Spatiotemporal Differentiation of Soil Organic Carbon of Grassland and Its Relationship with Soil Physicochemical Properties on the Northern Slope of Qilian Mountains, China

Le Yang, Wenxiong Jia, Yang Shi, Zhiyuan Zhang, Hui Xiong and Guofeng Zhu
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Le Yang: College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Wenxiong Jia: College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Yang Shi: College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Zhiyuan Zhang: College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Hui Xiong: College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China
Guofeng Zhu: College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-21

Abstract: The soil organic carbon pool is an important part of the global carbon cycle, and its accumulation and decomposition affect the balance of the global carbon cycle. It is important to understand scientifically the temporal and spatial variation of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its influencing factors, which could aid further understanding of the accumulation and decomposition of SOC. In order to reveal the relationship between soil organic carbon and soil’s physicochemical properties, six plots were selected on the east, middle and west of forest steppes and typical grasslands on the northern slope of Qilian Mountains during two consecutive growing seasons from 2013 to 2014. Soil samples under 0–30 cm were used to study the spatiotemporal differentiation of SOC and its relationship with the soil’s physicochemical properties in the grassland of the study area. The results show that the content of SOC in the grassland in 2013 was higher than that in 2014, and that it decreased gradually from east to west. The content of SOC is significantly different between the soil layer of 0–10 cm and the soil layers of 10–20 cm and 20–30 cm ( p < 0.05), and it decreases with increases in soil depth. The SOC content on forest steppe is higher than that on typical grassland. Significant positive correlations appear between SOC with soil water content and soil nutrients (alkaline nitrogen, available phosphorus, available potassium) ( p < 0.01), but there are significant negative correlations between SOC and soil temperature, soil pH, and soil electrical conductivity ( p < 0.01).

Keywords: Qilian Mountains; forest steppe; typical grassland; SOC spatiotemporal differentiation; soil physicochemical properties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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