Abstract
Crust restoration is increasingly being done but we lack quantitative information on soil improvements. The study aimed to elucidate the dynamics involving soil microbial biomass carbon and soil dissolved organic carbon in the re-vegetation chronosequences of a hillslope land with purple soil in Hengyang, Hunan Province. The soil can cause serious disasters with both soil erosion and seasonal drought, and also becomes a typical representative of ecological disaster area in South China. Using the space-for-time method, we selected six typical sampling plots, designated as follows: grassplot community, meadow thicket community, frutex community, frutex and arbor community, arbor community, and top-level vegetation community. These plots were established to analyze the changes in soil microbial biomass carbon, soil microbial quotien, dissolved organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon/soil organic carbon, and soil basal respiration in 0–10, 10–20, and 20–40 cm soil layers. The relationships of these parameters with soils physic-chemical properties were also determined. The ecological environment of the 6 plant communities is similar and typical; they denoted six different successive stages of restoration on hillslopes with purple soils in Hengyang, Hunan Province. The soil microbial biomass carbon and soil basal respiration contents decreased with increasing soil depth but increased with re-vegetation. By contrast, soil microbial quotient increased with increasing soil depth and re-vegetation. From 0–10 cm soil layer to 20–40 cm soil layer, the dissolved organic carbon content decreased in different re-vegetation stages. In the process of re-vegetation, the dissolved organic carbon content increased in the 0–10 and 10–20 cm soil layers, whereas the dissolved organic carbon content decreased after an initial increase in the 20–40 cm soil layers. Meanwhile, dissolved organic carbon/soil organic carbon increased with increasing soil depth but decreased with re-vegetation. Significant correlations existed among soil microbial biomass carbon, soil microbial quotient, dissolved organic carbon, soil basal respiration and soil physic-chemical properties associated with soil fertility. The results showed that re-vegetation was conducive to the soil quality improvement and the accumulation of soil organic carbon pool of the hillslope land with purple soil in Hengyang, Hunan Province.
Highlights
Soil organic carbon is regarded as the material basis of soil fertility, and it has been the key content of investigations on the global carbon cycle and climate change
This study demonstrated that soil microbial biomass carbon increased with restoration and decreased with the increase in soil depth
This finding was consistent with the results of a study by Shaoet al. [19] on Pinus tabulaeformis planted in the Huangfuchuan Watershed;a study by Liet al. [20] on planted and Chinese fir forests in Sanming Kawakamii County, Fujian Province; and a study by Liuand Wang [21] on temperate forests. soil microbial quotient, as a sensitive indicator of the quality of the soil carbon pool, could reflect more effectively the effect of re-vegetation on the behaviour of soil carbon, compared with soil microbial biomass carbon
Summary
Soil organic carbon is regarded as the material basis of soil fertility, and it has been the key content of investigations on the global carbon cycle and climate change. In terms of the energy cycle and nutrient transfer, soil microbial biomass carbon is extremely sensitive and reflects small alterations in soil organic matter earlier than the total carbon changes [3, 4]. Dissolved organic carbon is a sensitive indicator of the changes in soil environment. It provides the kind of energy that can be utilized directly by microorganisms. The study of soil microbial biomass carbon and dissolved organic carbon is of great significance for vegetation restoration
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