Changes in soil carbon and nitrogen following land abandonment of farmland on the Loess Plateau, China

The revegetation of abandoned farmland significantly influences soil organic C (SOC) and total N (TN). However, the dynamics of both soil OC and N storage following the abandonment of farmland are not well understood. To learn more about soil C and N storages dynamics 30 years after the conversion o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-08, Vol.8 (8), p.e71923-e71923
Main Authors: Deng, Lei, Shangguan, Zhou-Ping, Sweeney, Sandra
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abandoned land
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Agriculture - methods
Biology
Biomass
Carbon - analysis
Carbon sequestration
Chemistry
China
Climate change
Correlation analysis
Ecosystems
Grasslands
Humans
Influence
Laboratories
Land use
Loess
Nitrogen
Nitrogen - analysis
Old fields
Organic soils
Poaceae - growth & development
Precipitation
Revegetation
Soil - chemistry
Soil carbon
Soil depth
Soil dynamics
Soil erosion
Soils
Storage
Studies
Watersheds
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Summary:The revegetation of abandoned farmland significantly influences soil organic C (SOC) and total N (TN). However, the dynamics of both soil OC and N storage following the abandonment of farmland are not well understood. To learn more about soil C and N storages dynamics 30 years after the conversion of farmland to grassland, we measured SOC and TN content in paired grassland and farmland sites in the Zhifanggou watershed on the Loess Plateau, China. The grassland sites were established on farmland abandoned for 1, 7, 13, 20, and 30 years. Top soil OC and TN were higher in older grassland, especially in the 0-5 cm soil depths; deeper soil OC and TN was lower in younger grasslands (
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0071923