Dynamics of Soil Carbon Fractions and Carbon Stability in Relation to Grassland Degradation in Xinjiang, Northwest China
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Sampling Design
2.3. Soil Analysis
- (1)
- Very labile carbon fraction (CF1): Carbon oxidized by 6 N H2SO4.
- (2)
- Labile carbon fraction (CF2): Carbon oxidized by 12 N H2SO4—Carbon fraction oxidized by 6 N H2SO4.
- (3)
- Less labile carbon fraction (CF3): Carbon oxidized by 18 N H2SO4—Carbon oxidized by 12 N H2SO4.
- (4)
- Non-labile carbon fraction (CF4): Total SOC content—Carbon oxidized by 18 N H2SO4.
2.4. Calculation of Soil Organic Carbon Stability
2.5. Statistical Analyses
3. Results
3.1. Contents of Soil Organic Carbon
3.2. Content of Soil Organic Carbon Fractions
3.3. Relationships of Total Soil Organic Carbon and Its Fractions
3.4. The Lability Index of Soil Organic Carbon
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Soil Organic Carbon | Very Labile Carbon | Labile Carbon | Less Labile Carbon | Non-Labile Carbon | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
df | F | P | F | P | F | P | F | P | F | P | |
Grassland degradation (GD) | 3 | 52.82 | <0.001 | 41.62 | <0.001 | 28.73 | <0.001 | 26.81 | <0.001 | 20.54 | <0.001 |
Soil depth (SD) | 1 | 8.04 | 0.012 | 6.64 | 0.020 | 0.73 | 0.406 | 10.61 | 0.005 | 2.19 | 0.158 |
GD*SD | 3 | 3.89 | 0.029 | 3.26 | 0.049 | 4.87 | 0.013 | 4.11 | 0.024 | 2.69 | 0.081 |
Land Degradation | Native Grassland (NA) | Light Degradation (LD) | Moderate Degradation (MD) | Severe Degradation (SD) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Soil Depths (cm) | ||||
CF1: Very labile carbon (g kg−1) | ||||
0–10 | 37.10 (±2.35) Aa | 28.77 (±0.93) Ba | 31.50 (±1.36) ABa | 11.17 (±3.55) Ca |
10–20 | 32.21 (±1.32) Aa | 25.72 (±0.60) Bb | 21.87 (±0.33) Bb | 14.02 (±3.09) Ca |
CF2: Labile carbon (g kg−1) | ||||
0–10 | 23.94 (±1.95) Aa | 25.57 (±1.49) Aa | 24.58 (±0.29) Aa | 8.89 (±3.18) Ba |
10–20 | 29.27 (±1.56) Aa | 20.29 (±1.40) Ba | 17.68 (±0.90) Bb | 11.19 (±2.63) Ca |
CF3: Less labile carbon (g kg−1) | ||||
0–10 | 34.18 (±2.66) Aa | 22.20 (±1.28) Ba | 23.64 (±3.23) Ba | 8.16 (±1.85) Ca |
10–20 | 23.11 (±3.09) Aa | 21.17 (±1.11) Aa | 13.57 (±1.16) Bb | 9.81 (±2.34) Ba |
CF4: Non-labile carbon (g kg−1) | ||||
0–10 | 31.33 (±3.88) Aa | 26.76 (±1.12) ABa | 19.03 (±2.30) Ba | 7.94 (±1.53) Ca |
10–20 | 26.77 (±1.87) Aa | 18.46 (±1.65) Bb | 16.53 (±2.10) Ba | 13.08 (±3.63) Ba |
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Xu, Q.; Wei, Y.; Zhao, X.; Xu, H. Dynamics of Soil Carbon Fractions and Carbon Stability in Relation to Grassland Degradation in Xinjiang, Northwest China. Sustainability 2022, 14, 5860. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105860
Xu Q, Wei Y, Zhao X, Xu H. Dynamics of Soil Carbon Fractions and Carbon Stability in Relation to Grassland Degradation in Xinjiang, Northwest China. Sustainability. 2022; 14(10):5860. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105860
Chicago/Turabian StyleXu, Qiao, Yan Wei, Xinfeng Zhao, and Hailiang Xu. 2022. "Dynamics of Soil Carbon Fractions and Carbon Stability in Relation to Grassland Degradation in Xinjiang, Northwest China" Sustainability 14, no. 10: 5860. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14105860