Effects of land use change from natural forest to plantation on C, N and natural abundance of 13C and 15N along a climate gradient in eastern China

Ngaba, Mbezele Junior Yannick; Hu, Ya-Lin; Bol, Roland; Ma, Xiao; Jin, Shaofei; Mgelwa, Abubakari Said

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52959-z

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Increases in SOC stock with increasing plantation age have been reported by various authors (e.g., Guo & Gifford, 2002; Lugo & Brown, 1993; Paul et al, 2002). This is in line with the results reported by Ngaba et al (2019). Soil disturbance from site preparation for agricultural use and for the establishment of second rotation is also responsible for decreased SOC in younger and second‐rotation plantations, since site preparation increases the decomposition of soil‐C (Guo & Gifford, 2002), impacting negatively SOC stocks, during the first decades (Mayer et al, 2020), depending on site preparation practice.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Miombo conversion to monoculture tree plantations: Changes in soil properties

2021

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Monoculture plantations replacing native woodlands are increasingly common globally. In Mozambique, vast miombo* woodlands have been replaced by single‐species plantations. Studies on the effect of replacing native woodlands by single‐species tree plantations on soil properties are abundant; however, those focused specifically on the replacement of miombo and considering a longer time since replacement and covering different growth stages are scarce. This article aimed at assessing the effects of the conversion of miombo to monoculture on soil properties and studying the effect of species planted, plantation age, and rotation on soil capacity to store carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Plantations established in soils formerly covered by miombo were compared to the remaining original miombo with regard to soil properties. The effect of species planted, plantation age, and rotation on soil properties was examined using the three‐way ANOVA, followed by Tukey's test. Miombo conversion to plantations led to an increase of up to 66% of soil organic C (SOC) and 77% of total N (STN) and a decrease in soil bulk density (BD) of up to 16%. The replacement of the first‐ by second‐rotation plantations led to a decrease of up to 38% in SOC and STN and an increase of up to 32% in BD. BD decreased with plantation age; SOC and STN stocks tended to increase: 60 years after the replacement of miombo by plantations, SOC and STN increased by up to 88%. Changes in soil properties due to the replacement of miombo by monoculture were mainly driven by the species planted. * a sparse open deciduous woodland characteristic of dry parts of eastern Africa

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 94%

Miombo conversion to monoculture tree plantations: Changes in soil properties

2021

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“…where TX is soil C or N stock (kg C m −2 ); X% i is C or N in percentage at depth i; BD i is bulk density at depth i; and v i is volume of soil at each horizon; a is the instrument's typical precision ±0.005% for C and ±0.001% for N according to the manufacturer's standard material (Assefa et al, 2017). The carbon and nitrogen content data were obtained from our previous manuscript (Ngaba et al, 2019) (Table 3). Two-way ANOVA method was used to test the significance of differences in site, depth and their interactions on soil C and N stocks under NF and PF using a significance level of a = 0.05.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of soil carbon and nitrogen stocks after conversion of natural forest to plantations in Eastern China

Ngaba¹,

Ma²,

Hu³

2020

PeerJ

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Forest plantation, either through afforestation or reforestation, has been suggested to reverse and mitigate the process of deforestation. However, uncertainties remain in the potential of plantation forest (PF) to sequestrate carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) compared to natural forest (NF). Soil C and N stocks require a critical and updated look at what is happening especially in the context of increasing rate of land use change and climate change. The current study was conducted in China’s Eastern forest to estimate soil C and N stocks in six depth layers (0–10, 10–20, 20–40, 40–60, 60–80 and 80–100 cm) and two forest types (NF and PF) at four sites along climate factors gradient. The results showed that the overall mean soil C and N amounts to a depth of 20 cm ranged from 2.6 ± 1.1 Mg ha−1 to 38.6 ± 23.1 Mg ha−1, and soil nitrogen stock ranged from 0.2 ± 0.1 Mg ha−1 to 3.3 ± 1.5 Mg ha−1. Moreover, a loss of C stock was observed at Qingyuan (QY) by −7%, Dinghushan (DH) by −26%, Jianfengling (JF) by −13% while that of N stock was observed at QY (−8%), DH (−19%) and JF (−12%) at both depth layers. These results indicate that NFs have a better capacity to accumulate soil C and N. The soil C and N decreased from the southeast to the northeast and increased from tropical to temperate mixed forests zone in the eastern part of the study area. The C and N stock mainly occurred in the topsoil and decreased significantly with depth. Moreover, soil C and N stocks increased with age of plantation. This study provides an overview of the current spatial distribution and soil stocks of C and N, as well as the effects of environmental factors on soil C and N stocks. It also indicated that, although mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation are the key factors affecting the variations in soil C and N, their vertical and horizontal distribution differed in various aspects.

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“…This is because the labile N in soil is the product of microbial activity and is easily absorbed by plants or lost into the adjacent water. Additionally, high temperature accelerates the mineralization of soil N by enhancing microbial activity (Y. Q. Li et al, 2018; Ngaba et al, 2019; Suseela, Tharayil, Xing, & Dukes, 2015) and stimulates the uptake of inorganic N by plants. Nevertheless, cHCl‐ and RES‐N were primarily limited by moisture conditions, and precipitation promoted their accumulation (Figure 3f2, g2, f3 and g3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the current study, increasing MAT directly decreased the soil labile N contents. This may be related to the acceleration of organic N mineralization and plant uptake of available N (Ngaba et al, 2019; Suseela et al, 2015), as discussed in Section 4.3. A portion of the indirect influences of MAT on 6 M HCl‐ and stable N were exerted via its effects on vegetation; however, the indirect effects ( β = 0.06 and 0.08) countered the direct effects ( α = −0.57 and −0.23).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction effects of environmental factors on soil nitrogen fractions based on a novel sequential extraction method

Wang

Zhang

Zhong

et al. 2021

European J Soil Science

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Soil nitrogen (N) is controlled by several environmental factors. However, it is unclear how these factors and their interactions affect soil N fractions (SNFs) because of the lack of systematic N extraction methods. The Harbin–Dali belt, a transect more than 3,300 km long across China covering various climates, topographies, soil parent materials and vegetation types, was taken as the study area, and the interactive effects on SNFs in largely undisturbed woodlands and grasslands were explored using three SNFs: labile N, moderately stable N and stable N. The soil N fractions were obtained through a novel sequential extraction method that used distilled H2O, 0.5 M CaCl2, 1 M HCl, 6 M HCl, mixed acid (1 M HCl and 5 M HF; MA), concentrated HCl (cHCl) and concentrated H2SO4 as extractive agents to successively separate H2O‐, CaCl2‐, 1 M HCl‐, 6 M HCl‐, MA‐, cHCl‐ and RES‐N fractions. The results showed that increasing mean annual temperature (MAT) directly decreased the concentrations of H2O‐, CaCl2‐ and 1 M HCl‐N, suggesting that warming may reduce available N. The interactions between MAT, parent material, aspect and aridity index also contributed to the three SNFs. Vegetation and its interactions with parent material primarily controlled 6 M HCl‐, cHCl‐ and RES‐N, and climate and topography had indirect effects during these processes. Particularly, more cHCl‐ and RES‐N were accumulated in areas with warm humid climates and rich vegetation species than in other environments. Moreover, soil labile N (H2O‐, CaCl2‐ and 1 M HCl‐N) and cHCl‐N exhibited potential as sensitive indicators for reflecting the changes in MAT and vegetation, respectively. Therefore, the various interactions between climate and other environmental factors controlled the changes in most SNFs. This novel sequential extraction method thus offers a reliable analytical approach to measuring SNFs. Highlights Soil nitrogen fractions (SNFs) were fractionated via a novel sequential extraction method. Increasing MAT decreased the H2O‐, CaCl2‐ and 1 M HCl‐N concentrations. Interactions of climate, parent material and vegetation affected 6 M HCl‐, MA‐, cHCl‐ and RES‐N. H2O‐, CaCl2‐, 1 M HCl‐ and cHCl‐N are sensitive SNFs that reflect environmental changes.

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Effects of land use change from natural forest to plantation on C, N and natural abundance of 13C and 15N along a climate gradient in eastern China

Cited by 29 publications

References 67 publications

Miombo conversion to monoculture tree plantations: Changes in soil properties

Miombo conversion to monoculture tree plantations: Changes in soil properties

Variability of soil carbon and nitrogen stocks after conversion of natural forest to plantations in Eastern China

Interaction effects of environmental factors on soil nitrogen fractions based on a novel sequential extraction method

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