A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau

NWIPB OpenIR

	A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
	Chen, Litong ; Flynn, Dan F. B. ; Jing, Xin ; Kuehn, Peter ; Scholten, Thomas ; He, Jin-Sheng
	2015-05-06
发表期刊	PLOS ONE
摘要	As CO2 concentrations continue to rise and drive global climate change, much effort has been put into estimating soil carbon (C) stocks and dynamics over time. However, the inconsistent methods employed by researchers hamper the comparability of such works, creating a pressing need to standardize the methods for soil organic C (SOC) quantification by the various methods. Here, we collected 712 soil samples from 36 sites of alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau covering different soil depths and vegetation and soil types. We used an elemental analyzer for soil total C (STC) and an inorganic carbon analyzer for soil inorganic C (SIC), and then defined the difference between STC and SIC as SOCCNS. In addition, we employed the modified Walkley-Black (MWB) method, hereafter SOCMWB. Our results showed that there was a strong correlation between SOCCNS and SOCMWB across the data set, given the application of a correction factor of 1.103. Soil depth and soil type significantly influenced on the recovery, defined as the ratio of SOCMWB to SOCCNS, and the recovery was closely associated with soil carbonate content and pH value as well. The differences of recovery between alpine meadow and steppe were largely driven by soil pH. In addition, statistically, a relatively strong correlation between SOCCNS and STC was also found, suggesting that it is feasible to estimate SOCCNS stocks through the STC data across the Tibetan grasslands. Therefore, our results suggest that in order to accurately estimate the absolute SOC stocks and its change in the Tibetan alpine grasslands, adequate correction of the modified WB measurements is essential with correct consideration of the effects of soil types, vegetation, soil pH and soil depth.; As CO2 concentrations continue to rise and drive global climate change, much effort has been put into estimating soil carbon (C) stocks and dynamics over time. However, the inconsistent methods employed by researchers hamper the comparability of such works, creating a pressing need to standardize the methods for soil organic C (SOC) quantification by the various methods. Here, we collected 712 soil samples from 36 sites of alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau covering different soil depths and vegetation and soil types. We used an elemental analyzer for soil total C (STC) and an inorganic carbon analyzer for soil inorganic C (SIC), and then defined the difference between STC and SIC as SOCCNS. In addition, we employed the modified Walkley-Black (MWB) method, hereafter SOCMWB. Our results showed that there was a strong correlation between SOCCNS and SOCMWB across the data set, given the application of a correction factor of 1.103. Soil depth and soil type significantly influenced on the recovery, defined as the ratio of SOCMWB to SOCCNS, and the recovery was closely associated with soil carbonate content and pH value as well. The differences of recovery between alpine meadow and steppe were largely driven by soil pH. In addition, statistically, a relatively strong correlation between SOCCNS and STC was also found, suggesting that it is feasible to estimate SOCCNS stocks through the STC data across the Tibetan grasslands. Therefore, our results suggest that in order to accurately estimate the absolute SOC stocks and its change in the Tibetan alpine grasslands, adequate correction of the modified WB measurements is essential with correct consideration of the effects of soil types, vegetation, soil pH and soil depth.
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://210.75.249.4/handle/363003/42817
专题	中国科学院西北高原生物研究所
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Chen, Litong,Flynn, Dan F. B.,Jing, Xin,et al. A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau[J]. PLOS ONE,2015.
APA	Chen, Litong,Flynn, Dan F. B.,Jing, Xin,Kuehn, Peter,Scholten, Thomas,&He, Jin-Sheng.(2015).A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau.PLOS ONE.
MLA	Chen, Litong,et al."A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau".PLOS ONE (2015).