Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology >
Effects of sand burial on litter decomposition rate and salt content dynamics in an extremely arid region
Received date: 2020-08-10
Accepted date: 2020-10-12
Online published: 2021-03-09
Supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China(41877420);Poverty Alleviation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(KFJ-FP-201903)
Aims Due to the extremely low precipitation, low vegetation coverage, strong solar radiation, and poor soil stability, litter turnover in extremely arid areas differs from that in non-arid areas. This study aimed to determine the patterns of leaf litter decomposition of contrasting initial qualities in an extremely arid region.
Methods We used the litter bag method to investigate changes of the mass and water-soluble salt content in the leaf litter of three dominant species, Karelinia caspia, Alhagi sparsifoliaand Populus euphratica,in the desert- oasis transitional zone of the southern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, in responses to three levels of sand burial treatments, including placement of letter samples at the surface, and 2 cm and 15 cm soil depths, respectively, that represented different incubation environments under natural conditions.
Important findings The relationships of litter decomposition rate with the initial litter quality indicators, including carbon (C) content, nitrogen (N) content, C:N and lignin content, differed between the extremely arid sites and the non-arid sites. The litter placed on the surface had higher lignin content and faster mass loss than those subjected to other treatments. The losses of litter mass and changes in water-soluble salt content significantly varied with the level of burial treatments. Litter samples placed on the surface and at 2 cm depth had a significantly greater rate of losses in mass and water-soluble salt content than those at 15 cm depth. The surface litter had a greater amount of dissolved water-soluble salt in the early stage of decomposition. This study shows that the driving mechanism of litter decomposition in the extremely arid areas is unique. Under conditions of extremely low precipitation and the low activity of soil microorganisms, the buried depth is not the main factor driving the litter decomposition, whilst other abiotic processes such as solar radiation controlled the rate of decomposition.
Key words： litter decomposition; extremely arid area; burial depth; salt
Fan Lin-Jie, LI Cheng-Dao, LI Xiang-Yi, Henry J. SUN, LIN Li-Sha, LIU Bo . Effects of sand burial on litter decomposition rate and salt content dynamics in an extremely arid region[J]. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2021 , 45(2) : 144 -153 . DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2020.0273
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