sc additionally, > 0.25 mm WSA and MWD was significantly higher in Pt soil in 20-40 cm, 40-60 cm soil depth ( P < 0.05 ). The results demonstrated that soil stability was enhanced and SOC content was increased after converting slope cropland to forest, especially under Pt forest that greatly influenced the subsoil.