Ecological Restoration Enhances the Stability and Associated Organic Carbon of Soil Aggregates in a Tibetan Alpine Meadow

作者：Zhiwen Ma, Xiang Liu, Wenping Qin, Shengzhong Wang · 发表于：Land Degradation and Development · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1002/ldr.5422 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Soil erosion and sediment transport、Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology

ABSTRACT Fencing and reseeding are two widely implemented ecological restoration strategies aimed at rehabilitating degraded grasslands globally. However, their effects on soil aggregates have been insufficiently explored. Employing the space‐for‐time substitution approach, we collected intact soils from a degraded alpine meadow, a fenced alpine meadow (natural restoration), a reseeded alpine meadow (interventional restoration), and an undegraded alpine meadow on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Our main objective was to assess how the composition, stability, and associated organic carbon content of soil water‐stable aggregates responded to a 12‐year restoration effort in degraded alpine meadows. The results revealed that both restoration measures enhanced plant biomass, the levels of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, as well as the concentrations of microbial phospholipid fatty acids. In contrast, these measures had a minimal effect on soil bulk density and glomalin‐related soil protein, while causing a reduction in soil pH. Post‐restoration, the mass proportion of macroaggregates increased notably by 66.45%–71.18%, whereas that of microaggregates and silt‐clay particles exhibited decreasing trends. The mean weight diameter and geometric mean diameter of the aggregates also significantly enhanced following restoration, indicating improvements in soil structural health and stability. However, the restored paddocks still showed lower aggregate stability than the undegraded pa...