Woody encroachment and soil carbon stocks in subalpine areas in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

Nadal‐Romero, Estela; Otal-Laín, Irene; Lasanta, T.; Sánchez‐Navarrete, Pedro; Errea, Paz; Cammeraat, Erik

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.324

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(77 reference statements)

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“…In this study we observed that soil fertility was differently affected by treatments at the first and fourth year after Burnt and Clear-cut in comparison with the control C-Erizón. Other studies also found higher soil nutrient contents in grasslands soils than under shrub encroached processes (Nadal-Romero et al, 2018). On year one after treatment, differences between Burnt and Clear-cut were low.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…We focused this study in Pyrenees subalpine grasslands, where the expansion of woody species is a serious threat to grassland conservation (Komac et al, 2011a;Gartzia et al, 2014;Nadal-Romero et al, 2018) and human activities have played a key role in maintaining these ecosystems for centuries (Montserrat and Fillat, 1990). Echinospartum horridum (Vahl) Rothm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clearing vs. burning for restoring Pyrenean grasslands after shrub encroachment

Alados

Sáiz

Nuche

et al. 2019

CIG

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Anthropogenic activities have modified vegetation on subalpine belts for a long time, lowering the treeline ecotone and influencing the landscape mainly through grazing and fire. The abandonment of these traditional land use practices during the last decades and global warming are contributing largely to the colonization of woody species in subalpine grasslands, causing irreversible changes in ecosystem functioning. A variety of management strategies requiring the use of fire and/or clear-cutting are carried out to prevent the expansion of highly encroaching shrubs and improve the conservation status of subhumid high-productive grasslands ecosystems. However, it is still poorly understood how different management strategies affect the recovery of subalpine grasslands, which is influenced concurrently by the vegetation community involved. In this study we used field experiments to test the impact of management treatments on soil properties and vegetation responses in subalpine Bromion erecti grassland communities colonized by the pyrophyte shrub Echinospartum horridum (Vahl) Rothm. on the southern Pyrenees. Vegetation was monitored for 5 years in E. horridum plots (two plots per treatment) where the vegetation was removed by prescribed fire (Burnt treatment) or by mechanical removal (Clear-cut treatment). Undisturbed E. horridum plots were used as a control (C-Erizón) for shrub removal treatments and a Bromion erecti grassland community regularly grazed (C-Grass) was used as a control for subalpine grassland. Clear-cut treatment of E. horridum community was more effective to control E. horridum colonization than Burnt treatment and contributed to a higher extent to recover original grassland vegetation, because E. horridum seedling performed worse (lower germination rates) and plant species were more similar to the original grassland (legumes, non-legume forbs, and grasses). Shrubs and sub-shrubs cover in Burnt areas increased faster than in Clear-cut areas during the 5 years following the treatment, although it did not reach the level of C-Erizón. Species richness and diversity increased in comparison with C-Erizón in both treatments, but they were significantly lower than those in the C-Grass. Network connectivity was larger in well preserved grasslands, i.e, C-Grass, than in any other treatments, mainly dominated by negative plant-plant association. Soils nutrients declined in Burnt sites 4 years after the fire treatment and no difference was observed between Clear-cut and C-Erizón sites, although they did not reach the soil fertility values of C-Grass in terms of organic matter and C/N ratio. This study showed that grazing favors plant diversity and community complexity in subalpine grasslands. It also demonstrated that clearing is a better strategy than burning to restore grasslands after shrub encroachment because burning entails deeper soil degradation and faster recovering of the pyrophyte shrub, E. horridum.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clearing vs. burning for restoring Pyrenean grasslands after shrub encroachment

Alados

Sáiz

Nuche

et al. 2019

CIG

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“…La evolución del contenido de SOC también se ha estudiado en laderas de pastos subalpinos abandonados en el Pirineo, comprobándose que el paso de pastizal a matorral implica una caída brusca de SOC en el suelo. En las etapas siguientes (bosque joven y maduro de P. sylvestris) el contenido de SOC se recupera parcialmente no llegando a alcanzar al del pasto subalpino, posiblemente por la abundancia en este último uso de raíces finas con gran capacidad para fijar C y por la ausencia de pastoreo en el resto de usos, lo que resta materia orgánica al suelo (Nadal-Romero et al, 2018).…”

Section: P a P E R A C C E P T E D P R E -P R I N T V E R S I O Nunclassified

Una revisión sobre las tierras abandonadas en España: de los paisajes locales a las estrategias globales de gestión

Lasanta

Nadal‐Romero

Khorchani

et al. 2021

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Abandoned lands occupy extensive territories in some Spanish regions, particularly in mountain areas and semiarid environments. These lands originate very diverse landscapes depending on the climatic conditions, the age of abandonment, the management before and after abandonment, and the disturbances that they suffer during the post-abandoned process. These factors condition the plant succession and soil properties, producing contrasted ecosystems and landscapes, like forests, shrublands, grasslands and almost bare soils. This study reviews the current knowledge about land abandonment in Spain, with special reference to the spatial and temporal process of abandonment, the factors that originate different ecosystems, and landscapes in abandoned lands, and the implications of these factors in the provision of ecosystem services to society. Depending on the landscape generated and its management, different services would be provided, such as the quality and quantity of water resources, soil protection, carbon sequestration, levels of biodiversity, prevention and control of forest fires, pastoral resources, landscape aesthetics, and even the possibilities of securing population in the rural environment through extensive land uses.

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“…Many factors, including ecological succession (Alberti et al 2011, Eldridge et al 2011, Blaser et al 2014, Nadal-Romero et al 2018, soil nutrient stoichiometry (Kirkby et al 2013, Alberti et al 2015) and soil EEA stoichiometry, could regulate soil C. The findings that shrub encroachment increased SOC stock (Fig. 1g - Eldridge et al 2011, Li et al 2016b and STC stock (Fig.…”

Section: Soil Stoichiometry Regulates Soc Sic and Stc Over Shrub Encmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Shrub encroachment decreases livestock production (Anadon et al 2014), reduces plant and faunal diversity (Koch et al 2015), increases the fire risk, and reduces the ecosystem and cultural services (Nadal-Romero et al 2018), and reduces the overall quality of grassland. Shrub encroachment threatens food security (Anadon et al 2014), and grassland economy, especially subalpine economy (Nadal-Romero et al 2018). Furthermore, shrub encroachment is predicted to increase over the coming century (Soliveres et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil stoichiometry modulates effects of shrub encroachment on soil carbon concentration and stock in a subalpine grassland

Ding¹,

Wang²,

Zhang³

et al. 2020

iForest

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There is little information available on the mediating effects of soil nutrient stoichiometry and enzyme stoichiometry on soil carbon (C) during shrub encroachment and their contributions to changes in soil C. Here, we characterized the concentration and stock of soil organic carbon (SOC), inorganic carbon (SIC) and total carbon (STC) along the shrub encroachment sequence (SES). We constructed linkages between soil C and SES with soil nutrient stoichiometric ratios and C-, nitrogen-and phosphorus-acquiring enzyme stoichiometry ratios using structural equation modeling (SEM), and disentangled the contributions of the soil nutrient stoichiometric ratios and enzyme stoichiometric ratios to shaping SOC and SIC using redundancy analysis (RDA) and SEM. Results revealed that the increases in STC stock derived from the increases in both the SOC stock and the SIC stock. Soil stoichiometric ratios played a mediating role in structuring soil C over SES, the mediating pattern depended on soil stoichiometry types (nutrient stoichiometry or enzyme stoichiometry) and soil C types (SOC, SIC or STC). Soil nutrient stoichiometric ratios contributed more than soil enzyme stoichiometric ratios to the variation in SOC and STC, while the contributions of these two types of soil stoichiometric ratios to the variation in SIC changed with soil stoichiometry types. Soil nutrient stoichiometry had positive or negative or threshold effects on soil C, but soil enzyme stoichiometry had monotonously increasing effects on soil C. This study showed that the soil stoichiometry had modulatory effects on soil C during shrub encroachment in the subalpine grassland, China.

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Woody encroachment and soil carbon stocks in subalpine areas in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

Cited by 29 publications

References 93 publications

Clearing vs. burning for restoring Pyrenean grasslands after shrub encroachment

Clearing vs. burning for restoring Pyrenean grasslands after shrub encroachment

Una revisión sobre las tierras abandonadas en España: de los paisajes locales a las estrategias globales de gestión

Soil stoichiometry modulates effects of shrub encroachment on soil carbon concentration and stock in a subalpine grassland

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