Changes in Soil Organic Carbon and Its Density Fractions After Shrub—Planting for Desertification Control

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Planting shrubs on sand land and degraded pasture are two main measures for desertification control particularly in northwest China. However, their effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) and its fractions remain uncertain. We assessed the changes in stocks of SOC, light fraction of SOC (LF—SOC) and heavy fraction of SOC (HF—SOC) after planting Artemisia ordosica (AO, 17 years), Astragalus mongolicum (AM, 5 years) and Salix psammophila (SP, 16 years) in sand land and planting Caragana microphylla (CM, 24 years) on degraded pasture. Results show that: 1) after planting AO, AM and SP on sand land, SOC stocks increased by 162.5%, 45.2% and 70.8%, respectively, and LF—SOC accounted for a large proportion in the increased SOC. Dry weights of LF—SOC, rather than carbon concentrations, were higher in shrublands than that in sand land; 2) after planting CM on degraded pasture, SOC stock decreased by 9.3% and all the loss was HF—SOC in 60–100 cm soil layer where both herbaceous fine root biomass (HFRB) and ...