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Local-Scale Spatial Variability of Soil Organic Carbon and its Stock in the Hilly Area of the Loess Plateau, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yafeng Wang ,
Bojie Fu ,
Yihe Lü ,
Chengjun Song  and
Yong Luan
Yafeng Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, PR China
Bojie Fu*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, PR China
Yihe Lü
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, PR China
Chengjun Song
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, PR China
Yong Luan
Affiliation:
School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, PR China
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +86 10 62923557. E-mail address:bfu@rcees.ac.cn
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Abstract

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the key components for assessing soil quality. Meanwhile, the changes in the stocks SOC may have large potential impact on global climate. It is increasingly important to estimate the SOC stock precisely and to investigate its variability. In this study, Yangjuangou watershed was selected to investigate the SOC distribution under different land uses. We found that SOC concentration decreased with increasing soil depth under all land uses and was significantly different across the vertical soil profile (P < 0.01). However, considering effect of land use on SOC, it is only significant (P < 0.01) in the topsoil (0–5 cm) layer. This indicated that land use has a large effect on the stocks of SOC in the surface soil. The stratification ratio of SOC > 1.2 may mean that soil quality is improving. The order of the SOC density (0–30 cm) under different land uses is forestland > orchard land > grassland > immature forestland > terraced cropland. The SOC stock is found to be as large as 2.67 × 10 t (0–30 cm) in this watershed. Considering time effect of restoration, the slope cropland just abandoned is more efficient for SOC accumulation than trees planted in the semi-arid hilly loess area.

Keywords

Soil organic carbon (SOC)Land-use changeSoil qualityStratification ratioLoess Plateau
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 70 - 76
Copyright
University of Washington

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