TY - JOUR
T1 - Changes in carbon and nitrogen storage along a restoration gradient in a semiarid sandy grassland
AU - Zuo, Xiaoan
AU - Zhang, Jing
AU - Zhou, Xin
AU - Zhao, Xueyong
AU - Wang, Shaokun
AU - Lian, Jie
AU - Lv, Peng
AU - Knops, Johannes
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Understanding carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools in degraded ecosystems is useful to predict future C and N sequestration potential during restoration. Here we examined the distribution of C and N pools in plant-soil system at four successional stages: mobile dune, semi-fixed dune, fixed dune and grassland. The four stages reflect the successional sequence during sandy grassland restoration in Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China. C and N storage in plant biomass, litter and soil increased significantly with advancing sandy grassland restoration. With the conversion from mobile dune to semi-fixed dune, fixed dune and grassland, total ecosystem C and N storage increased by 1.9, 4.8, 7.1 and 3.3, 15.7, 20.6 times, respectively. More than 80% of C and N storage were stored in soil in sandy grassland restoration. C or N storage in plant and root biomass, litter and soil was positively correlated to species richness. Soil C and N storage was positively correlated to the C and N in plant and root biomass. These results suggest that sandy grassland restoration has a high potential to sequester C and N in the soil. Increasing plant production and species diversity via restoration likely enhance the C and N sequestration in sandy grassland ecosystems.
AB - Understanding carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools in degraded ecosystems is useful to predict future C and N sequestration potential during restoration. Here we examined the distribution of C and N pools in plant-soil system at four successional stages: mobile dune, semi-fixed dune, fixed dune and grassland. The four stages reflect the successional sequence during sandy grassland restoration in Horqin Sandy Land, Northern China. C and N storage in plant biomass, litter and soil increased significantly with advancing sandy grassland restoration. With the conversion from mobile dune to semi-fixed dune, fixed dune and grassland, total ecosystem C and N storage increased by 1.9, 4.8, 7.1 and 3.3, 15.7, 20.6 times, respectively. More than 80% of C and N storage were stored in soil in sandy grassland restoration. C or N storage in plant and root biomass, litter and soil was positively correlated to species richness. Soil C and N storage was positively correlated to the C and N in plant and root biomass. These results suggest that sandy grassland restoration has a high potential to sequester C and N in the soil. Increasing plant production and species diversity via restoration likely enhance the C and N sequestration in sandy grassland ecosystems.
KW - Carbon sequestration
KW - Dune stabilization
KW - Plant-soil system
KW - Sandy grassland
KW - Species richness
KW - Vegetation restoration
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84940385116&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.actao.2015.08.004
DO - 10.1016/j.actao.2015.08.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84940385116
SN - 1146-609X
VL - 69
SP - 1
EP - 8
JO - Acta Oecologica
JF - Acta Oecologica
ER -