School of Life Science, Liaoning University, Shenyang, 110036, People's Republic of China.
School of Life Science and Bioengineering, Shenyang University, Shenyang, 110044, People's Republic of China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2024 Jul 29;24(1):719. doi: 10.1186/s12870-024-05409-6.
With the profound changes in the global climate, the issue of grassland degradation is becoming increasingly prominent. Grassland degradation poses a severe threat to the carbon cycle and carbon storage within grassland ecosystems. Additionally, it will adversely affect the sustainability of food production. The grassland ecosystem in the northwest region of Liaoning Province, China, is particularly vulnerable due to factors such as erosion from the northern Horqin Sandy Land, persistent arid climate, and issues related to overgrazing and mismanagement of grassland. The degradation issue is especially pronounced in this ecological environment. However, previous research on the carbon density of degraded grasslands in Northeast China has predominantly focused on Inner Mongolia, neglecting the impact on the grasslands in the northwest of Liaoning Province. Therefore, this experiment aims to assess the influence of grassland degradation intensity on the vegetation and soil carbon density in the northwest of Liaoning Province. The objective is to investigate the changes in grassland vegetation and soil carbon density resulting from different degrees of grassland degradation.
This study focuses on the carbon density of grasslands at different degrees of degradation in the northwest of Liaoning Province, exploring the variations in vegetation and soil carbon density under different levels of degradation. This experiment employed field sampling techniques to establish 100 × 100 m plots in grasslands exhibiting varying degrees of degradation. Six replications of 100 × 100 m plots per degradation intensity were sampled. Vegetation and soil samples were collected for analysis of carbon density.
The results indicate that in the context of grassland degradation, there is a significant reduction in vegetation carbon density. Furthermore, it was found that root carbon density is the primary contributor to vegetation carbon density. In comparison to mildly degraded grasslands, moderately and severely degraded grasslands experience a reduction in vegetation carbon density by 25.6% and 52.6%, respectively. However, with regard to the impact of grassland degradation on soil carbon density, it was observed that while grassland degradation leads to a slight decrease in soil carbon density, there is no significant change in soil carbon density in the short term under the influence of grassland degradation.
Therefore, grassland degradation has exerted a negative impact on aboveground vegetation carbon density, reducing the carbon storage of above-ground vegetation in grasslands. However, there was no significant effect on grassland soil carbon density.
随着全球气候的深刻变化，草原退化问题日益突出。草原退化对草原生态系统的碳循环和碳储存构成严重威胁，也会对粮食生产的可持续性产生不利影响。中国辽宁省西北部的草原生态系统由于受科尔沁沙地北侵、持续干旱气候以及过度放牧和草原管理不善等因素的影响，较为脆弱，退化问题尤为明显。然而，以前关于中国东北地区退化草地碳密度的研究主要集中在内蒙古，而忽略了对辽宁省西北部草地的影响。因此，本实验旨在评估草原退化强度对辽宁省西北部草地植被和土壤碳密度的影响。目的是研究不同程度的草原退化对草地植被和土壤碳密度的变化。
本研究以辽宁省西北部不同退化程度的草地碳密度为研究对象，探讨不同退化程度下草地植被和土壤碳密度的变化。本实验采用野外采样技术，在不同退化程度的草地中建立了 100×100m 的样地，对不同退化强度下的植被和土壤碳密度进行了采样。每个退化强度下采集了 6 个 100×100m 样地的重复样本。采集植被和土壤样品进行碳密度分析。
结果表明，在草原退化的情况下，植被碳密度显著降低。此外，研究发现，根碳密度是植被碳密度的主要贡献者。与轻度退化草地相比，中度和重度退化草地的植被碳密度分别减少了 25.6%和 52.6%。然而，就草原退化对土壤碳密度的影响而言，虽然草原退化导致土壤碳密度略有下降，但在草原退化的短期影响下，土壤碳密度没有明显变化。
因此，草原退化对地上植被碳密度产生了负面影响，降低了草地地上植被的碳储量。然而，对草原土壤碳密度没有显著影响。
