scholarly journals Impacts of Intensive Land use on Soil Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions in Central China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
QUANCHAO ZENG ◽  
Yingze Meitang ◽  
Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo ◽  
Yonghong Wu ◽  
Wenfeng Tan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Acidification ◽  
Natural Vegetation ◽  
Central China ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
C Cycle ◽  
Citrus Orchards ◽  
Soil Bacterial ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi

Abstract Background: The impacts of the conversion of natural to agricultural ecosystem on soil biodiversity and ecosystem functions are still disputable. Here, we compared the soil biodiversity (bacteria and fungi) and ecosystem functions of citrus orchards in different stages of succession (5–30 years) with those in adjacent natural ecosystems. Different management strategies were also considered for one of this stage (15 years). Results: The results indicate that changes from natural vegetation land to citrus orchards would lead to reduced soil bacterial diversity, as well as significant declines in multiple ecosystem functions associated with C cycle after 30 years of citrus plantation. However, the functions associated with N and P cycle were enhanced by the plantation. Citrus plantation negatively affected the C cycle by reducing the soil microbial diversity. Reduction in soil bacterial biodiversity was indirectly driven by increased soil acidification resulting from citrus plantation, while wheat straw addition could alleviate the reduction (15-year stage). Compared with natural vegetation, citrus plantation also reduced the relative abundance of multiple phylotypes, including Alphaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Subgroup_6, Subgroup_4, Anaerolineae and Bacteroidia. The ecological clusters of soil bacteria and fungi were significantly associated with multiple ecosystem functions, suggesting that citrus planting altered multiple ecosystem functions via ecological clusters. Conclusions: Taken together, our results indicate that soil biodiversity, soil functions and C:N:P coupling are sensitive to the conversion of natural vegetation land to agricultural land, and further suggest that proper management of soil acidification can address some negative impacts of land use conversion on soil biodiversity and functions.

scholarly journals Soil Type Is the Primary Determinant of the Composition of the Total and Active Bacterial Communities in Arable Soils

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 1800-1809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina S. Girvan ◽  
Juliet Bullimore ◽  
Jules N. Pretty ◽  
A. Mark Osborn ◽  
Andrew S. Ball
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Type ◽  
Bacterial Communities ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Bacterial Community Composition ◽  
Arable Soils ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Soil Bacterial Communities ◽  
Soil Bacterial

ABSTRACT Degradation of agricultural land and the resulting loss of soil biodiversity and productivity are of great concern. Land-use management practices can be used to ameliorate such degradation. The soil bacterial communities at three separate arable farms in eastern England, with different farm management practices, were investigated by using a polyphasic approach combining traditional soil analyses, physiological analysis, and nucleic acid profiling. Organic farming did not necessarily result in elevated organic matter levels; instead, a strong association with increased nitrate availability was apparent. Ordination of the physiological (BIOLOG) data separated the soil bacterial communities into two clusters, determined by soil type. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses of 16S ribosomal DNA identified three bacterial communities largely on the basis of soil type but with discrimination for pea cropping. Five fields from geographically distinct soils, with different cropping regimens, produced highly similar profiles. The active communities (16S rRNA) were further discriminated by farm location and, to some degree, by land-use practices. The results of this investigation indicated that soil type was the key factor determining bacterial community composition in these arable soils. Leguminous crops on particular soil types had a positive effect upon organic matter levels and resulted in small changes in the active bacterial population. The active population was therefore more indicative of short-term management changes.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS OF SPECIAL GREENING TERRITORIES

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.N. Krupina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Situational Analysis ◽  
Ecological Situation ◽  
Barrier Potential ◽  
Industrial Cities ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Industrial Zones

Based on the analysis of the tense ecological situation in the industrial zones of industrial cities, the role and place of special landscaping areas in the implementation of national projects is substantiated. From the perspective of the ecosystem approach, a set of requirements and a list of priority optimization decisions regarding the planning organization of environmental protection landscaping are proposed. The matrix of situational analysis of the state and the composition of indicators for assessing the barrier potential of a territory with a special land use regime are presented.

scholarly journals Rural-Spatial Restructuring Promoted by Land-Use Transitions: A Case Study of Zhulin Town in Central China

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Dong Han ◽  
Jiajun Qiao ◽  
Qiankun Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Central China ◽  
Rural Space ◽  
Spatial Restructuring ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
The Impact

Rural-spatial restructuring involves the spatial mapping of the current rural development process. The transformation of land-use morphologies, directly or indirectly, affects the practice of rural restructuring. Analyzing this process in terms of the dominant morphology and recessive morphology is helpful for better grasping the overall picture of rural-spatial restructuring. Accordingly, this paper took Zhulin Town in Central China as a case study area. We propose a method for studying rural-spatial restructuring based on changes in the dominant and recessive morphologies of land use. This process was realized by analyzing the distribution and functional suitability of ecological-production-living (EPL) spaces based on land-use types, data on land-use changes obtained over a 30-year observation period, and in-depth research. We found that examining rural-spatial restructuring by matching the distribution of EPL spaces with their functional suitability can help to avoid the misjudgment of the restructuring mode caused by the consideration of the distribution and structural changes in quantity, facilitating greater understanding of the process of rural-spatial restructuring. Although the distribution and quantitative structure of Zhulin’s EPL spaces have changed to differing degrees, ecological- and agricultural-production spaces still predominate, and their functional suitability has gradually increased. The spatial distribution and functional suitability of Zhulin are generally well matched, with 62.5% of the matched types being high-quality growth, and the positive effect of Zhulin’s spatial restructuring over the past 30 years has been significant. We found that combining changes in EPL spatial area and quantity as well as changes in functional suitability is helpful in better understanding the impact of the national macro-policy shift regarding rural development. Sustaining the positive spatial restructuring of rural space requires the timely adjustment of local actors in accordance with the needs of macroeconomic and social development, and a good rural-governance model is essential.

scholarly journals A research framework for projecting ecosystem change in highly diverse tropical mountain ecosystems

Oecologia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Bendix ◽  
Nicolay Aguire ◽  
Erwin Beck ◽  
Achim Bräuning ◽  
Roland Brandl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Functional Traits ◽  
Biomass Production ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Mountain Ecosystems ◽  
Abiotic Conditions ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Tropical Mountain

AbstractTropical mountain ecosystems are threatened by climate and land-use changes. Their diversity and complexity make projections how they respond to environmental changes challenging. A suitable way are trait-based approaches, by distinguishing between response traits that determine the resistance of species to environmental changes and effect traits that are relevant for species' interactions, biotic processes, and ecosystem functions. The combination of those approaches with land surface models (LSM) linking the functional community composition to ecosystem functions provides new ways to project the response of ecosystems to environmental changes. With the interdisciplinary project RESPECT, we propose a research framework that uses a trait-based response-effect-framework (REF) to quantify relationships between abiotic conditions, the diversity of functional traits in communities, and associated biotic processes, informing a biodiversity-LSM. We apply the framework to a megadiverse tropical mountain forest. We use a plot design along an elevation and a land-use gradient to collect data on abiotic drivers, functional traits, and biotic processes. We integrate these data to build the biodiversity-LSM and illustrate how to test the model. REF results show that aboveground biomass production is not directly related to changing climatic conditions, but indirectly through associated changes in functional traits. Herbivory is directly related to changing abiotic conditions. The biodiversity-LSM informed by local functional trait and soil data improved the simulation of biomass production substantially. We conclude that local data, also derived from previous projects (platform Ecuador), are key elements of the research framework. We specify essential datasets to apply this framework to other mountain ecosystems.

scholarly journals Soil microbial diversity–biomass relationships are driven by soil carbon content across global biomes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Bastida ◽  
David J. Eldridge ◽  
Carlos García ◽  
G. Kenny Png ◽  
Richard D. Bardgett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Diversity ◽  
Soil Carbon ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Ecosystem Functions ◽  
Arid Environments ◽  
Soil Microbial Diversity ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Soil C ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Biomass Ratio

AbstractThe relationship between biodiversity and biomass has been a long standing debate in ecology. Soil biodiversity and biomass are essential drivers of ecosystem functions. However, unlike plant communities, little is known about how the diversity and biomass of soil microbial communities are interlinked across globally distributed biomes, and how variations in this relationship influence ecosystem function. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a field survey across global biomes, with contrasting vegetation and climate types. We show that soil carbon (C) content is associated to the microbial diversity–biomass relationship and ratio in soils across global biomes. This ratio provides an integrative index to identify those locations on Earth wherein diversity is much higher compared with biomass and vice versa. The soil microbial diversity-to-biomass ratio peaks in arid environments with low C content, and is very low in C-rich cold environments. Our study further advances that the reductions in soil C content associated with land use intensification and climate change could cause dramatic shifts in the microbial diversity-biomass ratio, with potential consequences for broad soil processes.

scholarly journals Landscape controls on riverine export of dissolved organic carbon from Great Britain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Williamson ◽  
Andrew Tye ◽  
Dan J. Lapworth ◽  
Don Monteith ◽  
Richard Sanders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Dissolved Organic Carbon ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
River Systems ◽  
C Cycle ◽  
Global Land ◽  
Doc Export

AbstractThe dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export from land to ocean via rivers is a significant term in the global C cycle, and has been modified in many areas by human activity. DOC exports from large global rivers are fairly well quantified, but those from smaller river systems, including those draining oceanic regions, are generally under-represented in global syntheses. Given that these regions typically have high runoff and high peat cover, they may exert a disproportionate influence on the global land–ocean DOC export. Here we describe a comprehensive new assessment of the annual riverine DOC export to estuaries across the island of Great Britain (GB), which spans the latitude range 50–60° N with strong spatial gradients of topography, soils, rainfall, land use and population density. DOC yields (export per unit area) were positively related to and best predicted by rainfall, peat extent and forest cover, but relatively insensitive to population density or agricultural development. Based on an empirical relationship with land use and rainfall we estimate that the DOC export from the GB land area to the freshwater-seawater interface was 1.15 Tg C year−1 in 2017. The average yield for GB rivers is 5.04 g C m−2 year−1, higher than most of the world’s major rivers, including those of the humid tropics and Arctic, supporting the conclusion that under-representation of smaller river systems draining peat-rich areas could lead to under-estimation of the global land–ocean DOC export. The main anthropogenic factor influencing the spatial distribution of GB DOC exports appears to be upland conifer plantation forestry, which is estimated to have raised the overall DOC export by 0.168 Tg C year−1. This is equivalent to 15% of the estimated current rate of net CO2 uptake by British forests. With the UK and many other countries seeking to expand plantation forest cover for climate change mitigation, this ‘leak in the ecosystem’ should be incorporated in future assessments of the CO2 sequestration potential of forest planting strategies.

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