Decade-long unsustainable vegetation management practices increase macronutrient losses from the plant-soil system in the Taklamakan Desert

作者：Akash Tariq, Corina Graciano, Jordi Sardans, Abd Ullah, Fanjiang Zeng, Ihteram Ullah, Zeeshan Ahmed, Sikandar Ali, Dhafer A. Al‐Bakre, Zhihao Zhang, Yanfu Bai, Weiqi Wang, Josep Peñuelas · 发表于：Ecological Indicators · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109653 · 被引用次数：21 · 研究领域：Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Arid ecosystems are characterized by low availability and mobility of soil nutrients and slow geochemical cycles. Management of native vegetation in such ecosystems for fuel, livestock grazing, and other agricultural activities (burning and cutting) may threaten semi-natural communities due to the changes in nutrient cycles and soil fertility. Alhagi sparsifolia is a dominant perennial legume in the Taklamakan Desert of northwestern China and has been used as fodder for livestock and plays a crucial ecological role in stabilizing dunes in the oasis-desert ecotone. We evaluated the effects of long-term (12 years) burning and cutting of plant biomass on the mineral nutrition of A. sparsifolia and associated soils at two depths (0–50 and 50–100 cm) in the field conditions following the block design experiment. We found that burning effects tended to be restricted to the topsoil (0–50 cm), and the concentration of many micro-and macronutrients was increased. Burning was associated with a decrease in plant nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentration, whereas concentrations of other micro-and macronutrients increased; overall, burning reduced foliar stocks of N, P, and potassium (K). Annual cutting elicited smaller increases in soil mineral (total sulfur, total P, calcium, magnesium, and available P and K) concentrations than burning, and soil enzymatic activities increased. There were contrasting response patterns of leaf N and P concentration and macro-and micronutrients betwee...