Cargando…

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

As CO(2) 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...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chen, Litong, Flynn, Dan F. B., Jing, Xin, Kühn, Peter, Scholten, Thomas, He, Jin-Sheng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4422439/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25946085
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126372
_version_ 1782370052179230720
author Chen, Litong
Flynn, Dan F. B.
Jing, Xin
Kühn, Peter
Scholten, Thomas
He, Jin-Sheng
author_facet Chen, Litong
Flynn, Dan F. B.
Jing, Xin
Kühn, Peter
Scholten, Thomas
He, Jin-Sheng
author_sort Chen, Litong
collection PubMed
description As CO(2) 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 SOC(CNS). In addition, we employed the modified Walkley-Black (MWB) method, hereafter SOC(MWB). Our results showed that there was a strong correlation between SOC(CNS) and SOC(MWB) 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 SOC(MWB) to SOC(CNS), 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 SOC(CNS) and STC was also found, suggesting that it is feasible to estimate SOC(CNS) 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.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4422439
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-44224392015-05-12 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 Kühn, Peter Scholten, Thomas He, Jin-Sheng PLoS One Research Article As CO(2) 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 SOC(CNS). In addition, we employed the modified Walkley-Black (MWB) method, hereafter SOC(MWB). Our results showed that there was a strong correlation between SOC(CNS) and SOC(MWB) 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 SOC(MWB) to SOC(CNS), 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 SOC(CNS) and STC was also found, suggesting that it is feasible to estimate SOC(CNS) 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. Public Library of Science 2015-05-06 /pmc/articles/PMC4422439/ /pubmed/25946085 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126372 Text en © 2015 Chen et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Chen, Litong
Flynn, Dan F. B.
Jing, Xin
Kühn, Peter
Scholten, Thomas
He, Jin-Sheng
A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
title A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
title_full A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
title_fullStr A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
title_full_unstemmed A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
title_short A Comparison of Two Methods for Quantifying Soil Organic Carbon of Alpine Grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau
title_sort comparison of two methods for quantifying soil organic carbon of alpine grasslands on the tibetan plateau
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4422439/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25946085
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126372
work_keys_str_mv AT chenlitong acomparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT flynndanfb acomparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT jingxin acomparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT kuhnpeter acomparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT scholtenthomas acomparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT hejinsheng acomparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT chenlitong comparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT flynndanfb comparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT jingxin comparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT kuhnpeter comparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT scholtenthomas comparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau
AT hejinsheng comparisonoftwomethodsforquantifyingsoilorganiccarbonofalpinegrasslandsonthetibetanplateau