Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012;7(5):e36434.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036434. Epub 2012 May 4.

Impact of grazing on soil carbon and microbial biomass in typical steppe and desert steppe of Inner Mongolia

Nan Liu  1 , Yingjun Zhang, Shujuan Chang, Haiming Kan, Lijun Lin
Affiliations

Impact of grazing on soil carbon and microbial biomass in typical steppe and desert steppe of Inner Mongolia

Nan Liu et al. PLoS One. 2012.

Abstract

The potential of grazing lands to sequester carbon must be understood to develop effective soil conservation measures and sustain livestock production. Our objective was to evaluate the effects of grazing on soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in Typical steppe and Desert steppe ecosystems, which are both important grassland resources for animal grazing and ecological conservation in China, and to derive region-specific soil C changes associated with different stocking rates (ungrazed, UG; lightly grazed, LG; moderately grazed, MG; heavily grazed, HG). This study substantiated that significant higher SOC, TN and MBC appeared with the treatment of LG in typical steppe. From 2004 to 2010, grazing treatments increased soil carbon storage in desert steppe, which was partly due to the grazing history. The higher MBC concentration and MBC/SOC suggest a great potential for carbon sequestration in the desert steppe ecosystem. The greater MBC in desert steppe than typical steppe was mainly the result of higher precipitation and temperature, instead of soil substrate. The change of MBC and the strong positive relationships between MBC and SOC indicated that MBC in the soil was a sensitive index to indicate the dynamics of soil organic carbon in both steppes in Inner Mongolia of China.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Mean monthly air temperature and rainfall distribution for typical steppe and desert steppe in 2010.
Variation of annual average temperature and annual average precipitation from 1990–2010 in typical steppe and desert steppe.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Mean soil water content (%, w/w) in two steppes for four treatments.
The error bars indicate the standard error. Means sharing the same letters were not significantly different (p<0.05). UG, ungrazed; LG, lightly grazed; MG, moderately grazed; HG, heavily grazed.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Mean MBC concentration in two types of grassland, inclusive of two soil depths and four stocking rates.
The error bars indicate the standard error. Means sharing the same letters were not significantly different (p<0.05). UG, ungrazed; LG, lightly grazed; MG, moderately grazed; HG, heavily grazed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Scurlock JM, Hall DO. The global carbon sink: a grassland perspective. Global Change Biology. 1998;4:229–233.
    1. White R, Murray S, Rohweder M. Pilot analysis of global ecosystems: Grassland ecosystems. Washington, D.C., USA: World Resources Institute; 2000. 112
    1. Frank AB, Tanaka DL, Hofmann L, Follett RF. Soil carbon and nitrogen of Northern Great Plains grasslands as influenced by long-term grazing. Journal of Range Management. 1995;48:470–474.
    1. Reeder JD, Schuman GE. Influence of livestock grazing on C sequestration in semi-arid mixed-grass and short-grass rangelands. Environmental Pollution. 2002;116:457–463. - PubMed
    1. Steffens M, Kölbl A, Totsche KU, Kogel-Knabner I. Grazing effects on soil chemical and physical properties in a semiarid steppe of Inner Mongolia (P.R. China). Geoderma. 2008;143:63–72.

Publication types