Please wait a minute...
Journal of Arid Land  2016, Vol. 8 Issue (2): 221-231    DOI: gbliu@ms.iswc.ac.cn
Research Articles     
Effects of land-use types on the vertical distribution of fractions of oxidizable organic carbon on the Loess Plateau, China
SUN Caili1, XUE Sha1,2, CHAI Zongzheng3, ZHANG Chao1,2, LIU Guobin1,2?
1 Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China;
2 Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, China;
3 College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Download:   PDF(320KB)
Export: BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      

Abstract  The oxidizability of soil organic carbon (SOC) influences soil quality and carbon sequestration. Four fractions of oxidizable organic carbon (very labile (C1), labile (C2), less labile (C3) and non-labile (C4)) reflect the status and composition of SOC and have implications for the change and retention of SOC. Studies of the fractions of oxidizable organic carbon (OC) have been limited to shallow soil depths and agroecosystems. How these fractions respond at deep soil depths and in other types of land-use is not clear. In this study, we evaluated the vertical distributions of the fractions of oxidizable organic carbon to a soil depth of 5.0 m in 10 land-use types in the Zhifanggou Watershed on the Loess Plateau, China. Along the soil profile, C1 contents were highly variable in the natural grassland and shrubland I (Caragana microphylla), C2 and C4 contents were highly variable in the natural grassland and two terraced croplands, respectively, and C3 contents varied little. Among the land-use types, natural grassland had the highest C1 and C2 contents in the 0–0.4 m layers, followed by shrubland I in the 0–0.1 m layer. Natural grassland had the highest C4 contents in the 1.0–4.5 m layers. Natural grassland and shrubland I thus contributed to improve the oxidizability of SOC in shallow soil, and the deep soil of natural grassland has a large potential to sequester SOC on the Loess Plateau.

Key wordsagricultural drought      water demand      agricultural irrigation requirement      climate change      IPCC scenarios     
Received: 01 May 2015      Published: 01 April 2016
Fund:  

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41371510), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (ZD2013021) and the Science and Technology Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (2011KJXX63).

Corresponding Authors: LIU Guobin     E-mail: gbliu@ms.iswc.ac.cn
Cite this article:

SUN Caili, XUE Sha, CHAI Zongzheng, ZHANG Chao, LIU Guobin. Effects of land-use types on the vertical distribution of fractions of oxidizable organic carbon on the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2016, 8(2): 221-231.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/gbliu@ms.iswc.ac.cn     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2016/V8/I2/221

Baldock J A, Skjemstad J O. 2000. Role of the soil matrix and minerals in protecting natural organic materials against biological attack. Organic Geochemistry, 31(7–8): 697–710.

Barreto P A B, Gama-Rodrigues E F, Gama-Rodrigues A C, et al. 2011. Distribution of oxidizable organic C fractions in soils under cacao agroforestry systems in Southern Bahia, Brazil. Agroforestry Systems, 81(3): 213–220.

Benbi D K, Brar K, Toor A S, et al. 2012. Soil carbon pools under poplar-based agroforestry, rice-wheat, and maize-wheat cropping systems in semi-arid India. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 92(1): 107–118.

Chan K Y, Bowman A, Oates A. 2001. Oxidizible organic carbon fractions and soil quality changes in an oxic paleustalf under different pasture leys. Soil Science, 166(1): 61–67.

Chang R Y, Fu B J, Liu G H, et al. 2011. Soil carbon sequestration potential for “Grain for Green” project in Loess Plateau, China. Environmental Management, 48(6): 1158–1172.

Chang R Y, Fu B J, Liu G H, et al. 2012. The effects of afforestation on soil organic and inorganic carbon: A case study of the Loess Plateau of China. Catena, 95: 145–152.

Chen L D, Gong J, Fu B J, et al. 2007a. Effect of land-use conversion on soil organic carbon sequestration in the loess hilly area, Loess Plateau of China. Ecological Research, 22(4): 641–648.

Chen L D, Wei W, Fu B J, et al. 2007b. Soil and water conservation on the Loess Plateau in China: review and perspective. Progress in Physical Geography, 31(4): 389–403.

Cotrofo M F, Wallenstein M D, Boot C M, et al. 2013. The Microbial Efficiency-Matrix Stabilization (MEMS) framework integrates plant litter decomposition with soil organic matter stabilization: do labile plant inputs form stable soil organic matter? Global Change Biology, 19(4): 988–995.

FAO/UNESCO. 1988. Soil map of the world; revised legend. World Soil Resource Report, vol. 60. FAO, Rome.

Fu B J, Wang Y F, Lu Y H, et al. 2009. The effects of land-use combinations on soil erosion: a case study in the Loess Plateau of China. Progress in Physical Geography, 33(6): 793–804.

Fu X L, Shao M A, Wei X R, et al. 2010. Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen as affected by vegetation types in Northern Loess Plateau of China. Geoderma, 155(1–2): 31–35.

Guareschi R F, Pereira M G, Perin A. 2013. Oxidizable carbon fractions in Red Latosol under different management systems. Revista Ciência Agronômica, 44(2): 242–250.

Harper R J, Tibbett M. 2013. The hidden organic carbon in deep mineral soils. Plant and Soil, 368(1–2): 641–648.

Harrison R B, Footen P W, Strahm B D. 2011. Deep soil horizons: contribution and importance to soil carbon pools and in assessing whole-ecosystem response to management and global change. Forest Science, 57(1): 67–76.

Hessel R, Messing I, Chen L D, et al. 2003. Soil erosion simulations of land-use scenarios for a small Loess Plateau catchment. Catena, 54(1–2): 289–302.

Jackson R B, Canadell J, Ehleringer J R, et al. 1996. A global analysis of root distributions for terrestrial biomes. Oecologia, 108(3): 389–411.

Janzen H H. 1987. Soil organic matter characteristics after long-term cropping to various spring wheat rotations. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 67(4): 845–856.

Jia X X, Wei X R, Shao M A, et al. 2012. Distribution of soil carbon and nitrogen along a revegetational succession on the Loess Plateau of China. Catena, 95: 160–168.

Kruskal J B. 1964. Multidimensional scaling by optimizing goodness of fit to a nonmetric hypothesis. Psychometrika, 29(1): 1–27.

Kuzyakov Y, Domanski G. 2000. Carbon input by plants into the soil. Review. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 163(4): 421–431.

Lai R. 2005. Soil erosion and carbon dynamics. Soil and Tillage Research, 81(2): 137–142.

Leifeld J, Kögel-Knabner I. 2005. Soil organic matter fractions as early indicators for carbon stock changes under different land-use? Geoderma, 124(1–2): 143–155.

Liu X, Li F M, Liu D Q, et al. 2010. Soil organic carbon, carbon fractions and nutrients as affected by land-use in semi-arid region of Loess Plateau of China. Pedosphere, 20(2): 146–152.

Liu Z P, Shao M A, Wang Y Q. 2011. Effect of environmental factors on regional soil organic carbon stocks across the Loess Plateau region, China. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 142(3–4): 184–194.

Lorenz K, Lal R. 2005. The depth distribution of soil organic carbon in relation to land-use and management and the potential of carbon sequestration in subsoil horizons. Advances in Agronomy, 88: 35–66.

Maia S M F, Xavier F A S, Oliveira T S, et al. 2007. Organic carbon pools in a Luvisol under agroforestry and conventional farming systems in the semi-arid region of Ceará, Brazil. Agroforestry Systems, 71(2): 127–138.

Majumder B, Mandal B, Bandyopadhyay P K, et al. 2007. Soil organic carbon pools and productivity relationships for a 34 year old rice–wheat–jute agroecosystem under different fertilizer treatments. Plant and Soil, 297(1–2): 53–67.

Majumder B, Mandal B, Bandyopadhyay P K. 2008. Soil organic carbon pools and productivity in relation to nutrient management in a 20-year-old rice–berseem agroecosystem. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 44(3): 451–461.

Marriott C A, Hudson G, Hamilton D, et al. 1997. Spatial variability of soil total C and N and their stable isotopes in an upland Scottish Grassland. Plant and Soil, 196(1): 151–162.

Mosquera O, Buurman P, Ramirez B L, et al. 2012. Carbon replacement and stability changes in short-term silvo-pastoral experiments in Colombian Amazonia. Geoderma, 170: 56–63.

Mu X M, Xu X X, Wang W L, et al. 2003. Impact of artificial forest on soil moisture of the deep soil layer on loess plateau. Acta Pedologica Sinica, 40(2): 210–217. (in Chinese)

Nelson D W, Sommers L E. 1982. Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Page A L, Miller R H, Keeney D R. Methods of Soil Analysis, Part2, Chemical and Microbial Properties (2nd ed.). Madison, Wisconsin: Agronomy Society of America, 539–552.

Parton, W.J., B. McKeown, V. Kirchner, and D.S. Ojima. 1992. CENTURY Users Manual., Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. Colorado State University, NREL Publication.

Ritsema C J. 2003. Introduction: soil erosion and participatory land-use planning on the Loess Plateau in China. Catena, 54(1–2): 1–5.

Rooney D C, Clipson N J W. 2009. Phosphate addition and plant species alters microbial community structure in acidic upland grassland soil. Microbial Ecology, 57(1): 4–13.

Rumpel C, Kögel-Knabner I. 2011. Deep soil organic matter—a key but poorly understood component of terrestrial C cycle. Plant and Soil, 338(1–2): 143–158.

Sherrod L A, Peterson G A, Westfall D G, et al. 2005. Soil organic carbon pools after 12 years in no-till dryland agroecosystems. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 69(5): 1600–1608.

Shi H, Shao M A. 2000. Soil and water loss from the Loess Plateau in China. Journal of Arid Environments, 45(1): 9–20.

Shi S W, Zhang W, Zhang P, et al. 2013. A synthesis of change in deep soil organic carbon stores with afforestation of agricultural soils. Forest Ecology and Management, 296: 53–63.

Tripathi R, Nayak A K, Bhattacharyya P, et al. 2014. Soil aggregation and distribution of carbon and nitrogen in different fractions after 41 years long-term fertilizer experiment in tropical rice-rice system. Geoderma, 213: 280–286.

Trumbore S E, Zheng S H. 1996. Comparison of fractionation methods for soil organic matter 14C analysis. Radiocarbon, 38(2): 219–229.

Walkley A, Black I A. 1934. An examination of the Degtjareff method for determining soil organic matter, and a proposed modification of the chromic acid titration method. Soil Sscience, 37(1):29–38.

Wang B, Xue S, Liu G B, et al. 2012. Changes in soil nutrient and enzyme activities under different vegetations in the Loess Plateau area, Northwest China. Catena, 92: 186–195.

Wei X R, Shao M A, Fu X L, et al. 2009. Distribution of soil organic C, N and P in three adjacent land-use patterns in the northern Loess Plateau, China. Biogeochemistry, 96(1–3): 149–162.

Zhang C, Liu G B, Xue S, et al. 2013. Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen storage as affected by land-use in a small watershed of the Loess Plateau, China. European Journal of Soil Biology, 54: 16–24.

Zhang C, Xue S, Liu G B, et al. 2011. A comparison of soil qualities of different revegetation types in the Loess Plateau, China. Plant and Soil, 347(1–2): 163–178.

Zheng F L. 2006. Effect of vegetation changes on soil erosion on the Loess Plateau. Pedosphere, 16(4): 420–427.

Zhang G L. 2010. Changes of soil labile organic carbon in different land-uses in Sanjiang Plain, Heilongjiang Province. Chinese Geographical Science, 20(2): 139–143.

Zhong L, Zhao Q G. 2001. Organic carbon content and distribution in soils under different land-uses in tropical and subtropical China. Plant and Soil, 231(2): 175–185.

Zhou Z C, Shangguan Z P. 2007. Vertical distribution of fine roots in relation to soil factors in Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. forest of the Loess Plateau of China. Plant and Soil, 291(1–2): 119–129.

Zhu B B, Li Z B, Li P, et al. 2010. Soil erodibility, microbial biomass, and physical–chemical property changes during long-term natural vegetation restoration: a case study in the Loess Plateau, China. Ecological Research, 25(3): 531–541.

Zhu H H, Wu J S, Guo S L, et al. 2014. Land-use and topographic position control soil organic C and N accumulation in eroded hilly watershed of the Loess Plateau. Catena, 120: 64–72.
[1] BAI Jie, LI Junli, BAO Anmin, CHANG Cun. Spatial-temporal variations of ecological vulnerability in the Tarim River Basin, Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(8): 814-834.
[2] WU Jun, DENG Guoning, ZHOU Dongmei, ZHU Xiaoyan, MA Jing, CEN Guozhang, JIN Yinli, ZHANG Jun. Effects of climate change and land-use changes on spatiotemporal distributions of blue water and green water in Ningxia, Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(7): 674-687.
[3] WANG Yuejian, GU Xinchen, YANG Guang, YAO Junqiang, LIAO Na. Impacts of climate change and human activities on water resources in the Ebinur Lake Basin, Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(6): 581-598.
[4] SA Chula, MENG Fanhao, LUO Min, LI Chenhao, WANG Mulan, ADIYA Saruulzaya, BAO Yuhai. Spatiotemporal variation in snow cover and its effects on grassland phenology on the Mongolian Plateau[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(4): 332-349.
[5] Ayad M F AL-QURAISHI, Heman A GAZNAYEE, Mattia CRESPI. Drought trend analysis in a semi-arid area of Iraq based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Water Index and Standardized Precipitation Index[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(4): 413-430.
[6] Adilov BEKZOD, Shomurodov HABIBULLO, FAN Lianlian, LI Kaihui, MA Xuexi, LI Yaoming. Transformation of vegetative cover on the Ustyurt Plateau of Central Asia as a consequence of the Aral Sea shrinkage[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(1): 71-87.
[7] HUANG Xiaotao, LUO Geping, CHEN Chunbo, PENG Jian, ZHANG Chujie, ZHOU Huakun, YAO Buqing, MA Zhen, XI Xiaoyan. How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(1): 88-97.
[8] Farzaneh KHAJOEI NASAB, Ahmadreza MEHRABIAN, Hossein MOSTAFAVI. Mapping the current and future distributions of Onosma species endemic to Iran[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(6): 1031-1045.
[9] Mahsa MIRDASHTVAN, Mohsen MOHSENI SARAVI. Influence of non-stationarity and auto-correlation of climatic records on spatio-temporal trend and seasonality analysis in a region with prevailing arid and semi-arid climate, Iran[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(6): 964-983.
[10] XU Bo, HUGJILTU Minggagud, BAOYIN Taogetao, ZHONG Yankai, BAO Qinghai, ZHOU Yanlin, LIU Zhiying. Rapid loss of leguminous species in the semi-arid grasslands of northern China under climate change and mowing from 1982 to 2011[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 752-765.
[11] FENG Jian, ZHAO Lingdi, ZHANG Yibo, SUN Lingxiao, YU Xiang, YU Yang. Can climate change influence agricultural GTFP in arid and semi-arid regions of Northwest China?[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 837-853.
[12] ZHOU Zuhao, HAN Ning, LIU Jiajia, YAN Ziqi, XU Chongyu, CAI Jingya, SHANG Yizi, ZHU Jiasong. Glacier variations and their response to climate change in an arid inland river basin of Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(3): 357-373.
[13] LI Xuemei, Slobodan P SIMONOVIC, LI Lanhai, ZHANG Xueting, QIN Qirui. Performance and uncertainty analysis of a short-term climate reconstruction based on multi-source data in the Tianshan Mountains region, China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(3): 374-396.
[14] BAI Haihua, YIN Yanting, Jane ADDISON, HOU Yulu, WANG Linhe, HOU Xiangyang. Market opportunities do not explain the ability of herders to meet livelihood objectives over winter on the Mongolian Plateau[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(3): 522-537.
[15] QIAO Xianguo, GUO Ke, LI Guoqing, ZHAO Liqing, LI Frank Yonghong, GAO Chenguang. Assessing the collapse risk of Stipa bungeana grassland in China based on its distribution changes[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(2): 303-317.