Lv Peng, Sun Shanshan, Medina-Roldánd Eduardo, Zhao Shenglong, Hu Ya, Guo Aixia, Zuo Xiaoan
Naiman Desertification Research Station Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
Urat Desert-grassland Research Station Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
Ecol Evol. 2021 Jun 5;11(13):9079-9091. doi: 10.1002/ece3.7751. eCollection 2021 Jul.
The progressively restoration of degraded vegetation in semiarid and arid desertified areas undoubtedly formed different habitat types. The most plants regulate their growth by fixing carbon with their energy deriving from photosynthesis; carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) play the crucial role in regulating plant growth, community structure, and function in the vegetation restoration progress. However, it is still unclear how habitat types affect the dynamic changes in allocation in C and N storage of vegetation-soil system in sandy grasslands. Here, we investigated plant community characteristics and soil properties across three successional stages of habitat types: semi-fixed dunes (SFD), fixed dunes (FD), and grasslands (G) in 2011, 2013, and 2015. We also examined the C and N concentrations of vegetation-soil system and estimated their C and N storage. The C and N storage of vegetation system, soil, and vegetation-soil system remarkably increased from SFD to G. The litter C and N storage in SFD, N storage of vegetation system in SFD, and N storage of soil and vegetation-soil system in FD increased from 2011 to 2015, while aboveground plant C and N storage of FD were higher in 2011 than in 2013 and 2015. Most of C and N were sequestered in soil in the vegetation restoration progress. These results suggest that the dynamic changes in allocation in C and N storage in vegetation-soil systems varied with habitat types. Our study highlights that SFD has higher N sequestration rate in vegetation, while FD has the considerably N sequestration rate in the soil.
半干旱和干旱荒漠化地区退化植被的逐步恢复无疑形成了不同的栖息地类型。大多数植物通过利用光合作用产生的能量固定碳来调节自身生长；碳（C）和氮（N）在植被恢复过程中对调节植物生长、群落结构和功能起着关键作用。然而，尚不清楚栖息地类型如何影响沙地草原植被 - 土壤系统中碳和氮储存分配的动态变化。在此，我们于2011年、2013年和2015年调查了栖息地类型三个演替阶段的植物群落特征和土壤性质，这三个阶段分别为半固定沙丘（SFD）、固定沙丘（FD）和草原（G）。我们还检测了植被 - 土壤系统的碳和氮浓度，并估算了它们的碳和氮储量。从SFD到G，植被系统、土壤以及植被 - 土壤系统的碳和氮储量显著增加。2011年至2015年期间，SFD的凋落物碳和氮储量、SFD植被系统的氮储量以及FD土壤和植被 - 土壤系统的氮储量有所增加，而FD地上植物的碳和氮储量在2011年高于2013年和2015年。在植被恢复过程中，大部分碳和氮被封存于土壤中。这些结果表明，植被 - 土壤系统中碳和氮储存分配的动态变化因栖息地类型而异。我们的研究强调，SFD在植被中有较高的氮固存率，而FD在土壤中有相当高的氮固存率。
