Indications Of Enhanced Soil Ecosystem Functions In Polyculture Reforested Grassland
Angelica P. Baldos | Rolland Rallos
Abstract:
A lot of work has been done to evaluate the effects of biodiversity on ecological
functions in polyculture plantings. But attention is rarely given to soil ecosystem
functions such as carbon (C) sequestration and nitrogen (N) cycling even though
they play a critical role in climate regulation through the sequestration and release
of greenhouse gases (GHGs). In this study, stable isotopes of C and N were used to
investigate if the aforementioned soil ecosystem functions are enhanced under
polyculture reforestation by determining the sources of C stored in soil, its rate of
incorporation, and the degree of soil N cycling. Twenty-five years after its
establishment on an grassland, the tree plantation has
contributed 54% of the measured soil organic carbon (SOC) stock at an estimated
rate of 2.41Mg C ha yr . Larger mean soil N values and a more negative N -1 -1 15 15
enrichment factor (e =-5.82‰) for the whole 50cm soil depth in tree plantation
indicated a better N cycling compared to grassland vegetation. Results show the
potential of polyculture reforestation as a sustainable approach to restoring
degraded lands and enhancing the role of soil in climate regulation by improving the
capacity of soil to store C and to supply N. In addition, information generated from
studies like this allow the refinement of mechanisms used in payments for
ecosystem services to add more value and provide higher incentives from the
ecosystem services provided by polyculture reforestation.
References:
- Amundson R, Austin AT, Schuur EAG, Yoo K, Matzek V, Kendal C, Uebersax A, Brenner D & Baisden WT. 2003. Global patterns of the isotopic composition of soil and plant nitrogen. Global Biogeochemistry Cycles 17: 10-31
- Arnold J, Corre MD & Veldkamp E. 2009. Soil N cycling in old-growth forests across an Andosol toposequence in Ecuador. Forest Ecology and Management 257:2079-2087
- Asio VB. 1996. Characteristics, weathering formation & degradation of Soils from volcanic rocks in Leyte, Philippines. Hohenheimer Bodenkundliche Hefte 33:209. Stuttgart, Germany
- Asio VB and Milan PP. 2002. Improvement of soil quality in degraded lands through rainforestation farming. Paper presented during the International Symposium in Sustaining Food Security and Managing Natural Resources in Southeast Asia: Challenges for the 21st Century. Chiang Mai, Thailand on 8-11 January 2002
- Baldos AP, Corre MD & Veldkamp E. 2015. Response of N cycling to nutrient inputs in forest soils across a 1000-3000 m elevation gradient in the Ecuadorian Andes. Ecology 96(3):749-761
- Balesdent J, Wagner GH & Mariotti A. 1988. Soil organic matter turnover in long-term field experiments as revealed by carbon-13 natural abundance. Soil Science Society of American Journal 52:118-124
- Berger TW, Neubauer C & Glatzel G. 2002. Factors controlling soil carbon and nitrogen stores in pure stands of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and mixed species stands in Austria. Forest Ecology and Management 159:3-14
- Berhe AA, Harte J, Harden JW & Torn MS. 2007. The significance of the erosion induced terrestrial carbon sink. Bioscience 57:33-346
- Binkley D and Giardina C. 1998. Why do tree species affect soils? The warp and woof of tree-soil interactions. Biogeochemistry 42:89-106
- Black CA. 1965. Methods of soil analysis: Part I Physical and mineralogical properties. American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
- Bonde TA, Christensen BT & Cerri CC. 1992. Dynamics of soil organic matter as reflected by natural 13C abundance in particle size fractions of forested and cultivated oxisols. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 24:275-277
- Bouwman AF and Leemans R. 1995. The role of forest soils in the global carbon cycle. In McFee WW and Kelly JM (eds) Carbon Forms and Functions in Forest Soils (pp503-525). Soil Science Society of America, Inc., Madison, WI, USA
- Chapin III FS, Zavaleta ES, Eviner VT, Naylor RL, Vitousek PM, Reynolds HL, Hooper DU, Lavorel S, Sala OE & Hobbie SE 2000. Consequences of changing biodiversity. Nature 405:234-242
- Corre MD, Veldkamp E, Arnold J & Wright SJ. 2010. Impact of elevated N input on soil N cycling and losses in old-growth lowland and montane forests in Panama. Ecology 91:715- 1729
- De Groott RS and Van Der Meer PJ. 2010. Quantifying and valuing goods and services provided by plantation forests (pp16-42). In Bauhaus J, Van der Meer PJ & Kanninen M (eds) Ecosystem goods and services from plantation forests. Earthscan, London, United Kingdom and Washington D.C
- Díaz-Pinés E, Rubio A, van Miegroet H, Montes F & Benito M. 2011. Does tree species composition control soil organic carbon pools in Mediterranean mountain. forests? Forest Ecology Management 262:1895-1904
- Dierick D and Holscher D. 2009. Species-specific tree water use characteristics in reforestation stands in the Philippines. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 149:1317- 1326
- Durigan MR, Tadeu C, Signor D, Cosme R & Junior DO. 2017. Soil Organic Matter Responses to Anthropogenic Forest Disturbance and Land Use Change in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon. Sustainability 9:379
- Garten CT. 2002. Soil carbon storage beneath recently established tree plantations in Tennessee and South Carolina, USA. Biomass and Energy 23:93-102
- Landon JR. 1991. Tropical soil manual: a handbook for soil survey and agricultural land evaluation in the tropics and sub tropics. Longman Scientific and Technical, Longman Group, UK Ltd
- Lee SB, Lee CH, Jung KY, Park KD, Lee D & Kim PJ. 2009. Changes of soil organic carbon and its fractions in relation to soil physical properties in a long-term fertilized paddy. Soil Tillage Research 104:227-232
- Lemma B, Kleja DB, Nilsson I & Olsson M. 2006. Soil carbon sequestration under different exotic tree species in the southern western highlands of Ethiopia. Geoderma 136 (3- 4):886-898
- Lemenih M, Karltun E, & Olsson M. 2005. Soil organic matter dynamics after deforestation along a farm field chronosequence in southern highlands of Ethiopia. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 109:9-19
- Mariotti A, Germon J, Hubert P, Kaiser P, Letolle R, Tardieux A & Tardieux P. 1981. Experimental determination of nitrogen kinetic isotope fractionation: some principles; illustration for the denitrification and nitrification processes. Plant Soil 62:413-430
- Meier CL and Bowman WD. 2010. Chemical composition and diversity influence non- additive effects of litter mixtures on soil carbon and nitrogen cycling: Implications for plant species loss. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 42: 1447-1454.doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.05.005
- Mo Q et al. 2016. Reforestation in southern China: revisiting soil N mineralization and nitrification after 8 years restoration. Scientific Reports 6:19770. doi: 10.1038/srep19770
- Navarette IA and Tsutsuki K. 2008. Land-use impact on soil carbon, nitrogen, neutral sugar composition and related chemical properties in a degraded Ultisol in Leyte, Philippines. Soil Science and Plant Nutrition 54(3):321-331
- Powers JS and Veldkamp E. 2005. Regional variation in soil carbon and 613C in forests and pastures of northeastern Costa Rica. Biogeochemistry 72:315-336
- Pritchett WL. 1979. Properties and management of forest soils. John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA
- Purbopuspito J et al. 2006. Trace gas fluxes and nitrogen cycling along an elevation sequence of tropical montane forests in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 20: Gb3010
- R Core Team. 2013. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/
- Reverchon F et al. 2015. Tree plantation systems influence nitrogen retention and the abundance of nitrogen functional genes in the Solomon Islands. Frontiers in Microbiology 6:1439
- Robinson D. 2001. 6"N as an integrator of the nitrogen cycle. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 16:153-162
- Saha SK, Nair PR, Nair VD & Kumar BM. 2009, Soil carbon stock in relation to plant diversity of homegardens in Kerala, India. Agroforestry Systems 76:53-65. doi: 10.1007/s10457-009-9228-8
- Sales-Come R and Holscher D. 2010. Variability and grouping of leaf traits in multi-species reforestation (Leyte, Philippines). Forest Ecology and Management 260 (2010):846-855. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2010.06.002
- Santruckova H, Bird MI & Lloyd J. 2000. Microbial processes and carbon-isotope fractionation in tropical and temperate grassland soils. Functional Ecology 14: 108-114
- Scheile T, Isselstein J & Tonn B. 2018. Herbage biomass and uptake under low-input grazing as affected by cattle and sheep excrement patches. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 112(1)
- Six J, Guggenberger G, Paustian K, Haumaier L, Elliott ET & Zech W. 2001. Sources and composition of soil organic matter fractions between and within soil aggregates. European Journal of Soil Science 52:607-618
- Smoliak S, Dormaar JF & Johnston A. 1972. Long term grazing effects on Stipa-Bouteloua prairie soils. Journal of Range Management25(4):246-256
- Solomon D, Fritzsche F, Lehmann M, Tekalign M & Zech W. 2002. Soil organic matter dynamics in the subhumid agroecosystems of the Ethiopian highlands: evidence from natural 13C abundance and particle-size fractionation. Soil Science Society of America Journal 66:969-978
- Tiunov AV. 2007. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen in soil ecological studies. published in Izvestiya Academy Nauk, Seriya Biologicheskaya. Ecology 4:475-489
- Von Fischer and Tieszen LL. 1995. Carbon isotope characterization of vegetation and soil organic matter in subtropical forests in Luquillo, Puerto Rico 1 J.C. Biotropica 27(2):138- 148
- Wang W, Lei X, Ma Z, Kneeshaw DD & Peng C. 2011. Positive relationship between. aboveground carbon stocks and structural diversity in spruce-dominated forest stands in New Brunswick, Canada. Forest Science 57
- Wick B and Tiessen H. 2008. Organic matter turnover in light fraction and whole soil under silvopastoral land use in semi-arid northeast Brazil. Rangeland Ecology and Management 61(3):275-283
- Wolf K et al. 2011. Nitrogen availability links forest productivity, soil nitrous oxide and nitric oxide fluxes of a tropical montane forest in southern Ecuador. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 25: GB4009. doi:10.1029/2010GB003876
- Zou XM and Bashkin MA. 1997. Soil carbon accretion and earthworm recovery following revegetation in abandoned sugarcane fields. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 30:825-830
ISSN 2704-3541 (Online)
ISSN 0116-0710 (Print)