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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2023, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (1): 58-66.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.202301.008

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Effects of plant residues on C:N:P of soil, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzyme in an alpine mea-dow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

XIAO Xiang-qian1, ZHANG Hai-kuo1, FENG Ya-si1, WANG Ji-peng2, LIANG Chen-fei1, CHEN You-chao1, ZHU Gao-di1, CAI Yan-jiang1*   

  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University/College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China;
    2College of Ecology and Environment, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, China
  • Received:2022-07-25 Revised:2022-10-28 Online:2023-01-15 Published:2023-06-15

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Abstract: Plant residues can affect C:N:P of soil, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzyme, but the effects are still unclear. We conducted a field experiment in an alpine meadow on the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to explore the effects of removing aboveground plant or roots and adding plant residues on the C:N:P of soil, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzyme. The results showed that removing aboveground plant biomass significantly decreased soil C:N (the change was -23.7%, the same below) and C:P (-14.7%), microbial biomass C:P and N:P, while significantly increased microbial biomass C:N, and enzyme C:N:P compared with meadow without human disturbance. Removing all plant biomass (aboveground and roots) significantly reduced soil C:N (-11.6%), C:P (-24.0%), N:P (-23.3%) and microbial biomass C:N in comparison to removing aboveground plant, while significantly improved microbial biomass N:P and enzyme N:P. Adding plant residues after removing aboveground plant significantly increased microbial biomass C:N and C:P, enzyme C:N compared with removing aboveground plant, while significantly decreased enzyme N:P. Compared with removing all the plant, adding plant residues after removing whole plant significantly reduced soil C:N (-16.4%), microbial biomass C:P, N:P and enzyme N:P, while significantly increased enzyme C:N. Our results suggest that removal of plants could have a strong effect on C:N:P of soil, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzyme, and C:N:P of microbial biomass and that extracellular enzyme woule be more sensitive to plant residues. Roots could play a key role in stabilizing C:N:P of soil, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzyme under plant residues addition. Adding plant residues could be a suitable solution for restoring alpine meadows under the circumstance of intact roots, which was conducive to soil C storage, but might not be suitable for alpine meadows with serious root damage, which would increase soil CO2 emission.

Key words: litter, alpine grassland, microbial biomass, soil extracellular enzyme, stoichiometric ratio.