RESEARCH NEWS

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  Researchers Found Difference in Winter Soil Respiration Rate between Two Temperate Plantations

  Winter soil respiration composes 3 - 50% of annual carbon release , plays an important role in the C budget .Temperate forest ecosystem is the biggest C sink in north hemisphere , makes up 10% of global C storage .The difference is resulted from that the soil under Pinus tabuliformis plantation has higher soil microbial biomass , fungus richness , fungus/bacterium ratio and soil enzyme activities than that under Larix gmelinii plantation .Obvious , the soil microbe is more important than soil nutrition in determining the winter soil respiration rate .

  Dec 29, 2017
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  Factors in Migration of Tree Range Boundaries

  Climate change has been attributed as major factor resulting in the migration of tree range boundaries .However , the migration may not keep pace with Climate change , but lagged by the rate of range expansion to the suitable new region .The seed spread and competition between tree species is very slow process .Disturbance such as forest felling , fire , pests and diseases and changes in land use may affect the changes in tree range by modifying tree species composition and competition .This increased the complexity of the research of changes in tree range .

  Dec 15, 2017
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  Scientists Reveal Linkage of Microbial Residue Dynamics with Soil Organic Carbon Accumulation during Subtropical Forest Succession

  The formation and subsequent sequestration of soil organic carbon ( SOC ) during forest succession are primarily driven by soil microorganisms .The microbial residues are important source of soil organic C and play an important role in C sequestration by soil .The results were published in a top journal of soil science Soil Biology and Biochemistry entitled “ Linkage of microbial residue dynamics with soil organic carbon accumulation during subtropical forest succession ” . The work was supported by special project in CAS Strategic Pilot Program .

  Nov 21, 2017
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  Scientists Reveal Precipitation-mediated Responses of Soil Acid Buffering Capacity to Long-term Nitrogen Addition in a Semi-arid Grassland

  Increasing atmospheric nitrogen ( N ) deposition-induced soil acidification has been an increasing global threat to terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem functioning .Chronic N inputs could increase soil inorganic N and thus induce more leaching of nitrate and base cations .The input of NHx could lead to an increase in soil acidity via nitrification and plant uptake of ammonium .This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China , and the National Science Foundation of China .

  Oct 13, 2017
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  Estimation on Global Farmland Nitrogen Cycling

  Since the industrial revolution , the need to serial and meat has increased along with the increase in the global population .While the use of nitrogen fertilizers significantly increased serial harvest and met the need of residents , it has negative side effects - pollutions in water and atmosphere .The work was supported by 973 project and NNSFC Youth Project . The results were published entitled as Growth in the global N2 sink attributed to N fertilizer inputs over 1860to 2000 in Science of The Total Environment .

  Oct 13, 2017
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  Soil Carbon Turnover Indicated by Isotopes

  Soil is an important carbon pool in terrestrial eco-systems , even its tiny change may promotethe increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration and thus affect the bio-geo chemical cycling of the earth system .The carbon storage in arid and semi-arid grassland soil composes 15% of global carbon pool .So carbon cycling and related factors in this region is important to predicting the variation in arid region carbon pool on the background of global change .

  Oct 10, 2017
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  Responses of Plant Litter Decomposition and Nutrient Release Rate to Water and Nitrogen Addition in Grassland

  Litter decomposition is an important ecological process in global carbon ( C ) and nitrogen ( N ) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems , which is crucial for nutrient cycling and above-ground plant productivity .The above results were published in Plant and Soil entitled “ Responses of litter decomposition and nutrient release rate to water and nitrogen addition differed among three plant species dominated in a semi-arid grassland ” .

  Oct 10, 2017
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  Researchers Reveal the Effects of Gap Size and Within-gap Position on Animal-mediated Seed Dispersal

  Seed dispersal is a vital link in the processes of seed regeneration , and plays a decisive role in the vegetation restoration of forest ecosystem .Furthermore , gap size and within-gap positions are two key features of forest gap structure , and can affect the regeneration of tree species by changing the micro-environment in the forest gap .Most of previous researches have been focused on the effects of forest gaps on animal-mediated seed dispersal by comparing with understory , which have ignored the effects of gaps size and within-gap position .

  Sep 28, 2017
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  The Facilitation of Leguminous Shrub to its Neighbors Enhanced by Increase in Precipitation

  1.Combining nutrient dynamics (plant nutrient uptake and soil fertility) can help uncover mechanisms of shrub–grass interactions and assess the validity of the stress-gradient hypothesis, which predicts that facilitation between plants increases in stressful environments. However, how facilitation via shrub-mediated nutrient increases varies with precipitation is poorly resolved.

  Sep 18, 2017
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  The outsized role of soil microbes

  Many complexities of the carbon sequestration process remain poorly understood , despite years of research and the significant impact of this process on global climate ." we hope to inspire new research aimed at the role of microorganisms in the creation of soil organic matter and its resilience to disturbance or changing environmental conditions . ".

  Aug 30, 2017