Moss-dominated biocrusts increase soil microbial abundance and community diversity and improve soil fertility in semi-arid climates on the Loess Plateau of China

2017 ◽  
Vol 117-118 ◽  
pp. 165-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Xiao ◽  
Maik Veste
Keyword(s):  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Community Diversity ◽  
Microbial Abundance ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Semi Arid

scholarly journals Evolutional Characteristics of Regional Meteorological Drought and Their Linkages with Southern Oscillation Index across the Loess Plateau of China during 1962–2017

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7237
Author(s):  
Ming Li ◽  
Fuqiang Cao ◽  
Guiwen Wang ◽  
Xurong Chai ◽  
Lianzhi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Southern Oscillation Index ◽  
Temporal Evolution ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Arid Area ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Drought Period ◽  
Humid Area ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Meteorological Droughts

The Loess Plateau of China (CLP) is located in the transition zone from a semi-humid climate zone to semi-arid and arid climate zones. It is influenced by the westerly circulation, plateau monsoon, and East Asian monsoon circulation, and the drought disasters across the CLP have obvious regional characteristics. In this study, climate regionalization was performed by a spatial hierarchical cluster approach based on the gridded datasets of monthly precipitation across the CLP from 1961 to 2017. Then, the standardized precipitation index (SPI) was used to explore the temporal evolution of regional meteorological droughts. Finally, wavelet methods were used to investigate the drought cycles in each homogeneous subregion and the linkages between SPI and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). The results show that: (1) Spatially, the CLP can be divided into four homogeneous regions, namely, Ordos Plateau semi-arid area (Region I), Northern Shanxi hilly semi-humid area (Region II), Longzhong plateau cold-arid area (Region III), and Fenwei Plain and Shaanxi-Shanxi hilly semi-humid area (Region IV). (2) There are apparent differences in the temporal evolution of meteorological droughts in different subregions, but two wet periods from the 1960s to 1980s and 2010s, and a drought period in the 1990s, can be found in each subregion. (3) There is a significant drought cycle of 3–8 years in the four subregions, and the first main cycles of drought variation are not completely consistent. (4) The linkages between SPI and SOI are time- and space-dependent and the phase differences are dominated by in-phase. The strongest correlations between the two time series occur in the 1980s in the four subregions. The results of this research have important implications for the establishment of drought monitoring programs in homogeneous climate regions, and informed decision making in water resource management.

scholarly journals Effects of Stubble Management on Soil Fertility and Crop Yield of Rainfed Area in Western Loess Plateau, China

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. B. Huang ◽  
Z. Z. Luo ◽  
L. L. Li ◽  
R. Z. Zhang ◽  
G. D. Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Fertility ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil N ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Stubble Retention ◽  
Severe Erosion ◽  
Agriculture Sustainability ◽  
Sloping Land ◽  
Western Loess Plateau

The combination of continuous cereal cropping, tillage and stubble removal reduces soil fertility and increases soil erosion on sloping land. The objective of the present study was to assessment soil fertility changes under stubble removal and stubble retention in the Loess Plateau where soil is prone to severe erosion. It was indicated that soil N increased a lot for and two stubble retention treatments had the higher N balance at the end of two rotations. Soil K balance performed that soil K was in deficient for all treatments and two stubble retention treatments had lower deficit K. The treatments with stubble retention produced higher grain yields than the stubble removal treatments. It was concluded that stubble retention should be conducted to increase crops productivity, improve soil fertility as well as agriculture sustainability in the Loess plateau, China.

Culturable autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria population and nitrification potential in a sheep grazing intensity gradient in a grassland on the Loess Plateau of Northwest China

2011 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 925-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianzeng Liu ◽  
Zhibiao Nan ◽  
Fujiang Hou
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Grazing Intensity ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Ammonia Oxidizing Bacteria ◽  
Stocking Rate ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Nitrification Potential ◽  
Dry Soil

Liu, T., Nan, Z. and Hou, F. 2011. Culturable autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria population and nitrification potential in a sheep grazing intensity gradient in a grassland on the Loess Plateau of Northwest China. Can. J. Soil Sci. 91: 925–934. Grazing is known to enhance the activity of soil microbial communities in many types of grasslands; however, the potential impacts of rotational grazing activity on soil microbial functional groups remain poorly understood. We investigated the effects of 9 yr of rotational grazing by livestock on culturable autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) population size, nitrification potential and soil properties in a semi-arid grassland of the Loess Plateau in Northwest China. Three stocking rate treatments of 2.7, 5.3 and 8.7 wether lambs ha−1were evaluated in geographically separated paddocks. Grazing increased nitrification potential and culturable AOB populations compared with ungrazed treatments. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria populations increased from 155 bacteria g−1dry soil with 0 sheep ha−1to 16 218 bacteria g−1dry soil with 8.7 sheep ha−1. Grazing led to an increase in population of AOB at 0–10 cm soil depth, but had no effect on AOB at 10–20 cm soil depth. Nitrification potential increased from 1.21 mg NO3-N kg−1soil d−1in ungrazed treatments to 2.86 mg NO3-N kg−1soil d−1at the highest stocking rate. Soil ammonium and nitrate concentrations increased; however, total soil nitrogen and soil moisture content decreased with increased stocking rate for both sampling depths (0–10 cm and 10–20 cm). Soil organic matter was not affected by grazing treatments. Soil nitrification potential and the size of culturable AOB populations were dependent on grazing intensity, soil depth and season. This information is potentially important for the optimal selection of stocking rate for grazed ecosystems.

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