Plant Soil Environ., 2019, 65(2):71-77 | DOI: 10.17221/631/2018-PSE

Impact of vegetation zones on soil phosphorus distribution in Northwest ChinaOriginal Paper

Pingping Liu^*,1, Huarui Ren¹, Yiling Zhang¹, Tiantian Wu¹, Chunli Zheng¹, Tiancheng Zhang²

¹ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, P.R. China

² Civil Engineering Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln at Omaha Campus, Omaha, USA

Soil phosphorus (P) fraction distribution and correlation at different soil depths along vegetation succession in wetland next to a lake in the Hongjiannao National Nature Reserve, China were studied using the Hedley fraction method. The overall trend for soil P content was calcium-bound P (Ca-P) > organic P (O-P) > aluminum/iron-bound P (Al/Fe-P) > labile-P (L-P). Ca-P and O-P were the predominant P forms in all the soil layers, representing on average 53.8‒84.9% and 12.9‒45.2% of the total P, respectively, whereas L-P (ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 mg/kg) was less than 1%. The soil in the Bassia dasyphylla and Carex duriuscula vegetation zones had the largest P contents. In these two vegetation zones, soil L-P was greatest in the surface soil layer; Al/Fe-P was most abundant in the deep layer; O-P was highest in the middle layer. Ca-P levels were generally similar across all soil layers. Regression analysis showed that distribution of P was highly correlated with organic carbon, total nitrogen and plant biomass. Results showed that the soils under Bassia dasyphylla and Carex duriuscula have considerable carbon input potentials, which would facilitate P mineralization as compared to other plants.

Keywords: arid area; land cover; soil profile; phosphorus speciation; management practice

Published: February 28, 2019  Show citation