Spatial variability of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus content and storage in an alpine wetland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China.

This study considers the spatial variability of soil organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus storage in a drained alpine wetland and the possible relationships with soil properties. Top 0-0.30 m soil samples were collected in a typical alpine wetland in the south-eastern Qinghai-Tibet plateau using grid sampling. There was high spatial variability for soil organic carbon density (SOCD), soil total nitrogen density (STND), and soil total phosphorous density (STPD) in the drained alpine wetland. Spherical models best described the structure of the semivariograms for SOCD and STPD, and an exponential model for STND, with the range parameter of <4 m. Similar spatial distribution with lower or higher patches of C, N, and P storage were observed. SOCD, STND, and STPD were significantly negatively correlated with soil moisture (P<0.01), and significantly positively correlated with bulk density (P<0.01). However, no significant correlations were observed between SOCD, STND, and STPD and soil pH values. Wetland drainage might lead to higher C, N, and P densities in top 0.30 m soils due to peat compaction; thus, it is necessary to incorporate water table fluctuations or the whole depth of peat layers to estimating precisely C, N and P storage.

[1]  H. Chi.  THE CONSERVATION OF WETLANDS BIODIVERSITIES AND THEIR SUSTAINABLE UTILIZATION IN ROIGE PLATEAU , 1999 .

[2]  C. Juan,et al.  Impact of land use changes on soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus and water pollution in an arid region of northwest China , 2004 .

[3]  Junhong Bai,et al.  Spatial distribution of inorganic nitrogen contents of marsh soils in a river floodplain with different flood frequencies from soil-defrozen period , 2007, Environmental monitoring and assessment.

[4]  K. Minkkinen,et al.  Long-term effect of forest drainage on the peat carbon stores of pine mires in Finland , 1998 .

[5]  S. Riha,et al.  Spatial Variability of Soil pH and Organic Matter in Forest Plantations , 1986 .

[6]  Kaishan Song,et al.  Spatial distribution of soil organic carbon and analysis of related factors in croplands of the black soil region, Northeast China , 2006 .

[7]  Junhong Bai,et al.  Spatial distribution characteristics of organic matter and total nitrogen of marsh soils in river marginal wetlands , 2005 .

[8]  D. Dowrick,et al.  Water table elevation controls on soil nitrogen cycling in riparian wetlands along a European climatic gradient , 2004 .

[9]  G. Pan,et al.  Topsoil organic carbon storage of China and its loss by cultivation , 2005 .

[10]  C. Richardson,et al.  Mechanisms Controlling Phosphorus Retention Capacity in Freshwater Wetlands , 1985, Science.

[11]  Hojeong Kang,et al.  Phosphatase and arylsulphatase activities in wetland soils: annual variation and controlling factors , 1999 .

[12]  A. Konopka,et al.  FIELD-SCALE VARIABILITY OF SOIL PROPERTIES IN CENTRAL IOWA SOILS , 1994 .

[13]  Krishna R. Reddy,et al.  Spatial distribution of soil nutrients in a northern Everglades marsh: water conservation area 1 , 1994 .

[14]  Baoyuan Liu,et al.  Characteristics and factors controlling the development of ephemeral gullies in cultivated catchments of black soil region, Northeast China , 2007 .

[15]  Zhifeng Yang,et al.  Heavy metal contamination of cultivated wetland soils along a typical plateau lake from southwest China , 2010 .

[16]  H. Tiessen.  Phosphorous in the global environment: transfers, cycles and management , 1995 .

[17]  Wilfred M. Post,et al.  Soil carbon pools and world life zones , 1982, Nature.

[18]  S. Frolking,et al.  Modeling Northern Peatland Decomposition and Peat Accumulation , 2001, Ecosystems.

[19]  Gaiqiang Yang,et al.  [Relationship between organic carbon and water content in four type wetland sediments in Sanjiang Plain]. , 2005, Huan jing ke xue= Huanjing kexue.

[20]  P. Azeez,et al.  Distribution of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur in the soil in a multiple habitat system in India , 2009 .

[21]  A. Chau,et al.  A semi-automated method for the determination of inorganic, organic and total phosphate in sediments. , 1976, The Analyst.

[22]  Michael Edward Hohn,et al.  An Introduction to Applied Geostatistics: by Edward H. Isaaks and R. Mohan Srivastava, 1989, Oxford University Press, New York, 561 p., ISBN 0-19-505012-6, ISBN 0-19-505013-4 (paperback), $55.00 cloth, $35.00 paper (US) , 1991 .

[23]  R. Bilonick.  An Introduction to Applied Geostatistics , 1989 .

[24]  D. Cahoon,et al.  Global carbon sequestration in tidal, saline wetland soils , 2003 .

[25]  Dennis P. Swaney,et al.  Regional nitrogen budgets and riverine N & P fluxes for the drainages to the North Atlantic Ocean: Natural and human influences , 1996 .

[26]  R. Lal,et al.  Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security , 2004, Science.

[27]  Carl C. Trettin,et al.  Modeling Impacts of Management on Carbon Sequestration and Trace Gas Emissions in Forested Wetland Ecosystems , 2004 .

[28]  H. O. Venterink,et al.  Impact of drying and re-wetting on N, P and K dynamics in a wetland soil , 2002, Plant and Soil.

[29]  P Arp,et al.  Gaseous carbon dioxide and methane, as well as dissolved organic carbon losses from a small temperate wetland under a changing climate. , 2002, Environmental pollution.

[30]  Yuesi Wang,et al.  Carbon and nitrogen store and storage potential as affected by land-use in a Leymus chinensis grassland of northern China , 2008 .

[31]  K. Brye,et al.  Short-Term Effects of Land Leveling on Soil Chemical Properties and Their Relationships with Microbial Biomass , 2004 .

[32]  K. Reddy,et al.  Influence of phosphorus loading on organic nitrogen mineralization of Everglades soils , 2000 .

[33]  Junbao Yu,et al.  Soil phosphorus forms and their variations in depressional and riparian freshwater wetlands (Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China) , 2006 .

[34]  D. Cairns.  Phosphorus in the global environment: Transfers, cycles and management , 1997 .

[35]  Cui Baoshan,et al.  Changes in landscape pattern of alpine wetlands on the Zoige Plateau in the past four decades , 2008 .

[36]  Martin A. Locke,et al.  Spatial Variability of Soil Properties and Weed Populations in the Mississippi Delta , 2001 .

[37]  A. Walkley,et al.  AN EXAMINATION OF THE DEGTJAREFF METHOD FOR DETERMINING SOIL ORGANIC MATTER, AND A PROPOSED MODIFICATION OF THE CHROMIC ACID TITRATION METHOD , 1934 .

[38]  Zhang Jinbo,et al.  Dynamics of soil organic carbon and its fractions after abandonment of cultivated wetlands in northeast China , 2007 .

[39]  C. Johnston,et al.  Nutrient Dynamics in Relation to Geomorphology of Riverine Wetlands , 2001 .

[40]  Jinbo Zhang,et al.  Short-term dynamics of carbon and nitrogen after tillage in a freshwater marsh of northeast China , 2008 .

[41]  Changhui Peng,et al.  Land use induced changes of organic carbon storage in soils of China , 2003 .