Welcome to Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology! Today is Share:

Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Stability and organic carbon characteristics of soil aggregates under different ecosystems in karst canyon region.

TAN Qiu-jin1,3, SONG Tong-qing1,2, PENG Wan-xia1,2, ZENG Fu-ping1,2, DU Hu1,2, YANG Gai-ren1,3, FAN Fu-jing1,4   

  1. (1Key Laboratory of Agroecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; 2Huanjiang Observation and Research Station of Karst Ecosystem, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huanjiang 547100, Guangxi, China; 3College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China; 4Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China)
  • Online:2014-03-18 Published:2014-03-18

Abstract: Soil aggregates and their organic carbon distributions were studied under six ecosystems, i.e., farmland (short for ST), dry land (HD), grassland (CD), shrubbery (GC), plantation (RGL) and secondary forest (CSL), in a karst canyon region of China by a combination of field investigation and laboratory analysis. The result showed that, soil aggregates were dominated by particles with sizes>8 mm in the ecosystems except HD under dry sieving, and basically presented a trend of decreasing firstly, then increasing and finally decreasing along with particle sizes decreasing; while soil aggregates were dominated by particles with sizes >5 mm in the ecosystems except HD under wet sieving and decreased with decreasing of particle sizes. The mean mass diameter (MMD) was in the order of ST>CD>RGL>CSL>GC>HD and the geometric mean diameter (GMD) was ST>CD>RGL>CSL>HD>GC by dry sieving, and MMD was RGL>CSL>GC>CD>ST>HD and GMD was CSL>RGL>GC>CD>ST>HD by wet sieving. Therefore, MMD and especially GMD of wet sieving were more accurate than that of dry sieving to evaluate soil aggregates quality in the karst cannon region. The fractal dimension (D) of mechanical stability in soil aggregates followed the order of CD>HD>ST>RGL>CSL>GC and the water stability was in the order of GC>CSL>RGL>HD>CD>ST. The higher the SOC content was, the larger values of D, MMD, GMD became, and the more sense the soil structure made. Soil organic carbon content was highest in the aggregate particles with sizes ranging from 0.25 to 0.053 mm, and the content in some particles with sizes >5 mm was lowest. However, the contribution rate of particles with sizes >5 mm was largest to soil organic carbon, which gradually decreased with the decrease of particle size.