Plant Soil Environ., 2017, 63(6):250-256 | DOI: 10.17221/83/2017-PSE

Response of soil sulfur availability to elevation and degradation in the Wugong Mountain meadow, ChinaOriginal Paper

Zhi LI1, Ling ZHANG*,1, Jing CHEN2, Xueling ZHANG1, Suqin YU1, Wenyuan ZHANG1, Xiaochi MA3, Xiaomin GUO1, Dekui NIU1
1 Key Laboratory of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, P.R. China
2 College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China
3 Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

Vegetation restorations of degraded meadows have been widely implemented. The evaluation of soil nutrient changes as affected by degradation is vital for efficient restorations. However, while macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) have been widely investigated, sulfur (S) as one important element correlated tightly with other nutrients has not been thoroughly studied. Two studies were conducted to determine changes of sulfur as affected by degradation and elevation gradients. The results showed that available S (AS) changed non-linearly with elevation and the first principal component based on other soil nutrient variables. Soil AS depended on degradation levels and contributed substantially to the separation of meadows with different degradation levels. Moreover, AS responded stronger to changes in elevation gradients and degradation levels compared with other major nutrients. Thereby, AS could be an important nutrient responding to meadow disturbance, which should be considered in future studies on meadow soil nutrients cycling and vegetation restorations. The findings have implications for ecological restoration of degraded meadows with respect to soil nutrient management and conservations.

Keywords: anthropogenic disturbance; cycling process; plant species; stoichiometry

Published: June 30, 2017  Show citation

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Zhi L, ZHANG L, CHEN J, ZHANG X, Suqin Y, ZHANG W, et al.. Response of soil sulfur availability to elevation and degradation in the Wugong Mountain meadow, China. Plant Soil Environ. 2017;63(6):250-256. doi: 10.17221/83/2017-PSE.
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