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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2012, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (10): 2721-2727.

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Effects of revegetation on organic carbon storage in deep soils in hilly Loess Plateau region of Northwest China.

ZHANG Jin1, XU Ming-xiang2,3, WANG Zheng2, MA Xin-xin3, QIU Yu-jie2   

  1. (1State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resource, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 2College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China; 3College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A & F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China)
  • Online:2012-10-18 Published:2012-10-18

Abstract: Taking the Robinia pseudoacacia woodlands, Caragana korshinskii shrublands, and abandoned croplands with different years of revegetation in the hilly Loess Plateau region of Northwest China as test objects, this paper studied the profile distribution and accumulation dynamics of organic carbon storage in deep soil (100-400 cm), with those in 0-100 cm soil profile as the control. In 0-100 cm soil profile, the organic carbon storage decreased significantly with the increase of soil depth; while in deep soil, the organic carbon storage had a slight fluctuation. The total organic carbon storage in 100-400 cm soil profile was considerably high, accounting for approximately 60% of that in 0-400 cm soil profile. The organic carbon storage in 80-100 cm soil layer had a significant linear correlation with that in 100-200 and 200-400 cm soil layers, and among the organic carbon storages in the five layers in 0-100 cm soil profile, the organic carbon storage in 80-100 cm soil layer had the strongest correlation with that in 100-400 cm soil profile, being able to be used to estimate the organic carbon storage in deep soil in this region. The organic carbon storage in 0-20 cm soil layer in the three types of revegetation lands was significantly higher than that in slope croplands, but the organic carbon storage in deep soil had no significant difference among the land use types. The orga〖JP2〗nic carbon storage in deep soil  increased with the increasing years of revegetation. In R. pseudoacacia woodlands and C. korshinskii shrub lands, the average increasing rate of the organic carbon storage in 100-400 cm soil layer was 0.14 and 0.19 t·hm-2·a-1, respectively, which was comparable to that in the 0-100 cm soil layer in C. korshinskii shrublands. It was suggested that in the estimation of the soil carbon sequestration effect of revegetation in hilly Loess Plateau region, the organic carbon accumulation in deep soil should be taken into consideration. Otherwise, the effect of revegetation on soil carbon sequestration would be significantly underestimated.