Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 180-189 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Soil and Tillage Research |
| Volume | 111 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Abstract
Intensive overgrazing, practiced for the last decades in Inner Mongolia, has led to serious grassland degradation and deterioration of soil structure. As a consequence, the soil gas and water fluxes and therefore soil functions were affected by grazing. We investigated two steppe ecosystems characterized by two plant communities: Stipa grandis (SG) and Leymus chinensis (LCh) and different grazing intensities: ungrazed since 1979 (UG79), continuously grazed (CG, at the SG site) and winter grazed (WG, at the LCh site). The undisturbed soil samples, for determination of saturated (ks) and unsaturated (ku) hydraulic conductivities and air conductivities (ka), were collected in vertical and horizontal direction from two soil horizons. The coefficients of anisotropy were calculated as ratios of the values obtained for the samples taken in horizontal direction to the values of the vertical samples. The results indicated a good recovery of soil structure at the sites ungrazed for more than 30 years. Furthermore, the recovery was more pronounced at the LCh site compared with the SG site. The results suggested that grazing causes significant changes in anisotropy of soil functions related to rearrangement of aggregates and creation of a platy soil structure. The results of the coefficients of anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity showed that they depend on the matric potential for both treatments.
Keywords
- Air conductivity, Anisotropy, Hydraulic conductivity, Soil functions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Agronomy and Crop Science
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Soil Science
- Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)
- Earth-Surface Processes
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Soil and Tillage Research, Vol. 111, No. 2, 01.2011, p. 180-189.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of grazing on soil water and gas fluxes of two Inner Mongolian steppe ecosystems
AU - Reszkowska, Agnieszka
AU - Krümmelbein, Julia
AU - Gan, Lei
AU - Peth, Stephan
AU - Horn, Rainer
N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the financial support of the MAGIM research group (Forschergruppe 536 MAGIM-Matter fluxes in grasslands of Inner Mongolia as influenced by stocking rate). We also thank Xingguo Han, Yongfei Bai and the Institute of Botany (Chinese Academy of Sciences) for the possibility to work at IMGERS.
PY - 2011/1
Y1 - 2011/1
N2 - Intensive overgrazing, practiced for the last decades in Inner Mongolia, has led to serious grassland degradation and deterioration of soil structure. As a consequence, the soil gas and water fluxes and therefore soil functions were affected by grazing. We investigated two steppe ecosystems characterized by two plant communities: Stipa grandis (SG) and Leymus chinensis (LCh) and different grazing intensities: ungrazed since 1979 (UG79), continuously grazed (CG, at the SG site) and winter grazed (WG, at the LCh site). The undisturbed soil samples, for determination of saturated (ks) and unsaturated (ku) hydraulic conductivities and air conductivities (ka), were collected in vertical and horizontal direction from two soil horizons. The coefficients of anisotropy were calculated as ratios of the values obtained for the samples taken in horizontal direction to the values of the vertical samples. The results indicated a good recovery of soil structure at the sites ungrazed for more than 30 years. Furthermore, the recovery was more pronounced at the LCh site compared with the SG site. The results suggested that grazing causes significant changes in anisotropy of soil functions related to rearrangement of aggregates and creation of a platy soil structure. The results of the coefficients of anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity showed that they depend on the matric potential for both treatments.
AB - Intensive overgrazing, practiced for the last decades in Inner Mongolia, has led to serious grassland degradation and deterioration of soil structure. As a consequence, the soil gas and water fluxes and therefore soil functions were affected by grazing. We investigated two steppe ecosystems characterized by two plant communities: Stipa grandis (SG) and Leymus chinensis (LCh) and different grazing intensities: ungrazed since 1979 (UG79), continuously grazed (CG, at the SG site) and winter grazed (WG, at the LCh site). The undisturbed soil samples, for determination of saturated (ks) and unsaturated (ku) hydraulic conductivities and air conductivities (ka), were collected in vertical and horizontal direction from two soil horizons. The coefficients of anisotropy were calculated as ratios of the values obtained for the samples taken in horizontal direction to the values of the vertical samples. The results indicated a good recovery of soil structure at the sites ungrazed for more than 30 years. Furthermore, the recovery was more pronounced at the LCh site compared with the SG site. The results suggested that grazing causes significant changes in anisotropy of soil functions related to rearrangement of aggregates and creation of a platy soil structure. The results of the coefficients of anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity showed that they depend on the matric potential for both treatments.
KW - Air conductivity
KW - Anisotropy
KW - Hydraulic conductivity
KW - Soil functions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650181919&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.still.2010.10.003
DO - 10.1016/j.still.2010.10.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78650181919
VL - 111
SP - 180
EP - 189
JO - Soil and Tillage Research
JF - Soil and Tillage Research
SN - 0167-1987
IS - 2
ER -