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14 September 2023 Effects of Natural Succession and Forest Landscape Restoration on Soil C and Aggregate-Associated C in the Central Loess Plateau, China
Jiaxuan Wang
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Vegetation restoration is an effective measure for increasing the soil organic carbon (SOC) stock and mitigating the impacts of global warming. Grouping soil C according to aggregate particle size can help with more thoroughly understanding the dynamics of soil C during vegetation restoration. However, the dynamics of soil-aggregate-associated C after the restoration of different vegetation types remain unclear. As such, in this study, soil samples from the 0- to 10- and 10- to 20-cm soil layers in natural grasslands and plantations, which are the two most commonly used vegetation restoration types, were used to explore the dynamics of soil-aggregate-associated C for these different vegetation types. These grasslands and forestlands were converted from cropland since 1999. The results showed that soil and aggregate-associated C content were significantly affected by vegetation restoration types and soil depth. Vegetation restoration significantly increased the proportion of macroaggregates (> 0.25 mm) and soil C stocks; however, the improvements in soil aggregates and soil C stocks were similar for the two vegetation types. Vegetation restoration significantly increased the C content of aggregates of different particle sizes but only significantly increased the C stocks of soil macroaggregates, which had the highest C content among all the considered particle sizes. In addition, the contribution of macroaggregate C in the 0- to 10- and 10- to 20-cm soil layers to the soil C in the bulk soil also increased after vegetation restoration, reaching 57–64%. The results of random forest regression showed that the macroaggregate C content was the primary factor affecting the soil C stocks. This study demonstrated that natural succession and plantations have similar abilities to improve soil aggregates and soil C content in the central Loess Plateau and that the dynamics of macroaggregate C content dominate the dynamics of soil C stocks.

Jiaxuan Wang "Effects of Natural Succession and Forest Landscape Restoration on Soil C and Aggregate-Associated C in the Central Loess Plateau, China," Rangeland Ecology and Management 90(1), 231-239, (14 September 2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2023.04.010
Received: 31 January 2023; Accepted: 26 April 2023; Published: 14 September 2023
KEYWORDS
Aggregate-associated C
soil aggregate
Soil depth
soil organic carbon
Vegetation restoration
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