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Guo X, Yang G, Wu J, Qiao S, Tao L. Impacts of forest age on soil characteristics and fertility quality of Populus simonii shelter forest at the southern edge of the Horqin Sandy Land, China. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17512. [PMID: 38832033 PMCID: PMC11146331 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/05/2024] Open
Abstract
The sand fixing shelter forests in the Horqin Sandy Land are a key area in the "3-North" Shelter Forest Program in China, which has a history of over 50 years of artificial afforestation. Populus simonii Carr is one of the most dominant silvicultural species in the region. The aim of this study is to understand the soil characteristics and soil fertility of Populus simonii shelter forests at different growth stages and to establish a scientific basis for soil nutrient regulation and sustainable management of Populus simonii shelter forests at the southern edge of the Horqin Sandy Land. Sample plots were selected for young (≤15 a), middle-aged (16-25 a), near-mature (26-30 a), mature (31-40 a), and over-mature (≥41 a) forests. Each forest studied was in a state of natural restoration with uniform stand conditions and no artificial fertilizer was applied. These sites were selected to study changes in the soil characteristics in soil depths of 0-20, 20-40, and 40-60 cm. In order to avoid the problem of multicollinearity between soil variables and to reduce redundancy, principal component analysis (PCA), Pearson's correlation analysis, and Norm value calculation were used to select the least correlated indicators with the highest factor loadings. This was used to establish the minimum data set. The soil fertility quality of these shelterbelts in different forest ages was quantified using the soil quality index (SQI). In the growth stage from young to nearly mature forests, the soil bulk weight and pH decreased with increasing forest age. Soil capillary porosity, noncapillary porosity, total porosity, water content, field water holding capacity, and organic carbon content increased with increasing forest age and soil nutrient content gradually improved. At the stage of near-mature to over-mature forests, the effect of forest age on soil bulk density was not significant and all other soil characteristics decreased to varying degrees as the forest age increased. The soil also developed from alkaline to neutral. The SQI of the total data set and the SQI of the minimum data set consistently showed that near-mature forests (NMF) > middle-aged forests (MAF) > mature forests (MF) > over-mature forests (OMF) > young forests (YF). The results of the two evaluation systems showed a significant positive correlation (P < 0.05, R 2 = 0.8263) indicating that it is feasible to use the minimum data set to evaluate the soil fertility of shelter forests of different forest ages. The age of the forest has an obvious effect on the soil characteristics and overall soil fertility of shelter forests. The Populus simonii shelter forests on the southern edge of the Horqin Sandy Land have great soil development at the early stage of afforestation and the soil nutrient content gradually increases. The soil fertility reaches a peak when the forest is nearly mature and the soil fertility declines after the age of the forest reaches 30 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyu Guo
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
| | - Guang Yang
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
| | - Ji Wu
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
| | - Shi Qiao
- College of Desert Control Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
| | - Li Tao
- Forest General Site of Ordos City, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China
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Kooch Y, Kartalaei ZM, Amiri M, Zarafshar M, Shabani S, Mohammady M. Soil health reduction following the conversion of primary vegetation covers in a semi-arid environment. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 921:171113. [PMID: 38395174 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 02/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
A degraded forest is the outcome of a degradation process that has adverse effects on ecosystem functions and services. This phenomenon results in alterations of soil physicochemical and biological properties, which serve as valuable indicators for assessing soil health that has been recognized as a crucial component of soil quality. For several decades, the conversion of forested areas into rangeland has been documented in specific regions of the world. There is a widespread lack of global understanding regarding the lasting consequences of land degradation on soil health indicators. The present study aims to investigate the impact of forest degradation on soil health indicators in a mountainous semi-arid region located in northern Iran. The study area was predominantly forested, but due to human activities over the past 30 years, it has been transformed into three distinct land uses: forest, forest-rangeland ecotones and rangeland. In each of these land covers, a total of 20 litter (O-horizon) and 20 soil (from two depths of 0-15 and 15-30 cm) samples were collected in the summer (August 2022) season. According to our results, the highest litter thickness, P and Mg were in forest ecosystem, the lowest in rangeland ecosystem. The findings indicated that following the conversion of forest to rangeland, there was a decrease in soil aggregate stability, porosity, soil organic matter, POC, PON, NH4+, NO3- and nutrient levels, while soil bulk density increased. The forest ecosystem showed notably higher C and N stocks (45 and 5.21 Mg ha-1) in comparison to the rangeland (38 and 3.32 Mg ha-1) ecosystem. In addition, P, K, Ca, and Mg exhibited elevated levels within the total root of the forest ecosystem (2.12, 1.23, 0.71, and 0.38 %, respectively), whereas the lower values (1.29, 1.01, 0.43, and 0.23 %, respectively) were found in the rangeland ecosystem. Following the shift of land cover from forest to rangeland, soil fauna, microflora populations, soil enzymes and microbial activities decreased (about 1-2 times higher in the forestland). This research emphasizes the urgent need to advance sustainable management practices to prevent further degradation and promote the implementation of restoration or rehabilitation techniques in degraded forests. Despite being conducted in a semi-arid region situated in northern Iran, the findings of this study have considerable value for the sustainable management of soil and land conservation in various other semi-arid regions around the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yahya Kooch
- Faculty of Natural Resources & Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, 46417-76489 Noor, Mazandaran, Iran.
| | - Zahra Mohmedi Kartalaei
- Faculty of Natural Resources & Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, 46417-76489 Noor, Mazandaran, Iran.
| | - Mojtaba Amiri
- Faculty of Natural Resources, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.
| | - Mehrdad Zarafshar
- Linnaeus University, Faculty of Technology, Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, SE-35195 Växjö, Sweden..
| | - Saeid Shabani
- Research Department of Natural Resources, Golestan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Gorgan, Iran
| | - Majid Mohammady
- Faculty of Natural Resources, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.
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Zhao J, Shi C, Wang L, Han X, Zhu Y, Liu J, Yang X. Functional Trait Responses of Sophora alopecuroides L. Seedlings to Diverse Environmental Stresses in the Desert Steppe of Ningxia, China. PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 13:69. [PMID: 38202378 PMCID: PMC10780927 DOI: 10.3390/plants13010069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
The seedling stage of plants is a crucial and vulnerable period in population and community dynamics. Despite this, studies on how plant traits respond to different environmental stresses often tend to overlook this early stage. Our study focused on Sophora alopecuroides L. seedlings in Ningxia Yanchi desert steppe, analyzing the effects of sand burial, salinity, and drought on their key aboveground and belowground traits. The results showed that sand burial significantly negatively affected stem biomass (SB), leaf biomass (LB), stem diameter (SD), leaf length (LL), leaf width (LW), leaf area (LA), and total root volume (RV), but positively influenced total root length (RL). As sand burial depth increased, SB, LB, SD, LL, LW, LA, RV, root biomass (RB), RV, and lateral root numbers (LRN) significantly decreased. Salinity stress negatively affected SB, LB, SD, LL, LW, LA, RB, RL, and RV, with these traits declining as the stress concentration increased. Drought stress had a positive effect on SD and LL, with both traits showing an increase as the intensity of the drought stress intensified; however, it adversely affected RL. In Ningxia Yanchi desert steppe, salinity stress had the most significant effect on the traits of S. alopecuroides seedlings, followed by sand burial, with drought having the least significant effect. This study provides essential theoretical support for understanding how S. alopecuroides seedlings cope with environmental stresses in their early life stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingdong Zhao
- Breeding Base for State Key Lab. of Land Degradation and Ecological Restoration in Northwestern China/Key Lab. of Restoration and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystems in Northwestern China of Ministry of Education, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
| | - Chaoyi Shi
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
- Inner Mongolia Water Resources Inner Mongolia Water Resources Co., Ltd., Hohhot 010020, China
| | - Le Wang
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
| | - Xuejiao Han
- Forestry and Grassland Work Station of Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010011, China
| | - Yuanjun Zhu
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
| | - Jiankang Liu
- Breeding Base for State Key Lab. of Land Degradation and Ecological Restoration in Northwestern China/Key Lab. of Restoration and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystems in Northwestern China of Ministry of Education, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
| | - Xiaohui Yang
- Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
- Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
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