Grazing Affects the Ecological Stoichiometry of the Plant–Soil–Microbe System on the Hulunber Steppe, China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear Authors,
I revised the manuscript “Grazing Affects the Ecological Stoichiometry of the Plant-Soil-Microbe System on the Hulunber Steppe, China” submitted to the Sustainability Journal. The paper is very interesting.
General remarks:
Use units with a superscript “-1”, e.g. “g kg-1” instead of “g/kg” (in the text and figures). Use the equation format as recommended in the “sustainability-template.doc” file (line 138, 144).
Specific comments:
Line 65-66, 310-311, 403. Missing references in square bracket. Add them. Line 361, 385. Modify caption of the Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. Line 233. Use a superscript of “R2”. Line 415. Delete “6. Patents”.
Discussion.
Write in a few sentences how this paper is related to sustainability and sustainable agriculture.
Conclusions.
Point out the directions of development of Chinese steppes in the aspect of sustainability.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for the assessment of the manuscript.The following are our point-to-point responses to your comments.
Use units with a superscript “-1”, e.g. “g kg-1” instead of “g/kg” (in the text and figures). Use the equation format as recommended in the “sustainability-template.doc” file (line 138, 144).
Response: Thank you for the assessment of the manuscript. The manuscript has been thoroughly revised.
Line 65-66, 310-311, 403. Missing references in square bracket. Add them. Line 361, 385. Modify caption of the Fig. 7 and Fig. 8. Line 233. Use a superscript of “R2”. Line 415. Delete “6. Patents”.
Response: Thank you for the assessment of the manuscript. The manuscript has been thoroughly revised.
Discussion. Write in a few sentences how this paper is related to sustainability and sustainable agriculture.
Response: The manuscript has been thoroughly revised. In the line 297-299, I have added the content as following, the reduction of carbon and nitrogen content in heavier grazing would affect the structure and function of the entire grassland ecosystem, and thus affect the sustainable the sustainable use of grassland ecosystems. We hope the manuscript has been improved.
Conclusions. Point out the directions of development of Chinese steppes in the aspect of sustainability.
Response: The manuscript has been thoroughly revised.
I add: in line 400-404, I have added the content as following, As an important terrestrial ecosystem in China, the sustainable development of grassland ecosystems is critical to the improvement of our environment. Our study gave the evidence that for the sustainability of grasslands in Inner Mongolia, N inputs need to be increased and high grazing intensities reduced in meadow steppe ecosystems. We hope the manuscript has been improved.
Reviewer 2 Report
Rewrite the abstract. Abstract is not clear. improve the sentence structure and grammar on abstract, introduction and other parts of the paper. There are many paragraphs and sentences need to be improved for English writing. The conclusion sentence on the abstract needs to be rewritten to make more clear.
Line: 73-74, rewrite these sentences, repeatedly used therefore.
Line 87, no need the following before objectives.
Line 96-97: provide figures for monthly average temperature and monthly total precipitation during study period and discuss the weather effect on plant C, N, P, soil C, N, P and Microbial C, N, P.
Line 116: would be better read if change to soil sampling and analysis
line 122: "root collar" only collar is enough.
line 134: give the name of auto analyzer used for TN testing
line 135: subscript for H2SO4, HClO4.
Check other paragraphs and sentences and need to improve paragraph and sentence structure throughout the article.
Write a paragraph or two as conclusion summarizing the findings from the study.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
Thank you for the assessment of the manuscript. The following are our point-to-point responses to your comments.
Rewrite the abstract. Abstract is not clear. Improve the sentence structure and grammar on abstract, introduction and other parts of the paper. There are many paragraphs and sentences need to be improved for English writing. The conclusion sentence on the abstract needs to be rewritten to make more clear.
Response: We thank the reviewer for the thoughtful comment. I have modified the abstract. The revised content is as follows, grazing affects nutrient cycling processes in grasslands, but little is known about effects on the nutrient stoichiometry of plant-soil-microbe systems. In this study, the influence of grazing intensity (0, 0.23, 0.34, 0.46, 0.69, and 0.92 AU ha−1) on carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) and their stoichiometric ratios in plants, soil, and microbes was investigated in a Hulunber meadow steppe, Northeastern China. The C:N and C:P ratios of shoots decreased with grazing increased, but the ratios of roots were not significantly affected. Leaf N:P ratios <10 suggested that the plant communities under grazing were N-limited. Heavy grazing intensities increased the C:N and C:P ratios of microbial biomass，but grazing intensity had no significant effects on the stoichiometry of soil nutrients. The coupling relationship of C:N ratio in plant-soil-microbial systems was tightly significant compared to C:P ratio and N:P ratio according to the correlation results. The finding suggested grazing exacerbated the competition between plants and microorganisms for N and P nutrition by the stoichiometric changes (%) in each grazing level relative to the no grazing treatment. Therefore, for the sustainability of grasslands in Inner Mongolia, N inputs need to be increased and high grazing intensities reduced in meadow steppe ecosystems. We hope the manuscript has been improved.
Line: 73-74, rewrite these sentences, repeatedly used therefore.
Response: The manuscript has been thoroughly revised. The sentence has modified as following, we have not paid much attention to the influence of grazing activity on the stoichiometry of the plant-microbial-soil system in grassland ecosystems.
Line 87, no need the following before objectives.
Response: We have revised the text according to the reviewer’s comment.
Line 96-97: provide figures for monthly average temperature and monthly total precipitation during study period and discuss the weather effect on plant C, N, P, soil C, N, P and Microbial C, N, P.
Response: I have added the figures for monthly average temperature and monthly total precipitation in 2018.
Line 116: would be better read if change to soil sampling and analysis.
Response: Thank you for the assessment of the manuscript. This sample collection has not been changed. We can change the sampling method for the next sampling.
line 122: "root collar" only collar is enough.
Response: The manuscript has been thoroughly revised.
line 134: give the name of auto analyzer used for TN testing
Response: The sentence has modified as following, the TN concentration of soil and plant samples was determined using a continuous flow analyzer made in German(AA3).
line 135: subscript for H2SO4, HClO4.
Response: The manuscript has been thoroughly revised.
Check other paragraphs and sentences and need to improve paragraph and sentence structure throughout the article.
Response: I have already checked other paragraphs and sentences.
Write a paragraph or two as conclusion summarizing the findings from the study.
Response: In line 400-404, I have added the content as following, as an important terrestrial ecosystem in China, the sustainable development of grassland ecosystems is critical to the improvement of our environment. Our study gave the evidence that for the sustainability of grasslands in Inner Mongolia, N inputs need to be increased and high grazing intensities reduced in meadow steppe ecosystems. We hope the manuscript has been improved.
