Carbon and Nitrogen Storage in Inner Mongolian Grasslands: Relationships with Climate and Soil Texture

作     者：HE Nian-Peng WANG Ruo-Meng ZHANG Yun-Hai CHEN Quan-Sheng 

作者机构：Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research Chinese Academy of Sciences State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences 

出 版 物：《Pedosphere》 (土壤圈（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第24卷第3期

页      面：391-398页

核心收录：

学科分类：07[理学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31270519,31070431 and 41373080) the State Key Laboratory of Forest and Soil Ecology,China(No.LFSE2013-03) 

主　　题：mean annual precipitation mean annual temperature native grassland particle-size fraction soil organic matter 

摘      要：Understanding the spatial variability of soil carbon （C） storage and its relationship with climate and soil texture is critical for developing regional C models and for predicting the potential impact of climate change on soil C storage. On the basis of soil data from a transect across the Inner Mongolian grasslands, we determined the quantitative relationships of C and nitrogen （N） in bulk soil and particle-size fractions （sand, silt, and clay） with climate and soil texture to evaluate the major factors controlling soil C and N storage and to predict the effect of climate changes on soil C and N storage. The contents of C and N in the bulk soil and the different fractions in the 0 20 and 20 40 cm soil layers were positively correlated with the mean annum precipitation （MAP） and negatively correlated with the mean annual temperature （MAT）. The responses of C storage in the soil and particle-size fractions to MAP and MAT were more sensitive in the 0-20 cm than in the 2（~40 cm soil layer. Although MAP and MAT were both important factors influencing soil C storage, the models that include only MAP could well explain the variation in soil C storage in the Inner Mongolian grasslands. Because of the high correlation between MAP and MAT in the region, the models including MAT did not significantly enhance the model precision. Moreover, the contribution of the fine fraction （silt and clay） to the variation in soil C storage was rather small because of the very low fine fraction content in the Inner Mongolian grasslands.