Friday, August 16, 2019
Exhibit Hall, Kentucky International Convention Center
Di Tian, Fei Gao, Xingfei Ge, Ying Tang and Quanhong Lin, College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
Background/Question/Methods: Soil microorganisms play crucial roles in the processes of soil nutrient cycling, including the decomposition of plant litter and transformations of soil organic matter, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). Especially in vulnerable ecosystems, soil microbes are sensitive to the changes of soil environment which could be treated as important indicators of soil physical condition. Aiming to explore how different vegetation restorations affect soil microorganisms in the farming-grazing transitional zone of northern China, we conducted an experiment in Bashang semiarid area where vegetation restoration has put into effect for more than 18 years. We determined soil microbial biomass and soil pH (at 0~20 cm depth) of four restored vegetation types, including grassland, shrubland and woodland that were converted from farmlands, as well as the original farmland in this region.
Results/Conclusions: Our results showed significant differences in soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) among these four vegetation types. Soil MBC and MBN contents in farmland were the lowest compared with the other three vegetation types, which increased gradually along the order of woodland, shrubland and grassland. Moreover, the woodland and farmland had higher soil pH than that in grasslands, implying that these three vegetation restorations may not be conducive to mitigate the soil salinization in semiarid area. Taking the soil microorganism into consideration, grassland restoration was better than shrubland and woodlands, while farmland showed the lowest benefit. Our findings suggest that grassland restoration should be preferentially carried out in Bashang semiarid region when the Grain-for-Green Policy was implemented.
