Title: The effect of planted Caragana density on the spatial distribution of soil nutrients in desert steppe
Abstract: This paper reports the results of an experiment undertaken to determine the effect of the density of planted Caragana shrubs on the spatial distribution of soil nutrients in desert steppe.Study sites were planted with three densities of Caragana HD(high),MD(medium),LD(low)and the density of natural steppe was also determined.Soil samples have been taken from six soil layers(0-10 cm,10-20 cm,20-40 cm,40-60 cm,60-80 cm,80-100cm)and from the root of shrubs,the margin of shrubs and from the space between shrubs.The results show that total soil carbon,nitrogen,phosphorus,alkali-hydro nitrogen and available phosphorus all increased with the density of Caragana.The largest increments occurred in the 0-10 cm soil layer and the lowest increments were found in the 80-100 cm layer.Available phosphorus demonstrated the highest sensitivity to Caragana,and high density planting was associated with the most significant improvements in soil nutrients in terms of both spatial depth and horizontal location.The most significant horizontal nutrient increases were located in the shrub root zones.Taken as a whole,the results suggest that Caragana can improve soil nutrients in desert steppe.This improvement increases with plant density but weakens with soil depth and horizontal distance from the root zone.Caragana plantings do not affect the vertical distribution of soil nutrients in desert steppe.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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