Dynamics of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in calcareous soils after land-use abandonment – A chronosequence study

Abstract

Aims The objective of this study was to investigate changes in soil total organic C (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), phosphorus (P) fractions, and microbial community structure during secondary succession after abandonment of vineyards on calcareous soils. Methods Two chronosequences covering 200 years and differing in aspect and slope were established in Hungary, and the upper 10 cm of the mineral soils were studied. Results We found strong increases in TOC concentrations after land-use abandonment, especially at the south-exposed sites. The TOC/TN ratio increased by a factor of 1.3 in the south-west exposed chronosequence and by a factor of 1.6 in south exposed chronosequence. The concentration of labile P (NaHCO 3 -extractable P) diminished during the first 50 years after land-use abandonment, leading to low P availability at the later stages of the succession. The total organic P (TOP) concentration increased during the first 40 years after abandonment. At the later stages of succession, TOP concentrations decreased again, while the ratio of TOC/TOP increased continuously over 200 years. The ratio of arbuscular-mycorrhizal-fungi-to-bacteria (AMF/bacteria) increased strongly during the first decade after abandonment of the vineyards. Conclusions Our study indicates that impacts of former cultivation on secondary ecosystems persisted for more than a century, and that especially P concentrations showed long lasting legacy effects.

Recovery of organic matter and microbial biomass after abandonment of degraded agricultural soils: the influence of climate

“…Abandonment of croplands also increases CO 2 fluxes and microbial biomass in soils (Lopes de Gerenyu, Kurganova, & Kuzyakov, ; Susyan et al, ; Wang, Liu, Xue, & Zhu, ). The shifts in microbial community structure towards fungal dominance are common during the post‐agricultural restoration (Ananyeva, Stolnikova, Susyan, & Khodzhaeva, ; Spohn, Novák, Incze, & Giani, ; Susyan et al, ; van der Wal et al, ), mainly because of the input of hardly decomposable litter. Microbial biomass commonly increases rapidly during the first 10–35 years of post‐agricultural restoration (Jia, Cao, Wang, & Wang, ; Kurganova et al, ), whereas fungal biomass grows only during the first 2 years after abandonment with no further increase for at least three decades (van der Wal et al, ).…”

Lateral heterogeneity of soil physicochemical properties in riparian zones after agricultural abandonment

“…Secondary succession has attracted increasing attention for its higher natural value and lower cost 4,5 . To date, most researches on agricultural abandonment focused on the temporal dynamics of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus 6–8 , vegetation composition and plant species diversity 9,10 . There is evidence that secondary succession after agricultural abandonment leads to significant changes in soil physical and chemical properties 3 .…”

Alterations in soil microbial community composition and biomass following agricultural land use change

“…Land use change is a key component of global changes and largely impacts ecosystem structures, processes and functioning123. While agricultural production systems have been considered to be the primary cause of rapid carbon (C) loss456, forest regeneration or reforestation (i.e., afforestation) conducted on formerly cultivated or uncultivated lands can sequester C in aboveground biomass and in soil organic matter (SOM)789.…”