Soil C/N distribution characteristics of alpine steppe ecosystem in Qinhai-Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Regional distribution regularities on soil C / N have been a hot topic in recent years, but currently there were few studies reporting the soil C / N distribution in alpine steppe ecosystem under different vegetation zones in Qinhai鄄Tibetan plateau. In order to reveal the spatial distribution characteristics of the soil C / N on the alpine steppe ecosystem in different vegetation zones, and to provide scientific basis for understanding a regional specific acclimation of vegetation to climate change in Qinhai鄄Tibetan plateau, we surveyed the soil C / N of alpine steppe ecosystem under different vegetation zones. Collectively, we sampled 67 sampling points. The soil C / N of the alpine steppe ecosystem in Qinhai鄄Tibetan plateau was also compared with that of 14 natural transects in areas outside the plateau. The results showed that: (1) Along the horizontal direction in Qinhai鄄Tibetan plateau, C / N appeared higher in northwest and lower in southeast. The higher C / N appeared mainly in the regions with a concentration in the hinterland of northern part of Tibetan Plateau and in the lake basin region of the northern foot of Himalayas. There were significant differences of C / N among different grassland types and natural transects. (2) Along the vertical direction of the soil profiles from aboveground to underground, it could be divided into 5 types of low鄄high鄄low, from high to low, from low to high, high鄄low鄄high鄄low and high鄄low鄄high of C / N distribution patterns among different grassland types and natural transects, and there was significant difference of C / N between the 6 6 摇 22 期 摇 摇 摇 王建林摇 等:青藏高原高寒草原生态系统土壤碳氮比的分布特征 摇

Grazing enhances soil nutrient effects: Trade‐offs between aboveground and belowground biomass in alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau

“…Otherwise, under the condition of higher SoilC:N values, the organic matter decomposition process is impeded due to nitrogen limitations. Thus, there exists a conflict between microorganisms and plants for the inorganic nitrogen found in soil, which is not conducive to plant growth (Wang et al, 2014). In this study, most samples of SoilC:N content contained higher levels (>6) for grazing; this trade-off was under zero (Figure 4e).…”

“…SOC (Cao et al, 2013). SoilAN was determined using the continuous alkali-hydrolyzed reduction-diffusion method (Wang et al, 2014), and soil available phosphorus was determined using the Olsen method (Olsen et al, 1954).…”

Spatial variability of soil carbon to nitrogen ratio and its driving factors in Ili River valley, Xinjiang, Northwest China

“…Soil C/N ratio was influenced by geographical factors under natural conditions (Wang et al, 2014). Our investigation found that there was a significant positive correlation between the soil C/N ratio and longitude (P < 0.01) and a significant negative correlation between the soil C/N ratio and latitude (P < 0.01) (Fig.…”

“…Soil C/N ratio could be influenced by variables including climate (such as temperature, precipitation) (Gao et al, 2011;Chang et al, 2014), soil conditions (such as soil water, soil bulk, soil pH) (Wang et al, 2014;Feng et al, 2016), and land use types (Zhang et al, 2015). Precipitation and temperature are known to influence vegetative cover, plant litter quality and soil biota, physical and chemical properties of soil, which in turn influence soil C/N ratio (Qin et al, 2016).…”

“…Cools et al (2014) found that soil C/N ratio had a negative relationship with temperature, but a positive relationship with precipitation. Wang et al (2014) put forward that climate factors were the main environmental factors affecting soil C/N ratio. Feng et al (2016) proposed that climatic and soil pH generally had a major contribution to the variations in soil C/N ratio.…”