Accumulation of soil organic carbon during natural restoration of desertified grassland in China’s Horqin Sandy Land |
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| Authors: | YuQiang LI;XueYong ZHAO;FengXia ZHANG;Tala AWADA;ShaoKun WANG;HaLin ZHAO;TongHui ZHANG;YuLin LI;Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute Chinese Academy of Sciences; |
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| Institution: | School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering,Lanzhou Jiaotong University;School of Natural Resources,University of Nebraska; |
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| Abstract: | China's Horqin Sandy Land,a formerly lush grassland,has experienced extensive desertification that caused considerable carbon(C) losses from the plant-soil system.Natural restoration through grazing exclusion is a widely suggested option to sequester C and to restore degraded land.In a desertified grassland,we investigated the C accumulation in the total and light fractions of the soil organic matter from 2005 to 2013 during natural restoration.To a depth of 20 cm,the light fraction organic carbon(LFOC) storage increased by 221 g C/m2(84%) and the total soil organic carbon(SOC) storage increased by 435 g C/m2(55%).The light fraction dry matter content represented a small proportion of the total soil mass(ranging from 0.74% in 2005 to 1.39% in 2013),but the proportion of total SOC storage accounted for by LFOC was remarkable(ranging from 33% to 40%).The C sequestration averaged 28 g C/(m2·a) for LFOC and 54 g C/(m2·a) for total SOC.The total SOC was strongly and significantly positively linearly related to the light fraction dry matter content and the proportions of fine sand and silt+clay.The light fraction organic matter played a major role in total SOC sequestration.Our results suggest that grazing exclusion can restore desertified grassland and has a high potential for sequestering SOC in the semiarid Horqin Sandy Land. |
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