Differential influence of land use/cover change on topsoil carbon and microbial activity in low-latitude temperate forests

Effects of slope aspect on soil nitrogen and microbial properties in the Chinese Loess region

“…At high levels of microbial activity, the nutrient turnover rate, mineralization levels and nutrient levels that are required for plant growth through the C and N cycles will also be high. High levels of basic respiration (Gamboa and Galicia, 2011), as observed on the shady and half-shady slopes, reflect microbial soil conditions that are favorable for CK growth. Our results demonstrate that the cyc/prec ratio was lower than 0.5 for all of the sites that were studied, which indicates that the carbon and oxygen contents of the soil were sufficient for microbial growth at a relatively low level of environmental stress (Allison et al, 2005).…”

The effects of forest type on soil microbial activity in Changbai Mountain, Northeast China

“…In contrast, some soil microbial properties sensitive to disturbance, such as microbial biomass and enzyme activities, are used as bioindicators for monitoring the quality and health in soils (Bini et al 2013;Raiesi and Beheshti 2015). Previous studies have shown that soil microbial biomass, respiration rates, and metabolic quotients are sensitive indicators of changes produced by forest type conversion (Gamboa and Galicia 2011;Bini et al 2013;Spohn and Chodak 2015). Likewise, carbon (C) mineralization, which is related to nutrient release for plants and soil organisms, may reveal potential microbial activity in the soil and is sensitive to land use and management (Zhang et al 2009;Cheng et al 2014;Fang et al 2014).…”

“…Forest conversion can significantly impact soil conditions and microbial activity, which are likely to respond to harvesting, soil organic matter removal, and tree species change (Gamboa and Galicia 2011;Lin et al 2011;Fang et al 2014). Due to logging disturbance and reduction of substrate availability, the amount of microorganisms and microbial activity will generally decrease with conversion of primary to secondary forests (Gamboa and Galicia 2011;Bini et al 2013).…”

“…Due to logging disturbance and reduction of substrate availability, the amount of microorganisms and microbial activity will generally decrease with conversion of primary to secondary forests (Gamboa and Galicia 2011;Bini et al 2013). For instance, Bini et al (2013) found that primary forests had more microbial biomass C than secondary forests or plantations and that metabolic quotients as well as dehydrogenase activity increased after primary forest conversion.…”

Soil respiration characteristics in different land uses and response of soil organic carbon to biochar addition in high-latitude agricultural area

“…The land use changes and crop rotations during the agricultural development directly impact the R s rates due to the variance of soil temperature and erosion condition (Ouyang et al 2010). Furthermore, the cultivation practices alter the soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, which are the important factors for the R s process (Gamboa and Galicia 2011;Song et al 2012). The knowledge of R s response to land use changes is helpful in assessing human impacts on soil CO 2 emission, but little information is available in high-latitude area (Chen et al 1995).…”