Theme 1: Grassland Ecology

Description

Grassland is one of the largest terrestrial ecosystems in the world, a large part of which is distributed in varied topography. And grazing and enclosure are the main ways to use this part. Grazing changes the soil structure through feeding, trampling and excreta return, thus affects the soil nutrients. The aspect mainly affects soil temperature and moisture by affecting solar radiation. The slope affects soil nutrients by affecting surface runoff. Water and temperature are the main factors affecting soil nutrients. We carried out to explore the effect of enclosure years and topography on soil ecological stoichiometry. The results showed that: soil organic carbon density, soil nitrogen density and soil phosphorus density increased with the increasing enclosure years and decreased with the increasing slope. Soil N/P (ratio between soil nitrogen density and soil phosphorus density) increased with increasing the enclosure years and the slope while soil C/N (ratio between soil organic carbon density and soil nitrogen density) decreased. Soil C/P (ratio between soil organic carbon density and soil phosphorus density) increased with the increasing enclosure years, however the trend with slope change was not obvious. The enclosure of sunny slope is more beneficial to soil nutrient accumulation.

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Enclosure Rather Than Topography Enhances the Soil Ecological Stoichiometry in Typical Steppe on the Loess Plateau, China

Grassland is one of the largest terrestrial ecosystems in the world, a large part of which is distributed in varied topography. And grazing and enclosure are the main ways to use this part. Grazing changes the soil structure through feeding, trampling and excreta return, thus affects the soil nutrients. The aspect mainly affects soil temperature and moisture by affecting solar radiation. The slope affects soil nutrients by affecting surface runoff. Water and temperature are the main factors affecting soil nutrients. We carried out to explore the effect of enclosure years and topography on soil ecological stoichiometry. The results showed that: soil organic carbon density, soil nitrogen density and soil phosphorus density increased with the increasing enclosure years and decreased with the increasing slope. Soil N/P (ratio between soil nitrogen density and soil phosphorus density) increased with increasing the enclosure years and the slope while soil C/N (ratio between soil organic carbon density and soil nitrogen density) decreased. Soil C/P (ratio between soil organic carbon density and soil phosphorus density) increased with the increasing enclosure years, however the trend with slope change was not obvious. The enclosure of sunny slope is more beneficial to soil nutrient accumulation.