Afforestation neutralizes soil pH

Songbai Hong, Shilong Piao (), Anping Chen (), Yongwen Liu, Lingli Liu, Shushi Peng, Jordi Sardans, Yan Sun, Josep Peñuelas and Hui Zeng ()
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Songbai Hong: Peking University
Shilong Piao: Peking University
Anping Chen: Purdue University
Yongwen Liu: Peking University
Lingli Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shushi Peng: Peking University
Jordi Sardans: CREAF
Yan Sun: Peking University
Josep Peñuelas: CREAF
Hui Zeng: Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Soil pH regulates soil biogeochemical processes and has cascading effects on terrestrial ecosystem structure and functions. Afforestation has been widely adopted to increase terrestrial carbon sequestration and enhance water and soil preservation. However, the effect of afforestation on soil pH is still poorly understood and inconclusive. Here we investigate the afforestation-caused soil pH changes with pairwise samplings from 549 afforested and 148 control plots in northern China. We find significant soil pH neutralization by afforestation—afforestation lowers pH in relatively alkaline soil but raises pH in relatively acid soil. The soil pH thresholds (TpH), the point when afforestation changes from increasing to decreasing soil pH, are species-specific, ranging from 5.5 (Pinus koraiensis) to 7.3 (Populus spp.) with a mean of 6.3. These findings indicate that afforestation can modify soil pH if tree species and initial pH are properly matched, which may potentially improve soil fertility and promote ecosystem productivity.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02970-1

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