Vegetation Types Can Affect Soil Organic Carbon and δ 13 C by Influencing Plant Inputs in Topsoil and Microbial Residue Carbon Composition in Subsoil

Yuxin Sun, Xia Wang (), Yuanye Zhang, Wenhui Duan, Jieyi Xia, Jinhong Wu and Tao Deng
Additional contact information
Yuxin Sun: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China
Xia Wang: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China
Yuanye Zhang: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China
Wenhui Duan: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China
Jieyi Xia: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China
Jinhong Wu: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China
Tao Deng: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: Plantation is an economical and effective method of ecological restoration, which is also a common means to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) content. However, the effects of vegetation types on SOC accumulation and δ 13 C distribution during ecological restoration are still not clear. Therefore, we evaluated the soils under four types of restoration measures: plantation (PL, dominated by Olea europaea ‘ Leccino ’), grasslands [GLs, Setaria viridis ], croplands [CLs, Zea mays ] and shrublands (SLs, Lycium chinense Mill ), after 11-year restoration. SOC and the natural stable carbon isotope abundance in four recovery modes were determined, while amino sugars (ASs) and lignin phenols (LPs) were used as biomarkers to identify microbial- and plant-derived carbon, respectively. The results showed that SOC, AS, and LP decreased with the increasing of soil depth, and SOC and LP showed the same trend in topsoil (0–20 cm). ASs in subsoil (40–50 cm) were significantly higher in GLs than that in CLs and the PL, while fungi residue carbon in GLs was significantly higher in subsoil. The δ 13 C in topsoil was mainly affected by plant factors, especially by litter. With the increasing soil depth, the effect of plants on δ 13 C decreased, and the effect of microorganisms increased. Vegetation types could affect SOC and δ 13 C by influencing plant inputs in topsoil. In the subsoil, differences in microbial compositions under different vegetation types could affect δ 13 C enrichment. The study revealed the effects of vegetation types on SOC accumulation and δ 13 C distribution during ecological restoration, emphasized that vegetation types can affect SOC accumulation by influencing the plant input of topsoil and the microbial compositions in subsoil, and provided a reference for the development of management policies in restoration areas.

Keywords: vegetation restoration; soil organic carbon; 13 C natural abundance; amino sugars; lignin phenols; microbial residue carbon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4538/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/11/4538/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:11:p:4538-:d:1402844

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().