Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Online
    • Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • Info For
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • About
    • About JSWC
    • Editorial Board
    • Permissions
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
    • Contact Us
  • Follow SWCS on Twitter
  • Visit SWCS on Facebook
Research ArticleResearch Section

Vertical distribution of soil organic and inorganic carbon under different vegetation covers in two toposequences of the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau, China

N. Mao, L. Huang and M. Shao
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation July 2018, 73 (4) 479-491; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.73.4.479
N. Mao
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
L. Huang
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
M. Shao
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Understanding the carbon (C) cycle of the terrestrial ecosystem and estimating the C sequestration potential in soils are critical to evaluate ecosystem function and security. The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) and inorganic carbon (SIC) as well as their influencing factors under different types of vegetation in two toposequences of the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau of China were investigated. Results showed that the measured soil properties were differentiated into two groups: (1) one behaving relatively conservatively (pH, bulk density, silt content, and capillary and total porosity) with coefficient of variations (CVs) < 10% and (2) the other encompassing more labile components (SOC, SIC, noncapillary porosity, clay, and sand and soil water content) with CVs > 10%. Soil organic C under different vegetation covers in the two toposequences (0.62 to 5.12 g kg−1) decreased rapidly with depth in the top 0 to 50 cm soil layer and then remained relatively stable over the 50 to 200 cm depth, which can be described by the exponential model. In contrast, SIC (4.11 to 18.69 g kg−1) was much higher than SOC and showed distinct distribution patterns, which increased initially with depth and then decreased downwards except for the grassland in the west-facing slope (W-grassland) exhibiting an opposite trend. There were no significant differences of SOC either under different vegetation covers or in different slopes over the whole profile (p > 0.05); however, significant differences of SIC were observed for both different vegetation covers in the same slope and for the same vegetation cover in different slopes (e.g., W-grassland versus W-forestland, W-grassland versus NE-grassland) (p < 0.05). This study demonstrated that different soil properties could simultaneously affect SOC and SIC contents; thus attempts to model SOC and SIC based on the independent effects of individual soil property without consideration of their interactions would result in unsatisfactory prediction. We proposed models that quantitatively described SOC and SIC contents as a combined product of different soil properties for each vegetation cover in both northeast-facing and west-facing slopes using multiple regression analysis, which could improve the prediction of SOC and SIC contents for the study area from the simple linear regression models.

  • © 2018 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: 73 (4)
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Vol. 73, Issue 4
July/August 2018
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Vertical distribution of soil organic and inorganic carbon under different vegetation covers in two toposequences of the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau, China
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
10 + 1 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Vertical distribution of soil organic and inorganic carbon under different vegetation covers in two toposequences of the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau, China
N. Mao, L. Huang, M. Shao
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Jul 2018, 73 (4) 479-491; DOI: 10.2489/jswc.73.4.479

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Vertical distribution of soil organic and inorganic carbon under different vegetation covers in two toposequences of the Liudaogou watershed on the Loess Plateau, China
N. Mao, L. Huang, M. Shao
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Jul 2018, 73 (4) 479-491; DOI: 10.2489/jswc.73.4.479
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Phytoremediation and high rainfall combine to improve soil and plant health in a North America Northern Great Plains saline sodic soil
  • Combining a saltation impact sensor and a wind tunnel to explore wind erosion processes–A case study in the Zhundong mining area, Xinjiang, China
  • Physicochemical properties of biochar derived from wood of Gliricidia sepium based on the pyrolysis temperature and its applications
Show more Research Section

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current Issue
  • Early Online
  • Archive
  • Subject Collections

Info For

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Advertisers

Customer Service

  • Subscriptions
  • Permissions and Reprints
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy

SWCS

  • Membership
  • Publications
  • Meetings and Events
  • Conservation Career Center

© 2022 Soil and Water Conservation Society