Abstract
Purpose
Nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient for re-vegetation during ecosystem restoration, but the effects of cover restoration on soil N transformations are not fully understood. This study was conducted to investigate N transformations in soils with different cover restoration ages in Eastern China.
Materials and methods
Soil samples were collected from four degraded and subsequently restored lands with restoration ages of 7, 17, 23, and 35 years along with an adjacent control of degraded land. A 15N tracing technique was used to quantify gross N transformation rates.
Results and discussion
Compared with degraded land, soil organic carbon (SOC) and total N (TN) increased by 1.60–3.97 and 2.49–5.36 times in restoration land. Cover restoration increased ammonium and nitrate immobilization, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) by 0.56–0.96, 0.34–2.10, and 0.79–3.45 times, respectively, indicating that restoration was beneficial for N retention. There were positive correlations between SOC content and ammonium and nitrate immobilization and DNRA, indicating that the increase in soil N retention capacity may be ascribed to increasing SOC concentrations. The stimulating effect of SOC on ammonium immobilization was greater than its effect on organic N mineralization, so while SOC and TN increased, inorganic N supply did not increase. Autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrification increased with increasing SOC and TN concentrations. Notably, heterotrophic nitrification was an important source of NO3−−N production, accounting for 47–67% of NO3−−N production among all restoration ages.
Conclusions
The capacity of N retention was improved by cover restoration, leading to an increase in soil organic carbon and total N over time, but inorganic N supply capacity did not change with cover restoration age.
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Funding
This work was supported by the following grants: the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41907077, 41771330, 41401339) and of Fujian Province (2018J01058, 2019J01104, 2019J01105); the public welfare project of Fujian Province (2019R1025-1); the water conservancy science project of Fujian Province; the project of China Scholarship Council (201809350003), and Foundation of Fujian Academic of Agricultural Sciences (AGP2018-9, AB2017-2, SIIT2017-1-9 and project of international cooperation). The study was carried out in close collaboration with the research unit DASIM (FOR 2337) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
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Zheng, X., Lin, C., Guo, B. et al. Mechanisms behind soil N dynamics following cover restoration in degraded land in subtropical China. J Soils Sediments 20, 1897–1905 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02588-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-020-02588-1