Influence of lignin phenols on soil organic carbon in degraded grassland in Nei Mongol, China

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2024.0072

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The influencing factors on the loss and accumulation of soil organic carbon in degraded grasslands need to be clarified. The lignin phenols derived from plant are important composition of soil organic carbon, and the decomposition of lignin phenols caused by benzene ring opening is an important process of soil organic carbon loss in degraded grasslands, however, studies on this point are not fully understood.

Methods Soil samples were collected in four degradation severities of typical grasslands in Xilin Gol, Nei Mongol. The content of lignin phenolic and the abundance of the key functional gene for benzene ring opening, catechol-1,2-dioxygenase gene (catA), and product (cis,cis-muconic acid) were measured. And variations of lignin phenols and the abundance of catA gene along the degradation gradient and their correlation with soil organic carbon content were also analyzed.

Important findings The results showed that 1) compared to the non-degraded grasslands, the content of lignin phenols in the soil of light, medium, and severe degraded grasslands decreased significantly, and showed a decreasing trend with increasing degradation. The content of lignin phenols showed the same pattern with significantly positively correlation with soil organic carbon content. 2) The abundance of catA gene significantly increased in degraded grasslands, and the abundance of its decomposition product cis,cis-muconic acid was significantly higher in moderate and severe degradation compared to that in the light and non-degradation grasslands. 3) The abundance of catA gene was significantly positively correlated with the abundance of cis,cis-muconic acid, while the content of lignin phenols was significantly negatively correlated with the abundance of catA gene. The abundance of catA gene and cis,cis-muconic acid were both significantly negatively correlated with soil organic carbon content. The results showed that, at the sample site scale, the decomposition of lignin phenols caused by benzene ring opening could be a potential mechanism in explaining the changes in soil organic carbon content in degraded typical grasslands in Nei Mongol. Thus, our results are expected to provide a new perspective for the driving mechanism of soil organic carbon loss and accumulation in degraded grasslands, and thereby providing a certain theoretical basis for the restoration of degraded grasslands.

Key words: grassland ecology, degraded grassland, lignin phenols, benzene ring opening, soil organic carbon, degradation factor analysis

DU Shu-Hui, CHU Jian-Min, DUAN Jun-Guang, XUE Jian-Guo, XU Lei, XU Xiao-Qing, WANG Qi-Bing, HUANG Jian-Hui, ZHANG Qian. Influence of lignin phenols on soil organic carbon in degraded grassland in Nei Mongol, China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2025, 49(1): 30-41.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2024.0072

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2025/V49/I1/30

Figures/Tables 9

Table 1 Plant community characteristics of grasslands with different degradation severities (mean ± SD)

	物种丰富度 Species richness	地上生物量 Above ground biomass (g·m^-2)	盖度 Coverage (%)	密度(株·m^-2) Density (No.·m^-2)
未退化 Non-degradation	9 ± 1.4^ab	400.13 ± 20.86^a	81.7 ± 6.3^a	799 ± 292.9^a
轻度退化 Lightly degradation	5 ± 0.8^c	252.55 ± 26.37^b	51.7 ± 2.4^b	402 ± 176.5^ab
中度退化 Moderately degradation	6 ± 2.1^bc	156.16 ± 10.09^c	37.7 ± 2.0^c	309 ± 31.4^b
重度退化 Severely degradation	11 ± 1.4^a	65.72 ± 24.46^d	20.0 ± 4.1^d	193 ± 31.4^c

Table 2 PERMANOVA analysis on soil lignin phenols composition of grasslands with different degradation severities

	自由度 df	平方和 Sum of squares	复相关系数 r	F检验计算值 F value	p
退化程度 Degradation severity	3	1.03	0.71	24.39	0.001^***
土壤深度 Soil depth	1	0.10	0.07	7.25	0.007^***
交互效应 Interactive effect	3	0.09	0.06	2.26	0.050^*
残差 Residual	16	0.22	0.16
总计 Total	23	1.45	1.00

Fig. 1 Content of lignin phenols in different soil depth of different degradation severity grasslands (mean ± SD). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different degradation severities in the same soil layer; different uppercase letters indicate significant differences between different soil layers at the same degradation severity (p < 0.05).

Fig. 2 Normalized content of lignin phenols of different degradation severity grasslands. SOC, soil organic carbon content (mean ± SD). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different degradation severities in the same soil layer; different uppercase letters indicate significant differences between different soil layers at the same degradation severity (p < 0.05).

Fig. 3 Correlation between the content of lignin phenols and the soil organic carbon (SOC) of different soil depth.

Fig. 4 Abundance of catA gene (A) and cis,cis-muconic acid (B) in different degradation severity grasslands (mean ± SD). Different lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different degradation severities in the same soil layer, and different uppercase letters indicate significant differences between different soil layers at the same degradation severity (p < 0.05).

Fig. 5 Correlation between the abundance of catA and cis,cis-muconic acid (A) and the content of lignin phenols (B) of different degraded grasslands soil depth.

Fig. 6 Correlation between the abundance of catA (A) and cis,cis-muconic acid (B) and the soil organic carbon (SOC) content of different degraded grasslands soil depth.

Fig. 7 Correlation between the abundance of catA and the acid-aldehyde ratio of vanillyl (A) and eugenol (B) of different degraded grasslands in different degraded grasslands soil depth. Ad/Al, acid-aldehyde ratio; s, eugenol; v, vanillyl.

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