Grazing disturbance significantly decreased soil organic carbon contents of alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau

Frontiers in Environmental Science

Environmental Science

Qingmin Xu¹  Yangong Du²  Huakun Zhou²  Yonggang Zhang³  Wei Li⁴  Hua Yang⁴ 

[1] Qinghai Ecology and Environment Monitor Centre, Xining, China;Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Restoration Ecology for Cold Region, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China;Tianjin Capital Environmental Protection Group Company Limited, Tianjin, China;Tianjin Eco-Environmental Monitoring Center, Tianjin, China;

关键词: effect size;    grazing intensity;    SOC;    structural equation model;    Tibetan Plateau;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fenvs.2023.1113538

 received in 2022-12-01, accepted in 2023-03-02,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Ecological security barriers on the Tibetan Plateau are threatened by climate change and human activities, such as grassland degradation and reduction of carbon fixation capacity. Understanding the influence of grazing on soil organic carbon (SOC) content and its regulating factors is important for improving the ecological barrier function of alpine grasslands. In this meta-analysis, we analysed the effects of grazing on SOC. The results indicate that grazing disturbance significantly reduced the SOC content by 13.93%, with an effect size of −0.15 ± 0.04 (p < 0.001). The effect of light grazing was not significant. The reduction range gradually increased with increasing grazing intensity. The effect of grazing activity on SOC content was driven mainly by pH and total nitrogen through a structural equation model. Future nitrogen deposition scenarios would significantly increase alpine meadow SOC on the Tibetan Plateau.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Yang, Zhang, Li, Xu, Zhou and Du.