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Comparing Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics in Perennial Grasses and Shrubs in a Saline-Alkaline Arid Region, Northwestern China
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 8, p e42927 (2012)
- Publication Year :
- 2012
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2012.
-
Abstract
- Background Although semi-arid and arid regions account for about 40% of terrestrial surface of the Earth and contain approximately 10% of the global soil organic carbon stock, our understanding of soil organic carbon dynamics in these regions is limited. Methodology/principal findings A field experiment was conducted to compare soil organic carbon dynamics between a perennial grass community dominated by Cleistogenes squarrosa and an adjacent shrub community co-dominated by Reaumuria soongorica and Haloxylon ammodendron, two typical plant life forms in arid ecosystems of saline-alkaline arid regions in northwestern China during the growing season 2010. We found that both fine root biomass and necromass in two life forms varied greatly during the growing season. Annual fine root production in the perennial grasses was 45.6% significantly higher than in the shrubs, and fine root turnover rates were 2.52 and 2.17 yr(-1) for the perennial grasses and the shrubs, respectively. Floor mass was significantly higher in the perennial grasses than in the shrubs due to the decomposition rate of leaf litter in the perennial grasses was 61.8% lower than in the shrubs even though no significance was detected in litterfall production. Soil microbial biomass and activity demonstrated a strong seasonal variation with larger values in May and September and minimum values in the dry month of July. Observed higher soil organic carbon stocks in the perennial grasses (1.32 Kg C m(-2)) than in the shrubs (1.12 Kg C m(-2)) might be attributed to both greater inputs of poor quality litter that is relatively resistant to decay and the lower ability of microorganism to decompose these organic matter. Conclusions/significance Our results suggest that the perennial grasses might accumulate more soil organic carbon with time than the shrubs because of larger amounts of inputs from litter and slower return of carbon through decomposition.
- Subjects :
- China
Perennial plant
Rain
ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species
lcsh:Medicine
Growing season
Plant Science
Biology
Poaceae
Plant Roots
Microbiology
Shrub
Microbial Ecology
Soil
Global Change Ecology
Plant-Environment Interactions
Organic matter
Biomass
Organic Chemicals
Terrestrial Ecology
lcsh:Science
Soil Microbiology
Plant Growth and Development
chemistry.chemical_classification
Amaranthaceae
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
ved/biology
Plant Ecology
lcsh:R
Water
Soil chemistry
Soil carbon
Soil Ecology
Plant litter
Carbon
Plant Leaves
Agronomy
chemistry
lcsh:Q
Seasons
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 7
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....998d25bdad4b41bf581d35fcbd615fd2
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042927