Effects of long-term vegetation restoration on soil active organic carbon fractions content and enzyme activities in karst rocky desertification ecosystem of southwest China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2022.0216

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims This study aimed to reveal the impacts of long-term vegetation restorations on soil total organic carbon content, active organic carbon fractions content and enzyme activities in karst rocky desertification ecosystems, which provided scientific bases for the management of degraded karst ecosystem and the carbon regulation by land use in southwest China.

Methods In the typical karst area of southwest China, seven representative vegetation restoration measures, that were, Cupressus funebris planting, Tectona grandisplanting, Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting, Hylocereus undatus planting, Lonicera japonica planting, Pennisetum sinese planting and Amomum villosum planting, were selected. Responses of contents of soil total organic carbon (TSOC), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and easy oxidation organic carbon (EOC) and enzyme activities of urease (URE), sucrase (SUC), amylase (AMY) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) to these vegetation restorations were investigated.

Important findings (1) The vegetation restorations significantly improved TSOC distribution and accumulation, and remarkably changed soil active organic carbon fraction contents and their proportions to TSOC in the karst rocky desertification ecosystem. But the impacts of different vegetation restorations on contents of TSOC and its active fractions were obviously different. The TSOC contents and stocks under C. funebris and L. japonicasoils were higher, while those of the two measures under artificial grassland soils (P. sinese and A. villosum planting) were the lowest among the seven vegetation restorations. The EOC and MBC contents under C. funebrisand L. japonica soils were higher, while DOC content under Z. bungeanum soil were higher compared to other vegetation restorations. (2) The four soil enzymes activities were all significantly increased in various levels by the long-term vegetation restorations. However, response mechanisms of different soil enzyme activities to the vegetation restorations were also different. The URE activities of the other six restoration measures were significantly higher compared to the control plot (CK) except Z. bungeanum planting. The SUC and ALP activities of the remaining six restoration measures were significantly higher than those of CK except P. sinese planting. Among the seven restorations, only AMY activity under C. funebris soil was significantly higher than that of CK. (3) There were significant correlations between soil enzyme activities and contents of TSOC and its active fractions. But correlations of different enzyme activities with TSOC and its active fraction contents were obviously different. Correlations of AMY and ALP activities with TSOC and its active fraction contents were stronger than that of URE and SUC. While the ALP and AMY activities were closely related to soil organic carbon accumulation, and mineralization rate and active organic carbon fractions in the karst rocky desertification ecosystem.

Key words: vegetation restoration, enzyme activity, microbial biomass carbon, dissolved organic carbon, easy oxidation organic carbon

LUO Na-Na, SHENG Mao-Yin, WANG Lin-Jiao, SHI Qing-Long, HE Yu. Effects of long-term vegetation restoration on soil active organic carbon fractions content and enzyme activities in karst rocky desertification ecosystem of southwest China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2023, 47(6): 867-881.

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https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2023/V47/I6/867

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Vegetation restoration plots location and basic information of Huajiang study area. BM, Cupressus funebris planting; CK, control plot; HJ, Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting; HLG, Hylocereus undatus planting; HZC, Pennisetum sinese planting; JYH, Lonicera japonica planting; SR, Amomum villosum planting; YM, Tectona grandis planting.

Table 1 Basic information of the vegetation restoration sample plots set in Huajiang

Fig. 2 Soil total organic carbon contents (A) and storages (B) of the different vegetation restoration measures in the karst rocky desertification ecosystem, southwest China (mean ± SD). BM, Cupressus funebris planting; CK, control plot; HJ, Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting; HLG, Hylocereus undatus planting; HZC, Pennisetum sinese planting; JYH, Lonicera japonica planting; SR, Amomum villosum planting; YM, Tectona grandis planting. Different uppercase letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between different vegetation restoration measures in the same soil layer, and different lowercase letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between different soil layers of the same vegetation restoration measure.

Fig. 3 Soil active organic carbon fraction contents (A-C) and their proportions (D-F) to total soil organic carbon content (TSOC) of the different vegetation restorations in the karst rocky desertification ecosystem, southwest China (mean ± SD). DOC, dissolved organic carbon content; EOC, easy oxidation carbon content; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; TSOC, total soil organic carbon content. BM, Cupressus funebris planting; CK, control plot; HJ, Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting; HLG, Hylocereus undatus planting; HZC, Pennisetum sinese planting; JYH, Lonicera japonica planting; SR, Amomum villosum planting; YM, Tectona grandis planting. Different uppercase letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between different vegetation restoration measures in the same soil layer, and different lowercase letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between different soil layers of the same vegetation restoration measure.

Fig. 4 Soil enzyme activities of the different vegetation restorations in the karst rocky desertification ecosystem, southwest China (mean ± SD). BM, Cupressus funebris planting; CK, control plot; HJ, Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting; HLG, Hylocereus undatus planting; HZC, Pennisetum sinese planting; JYH, Lonicera japonica planting; SR, Amomum villosum planting; YM, Tectona grandis planting. Different uppercase letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) of enzyme activity between different restorations.

Table 2 Correlations of the soil enzyme activities with soil physical-chemical properties including contents of soil total organic carbon and its active fractions in the karst rocky desertification ecosystem, southwest China

酶活性 Enzyme activity	pH	BD	TN	TP	TSOC	DOC	EOC	MBC	DOC/TSOC	EOC/TSOC	MBC/TSOC
URE	0.489^*	0.365	-0.070	-0.240	0.051	-0.264	0.074	0.300	0.111	-0.070	0.327
SUC	-0.054	0.113	0.078	-0.202	0.029	0.219	-0.036	0.054	-0.035	-0.209	0.120
AMY	0.155	-0.194	0.317	0.106	0.541^**	-0.293	0.599^**	0.501^*	-0.465^*	0.268	0.007
ALP	0.260	-0.255	0.504^*	0.151	0.696^**	-0.235	0.680^**	0.749^**	-0.648^**	0.026	0.119

Table 3 Principal component analysis for the response of karst rocky desertification soil environmental factors to long-term vegetation restorations in southwest China

因子 Factor	主成分 Principal component
因子 Factor	1	2	3	4
URE	0.000	0.725	-0.332	-0.061
SUC	-0.024	-0.016	0.856	-0.248
AMY	0.589	0.514	-0.191	0.168
ALP	0.706	0.557	0.262	-0.053
TSOC	0.985	0.019	0.047	-0.045
DOC	-0.228	-0.382	0.506	0.502
MBC	0.613	0.579	0.296	0.228
EOC	0.970	0.056	-0.026	0.131
TN	0.870	-0.188	0.098	-0.278
TP	0.651	-0.541	-0.064	0.072
pH	-0.215	0.754	-0.021	-0.148
BD	-0.737	0.433	-0.022	-0.236
DOC/TSOC	-0.907	-0.044	0.036	0.198
MBC/TSOC	-0.386	0.675	0.370	0.308
EOC/TSOC	0.134	0.046	-0.213	0.823
特征向量值 Eigenvalue	5.947	3.129	1.492	1.391
贡献率率 Contribution percent (%)	39.647	20.859	9.948	9.276
累计贡献率 Cumulative percent (%)	39.647	60.506	70.455	79.731

Fig. 5 Principal component (PC) analysis ordination for the response of karst rocky desertification soil environmental factors to long-term vegetation restorations in southwest China. BD, soil bulk density; DOC, dissolved organic carbon content; EOC, easy oxidation carbon content; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; TN, total nitrogen content; TP, total phosphorus content; TSOC, total soil organic carbon content. ALP, alkaline phosphatase activity; AMY, amylase activity; SUC, sucrase activity; URE, urease activity. BM, Cupressus funebris planting; CK, control plot; HJ, Zanthoxylum bungeanum planting; HLG, Hylocereus undatus planting; HZC, Pennisetum sinese planting; JYH, Lonicera japonica planting; SR, Amomum villosum planting; YM, Tectona grandis planting.

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