(2013) have detected the extent of rangeland degradation after land-use changes and Zhang et al. Colorado prairie. In the belowgrounddominance grasslands, the strong limitation of soil water leads to complete (though uneven) occupation of the soil by roots, but insufficient resources to support continuous aboveground plant cover. Effect of grassland degradation on soil quality and soil biotic community in a semi-arid temperate steppe. statement and Means ± SE are shown. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.03.007, Waring BG, Averill C, Hawkes CV (2013) Differences in fungal and bacterial physiology alter soil carbon and nitrogen cycling: insights from meta-analysis and theoretical models. Land Degrad Dev 31(12):1533–1544. CRC Press, New York, Lal R (2015) Restoring soil quality to mitigate soil degradation. While both types share features of being bordered by a desert and a forest, are defined by a consistent geological plane, plus have unusually rich and deep soil, temperate and tropical grasslands are … In: The Sagebrush Ecosystem. The mollic epipedon is a unique surface horizon of grassland soils (Mollisols), which presents a number of paradoxes. 77: 364–374, Schlesinger WH, Reynolds JF, Cunningham GL, Huenneke LF, Jarrell WM, Virginia RA & Whitford WG (1990) Biological feedbacks in global desertification. With the rapid developments in molecular techniques and bioinformatics, the diversity and composition of soil biota can be measured in a rapid and cost-effective manner (Du et al. If the latter are present most of them can be identified by field methods or with 2018) but also changes root shoot ratio and soil bulk density (Hendricks et al. 24: 67–84, Polley, 11W & Detling JK (1989) Defoliation, nitrogen, and competition: effects on plant growth and nitrogen nutrition. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13013, Xu DW, Chen BR, Yan RR, Yan YC, Sun XB, Xu LJ, Xin XP (2019) Quantitative monitoring of grazing intensity in the temperate meadow steppe based on remote sensing data. The soil of the temperate grassland is deep and dark. Principles of Soil Chemistry. 2000). The NWFP monitoring system is unique in both scale and scope for a managed land-based capability that brings together several technologies that allow the effect of temperate grassland farming systems on soil moisture levels, runoff and associated water quality dynamics to be studied in detail. The deciduous forest regions are exposed to warm and cold air masses, which cause this area to have four seasons. Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test Method Optimization for Analysis of Temperate Mineral Grassland Soils. 77: 61, Burke IC, Lauenroth WK & Milchunas DG (1997a) Biogeochemistry of managed grasslands in the Central Grasslands of the U.S. pp 121-143 | Volumes 8A and 8B in Ecosystems of the World. 76: 2, Aguiar MR, Paruelo JM, Sala OE & Lauenroth WK (1996) Ecosystem responses in plant functional type composition: An example from the Patagonian steppe. All aboveground and belowground plant tissues were oven dried at 60 °C to constant weight to obtain the aboveground and belowground biomass. Bars with different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05. Range Manage. This occupied grassland grows from types of soil producing food, growing industrial crops and even offering healing medicinal plants and herbs. Nat Eol Evol 4(2):210–220. 2020). Effects of grassland degradation on soil quality. The principal component analysis based on the soil physicochemical parameters showed that the eigenvalues of the first two PCs were > 1 and explained 78.3% of the total variance (Table 2). It is rich in organic matter yet well aerated with cracks and channels in which organic matter should be oxidized. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0463-6, Raiesi F, Salek-Gilani S (2020) Development of a soil quality index for characterizing effects of land-use changes on degradation and ecological restoration of rangeland soils in a semi-arid ecosystem. Biogeochemistry, this issue, 145–168, Field C (1983) Allocating leaf nitrogen for the maximization of carbon gain: leaf age as a control on the allocation program. Nematode trophic diversity and the ratio of fungal to bacterial PLFA were lower in the degraded grassland than the grassland from the forest-steppe ecotone. 37: 392–397, Turner CL & Knapp AK (1996) Responses of a C4 grass and three C3 forbs to variation in nitrogen and light in tallgrass prairie. Its management has implications for landscape and environmental quality as well as agricultural production. Studies have found that fungi can stabilize the input of soil resources (Waring et al. 2018; Zhang et al. 25: 545–552, Bremen H & DeWit CT (1983) Rangeland productivity and exploitation in the Sahel. Sci. Soil tests for predicting nitrogen supply for grassland under controlled ... Dionisio Fernández, Miguel A. and Wall, David P. 2016. Oecol. Recent work has indicated that there are strong feedbacks between plant community structure, diversity, and soil attributes including nitrogen availability and carbon storage. The soil type is chernozem in World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) (IUSS Working Group WRB 2006; Yang et al. Bull. Cattle dung contributes to hot‐spot inputs of nutrients to grassland systems, but not much is known about its organic P (P o) composition and fate in the grassland soils.We used 31 Phosphorus (P)–Nuclear Magnetic–Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of alkaline soil extracts to examine potentials for tracing of different functional P o forms into a temperate grassland soil amended with dung. volume 9, Article number: 63 (2020) PubMed Google Scholar. 2017). J. Veg. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available, Plant-induced soil changes: Processes and feedbacks https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2018.1500733, Yan L, Li Y, Wang L, Zhang XD, Wang JZ, Wu HD, Yan ZQ, Zhang KR, Kang XM (2020) Grazing significantly increases root shoot ratio but decreases soil organic carbon in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau grasslands: a hierarchical meta-analysis. 2019), so the reduction of plant communities may result in the decrease of AMF in degraded grassland. Soil Sci Soc Am J 70(2):555–569. Further, the distance of the soil quality index was positively correlated with the beta diversity of microbial and nematode communities (Fig. M.S. Ecol. Ecological Processes Ecol. The dissimilarities in soil microbial and nematode community composition increased with the changes in soil quality index. As a natural grassland with little disturbance, grassland from the forest-steppe ecotone has higher soil moisture and the most frequent material, energy, and biological flow (Sottile et al. Amer. https://doi.org/10.1890/08-1846.1, Oostenbrink M (1960) Estimating nematode populations by some selected methods. SOIL is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of high-quality research in the field of soil system sciences. Monogr. The temperature ranges from high (like Florida) to very low (Northern Canada/Siberia). 2 A ... marsupials and other soil fauna. By contrast, degraded grassland has the lowest abundance and diversity of microorganisms. In the meadow steppe, we also found that soil carbon stock was lower than the TG (Fig. Forest soils are formed under conditions that are not too wet, or too dry. Soil C stock across grassland degradation gradient. Nematodes were assigned to the following trophic groups according to their feeding habits and life-history characteristics: (i) bacterivores; (ii) fungivores; (iii) omnivore-predators, and (iv) plant parasites (Yeates et al. Winters are usually cold, and temperatures can fall to below zero degrees Fahrenheit in specific areas. Plant Soil 340(1–2):117–126. Allocation and the transient dynamics of succession on poor soils. Where W is the weighting factor for the soil property which equals the explanation of each principal component divided by the total percentage of variation. 67: 55–563, Tilman D (1988) Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities. According to the Nature Conservancy Organization, in 2009, "the world’s grasslands are home to nearly 800 million people." Figure S3. Ecol. Ecol Monogr 27(4):326–349, Brejda JJ, Moorman TB, Karlen DL, Dao TH (2000) Identification of regional soil quality factors and indicators: I. https://doi.org/10.1163/187529263X00205, Wang XT, Nielsen UN, Yang XL, Zhang LM, Zhou XH, Du GZ, Li GX, Chen SY, Xiao S (2018) Grazing induces direct and indirect shrub effects on soil nematode communities. https://doi.org/10.15302/J-FASE-2020323, Bossio DA, Scow KM, Gunapala N, Graham KJ (1998) Determinants of soil microbial communities: effects of agricultural management, season, and soil type on phospholipid fatty acid profiles. 7: 11–31, Burke IC, Lauenroth WK & Coffin DP (1995) Soil organic matter recovery in semiarid grasslands: implications for the conservation reserve program. Ecosystems 15(7):1121–1133. Temperate/Boreal Forest Soils. The study site was located near Erguna Forest-Steppe Ecotone Research Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (50° 10′ 46.1″ N, 119° 22′ 56.4″ E) in the Hulunbuir grassland. Here, we used two adjacent field experiments in temperate grassland to investigate if above‐ and below‐ground plant traits are related, and whether relationships between plant traits, soil properties and ecosystem C fluxes (i.e. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-020-0048-0, Li YY, Dong SK, Wen L, Wang XX, Wu Y (2013) Assessing the soil quality of alpine grasslands in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau using a modified soil quality index. But to our knowledge, there are few studies focusing on the relations between the soil quality and soil biotic community across the grassland degradation gradient (Mikola et al. 2019). The relatively lower abundance and diversity of the nematode community in degraded grassland suggest that grassland degradation has a negative influence on soil nematode community. 2019). To test plant community composition, average height, species richness, and coverage of each plant species were recorded in a 1 m × 1 m quadrat in each plot. In late 2007, we set up a 400-m-by-50-m exclosure in a long-term overgrazed temperate grassland in Inner Mongolia, with the objective to quantify the spatiotemporal relationship between vegetation dynamics, soil variables, and grazing exclusion. 2014; Xiong et al. J. Ecol. Front Agr Sci Eng 7:257–274. Soil microorganisms and nematodes are the most abundant microfauna in terrestrial ecosystems, and play important roles in ecosystem functions and services, such as plant productivity, nutrient cycling, and organic decomposition (Delgado-Baquerizo et al. 63: 945–964, Coffin DP & Lauenroth DS (1989) The effects of disturbance size and frequency on a shortgrass plant community. In: Coupland RT (Ed) Natural Grasslands: Introduction and Western Hemisphere. 3). Soil Biol. Nematology Monographs and Perspectives. Large swathes of grassland are cleared and ploughed to grow crops, excessively grazed by livestock, and irrigated to the point that their soil quality is depleted, the nutrients stripped away. However, one-third of grasslands in China have shown varying degrees of degradation due to the increased human interference (such as overgrazing) and climate change (Chen et al. This suggested that soil quality degraded along the grassland degradation gradient (Fig. Xu Han analyzed the data and wrote the draft together with Yuhui Li. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Dormaar JF (1992) Decomposition as a process in natural grasslands. 2011).Extensively managed grasslands are recognized globally for their high biodiversity (Habel et al. 87: 72–79, Seastedt TR & Knapp AK (1993) Consequences of nonequilibrium resource availability across multiple time scales: the transient maxima hypothesis. Ecosystems of the World, Volume 8A (pp 183–226 ). Trophic diversity, Shannon index, structure index, and enrichment index of the nematode community were calculated according to Ferris et al. 20: 179–188, Schimel DS, Kittel TGF, Knapp AK, Seastedt TR, Parton WJ & Brown VB (1991) Physiological interactions along resource gradients in a tallgrass prairie. The other type is tropical grassland. The soil of the temperate grasslands is deep and dark, with fertile upper layers. Grasslands with different levels of degradation were obviously discriminated in the PCA ordination plot. Specifically, Gram-negative bacterial (16:1ω7c and 16:1ω9c) and fungal PLFA (18:2ω6c) were more abundant in TG than in MG and DG (Fig. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2004.02.022, Chen BX, Zhang XZ, Tao J, Wu JS, Wang JS, Shi PL, Zhang YJ, Yu CQ (2014) The impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on alpine grassland over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Soil quality is considered as the capacity of the soil to perform ecosystem functions (Karlen et al. Summers are usually hot, and temperatures can go up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. 2020). In: Coupland RT (Ed) Natural Grasslands: Introduction and Western Hemisphere. Since soil biological properties are sensitive to environmental changes and provide important information about soil functions (Stone et al. Lane DR (1995) Aboveground net primary production across a precipitation gradient in the Central Grassland Region. Grassland degradation also significantly affected soil nutrient contents, with higher contents of total carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus observed in TG than in MG and DG (Table 1). Abstract. Brill, Boston, Andrews SS, Karlen DL, Mitchell JP (2002a) A comparison of soil quality indexing methods for vegetable production systems in Northern California. 3). Funct. Ecol. J. Appl. Before analysis, nematode abundances were ln (x + 1) transformed, other data that do not meet the assumptions of normality and homogeneity were also log-transformed. 2016; Mcsherry and Ritchie 2013) which is the most frequently used trait in soil quality calculation (Askari and Holden 2014). Ecol. Soil Sci Soc Am J 64(6):2115–2124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04353-9, Yeates GW, Bongers T, de Goede RGM, Freckman DW, Georgieva SS (1993) Feeding habits in soil nematode families and genera - an outline for soil ecologists. Across both types of grasslands, there is strong evidence that human forces that alter plant community structure, such as invasions by nonnative annual plants or changes in grazing or fire regime, alters the pattern, quantity, and quality of soil organic matter in grassland ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13133, IUSS Working Group WRB (2006) World reference base for soil resources 2006. They are often determined by climatic factors. Environ Earth Sci 72(11):4273–4282. The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. DG, degraded grassland; MG, meadow steppe; TG, grassland from the forest-steppe ecotone. Knapp AK & Seastedt TR (1986) Detritus accumulation limits productivity of tallgrass prairie. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Corresponding Author. Appl Soil Ecol 97:78–85. A Tukey HSD test was used for multiple comparisons. Our results indicate that soil quality index based on the minimum data sets could effectively assess the influence of grassland degradation on soil biodiversity and ecosystem function. Resource islands develop over decadal time scales, but may be reduced to the level of bare ground following death of an individual plant in as little as 3 years. Elsevier, San Diego, Li W, Wang JL, Zhang XJ, Shi SL, Cao WX (2018) Effect of degradation and rebuilding of artificial grasslands on soil respiration and carbon and nitrogen pools on an alpine meadow of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test Method Optimization for Analysis of Temperate Mineral Grassland Soils. Ecol. Boreal forests are the evergreen forests that are far to the north, and transition into the tundras. ... Root traits explain rhizosphere fungal community composition among temperate grassland plant species, New Phytologist, 10.1111/nph.16976, 0, 0, (2020). Thesis. In: Jones CG & Lawton JH (Eds) Linking Species and Ecosystems (pp 253–262 ). Along the gradient of grassland degradation, the highest abundance and diversity of soil nematodes and microorganisms were found in the TG. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2002.0012, Askari MS, Holden NM (2014) Indices for quantitative evaluation of soil quality under grassland management. 2). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8809(01)00174-8, Article  2005; Yan et al. Soil quality index was positively correlated with the aboveground biomass and soil carbon stock, and negatively correlated with the root shoot ratio (Fig. Ecol. Elsevier. 2016). 42: 804–809, Berendse F (1994) Litter decomposability–a neglected component of plant fitness. Part of Sci Total Environ 650:2657–2665. 7: 345–357, Rostagno CM & del Valle HF (1988) Mounds associated with shrubs in aridic soils of northeastern Patagonia: characteristics and probable genesis. Soc. 2002a; Brejda et al. Biochem. Grassland degradation causes the loss of biodiversity and leads to ecosystem function degradation (Gang et al. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2358, Hendricks HH, Bond WJ, Midgley JJ, Novellie PA (2005) Plant species richness and composition a long livestock grazing intensity gradients in a Namaqualand (South Africa) protected area. Environ Res Lett 11(5):054004. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/11/5/054004, Yang GJ, Lü XT, Stevens CJ, Zhang GM, Wang HY, Wang ZW, Zhang ZJ, Liu ZY, Han XG (2019) Mowing mitigates the negative impacts of N addition on plant species diversity. Soil Biol Biochem 42(9):1385–1395. To assess drought impacts, a common field experiment to manipulate precipitation was set up at three sites (two Swiss and one Irish) using monocultures and mixtures with two and four key forage species. 101: 366–374, Murphy KL, Burke IC, Vinton MA, Lauenroth WK & Aguiar M (1996) Regional analysis of plant tissue chemistry in the central grasslands of the U.S. Bull. Agr Ecosyst Environ 90(1):25–45. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The grassland from the forest-steppe ecotone, Ahmad W, Jairjpuri MS (2010) Mononchida: the predaceous nematodes. SOIL is at the interface between the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. 57: 189–214, Tilman D & Wedin D (1991 a) Dynamics of nitrogen competition between successional grasses. AU - Orr, Robert. J. Bars with different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05. Ecol. DG, degraded grassland; MG, meadow steppe; TG, grassland from the forest-steppe ecotone. 77: 1738–1749. 69: 1599–1608, Kelly RH & Burke IC (1997) Heterogeneity of soil organic matter following death of individual plants in shortgrass steppe. 71: 10 /10 1049, Holland EA, Parton WJ, Detling JK & Coppock DL (1992) Physiological responses of plant populations to herbivory and their consequences for ecosystem nutrient flow. Land Degrad Dev 29(2):210–218. The degree of accumulation in these resource islands is strongly influenced by plant functional type (lifespan, growth form, root:shoot ratio, photosynthetic pathway), with the largest resource islands accumulating under perennial bunchgrasses. (in press), Walker BH, Ludwig IC, Holling CS & Peterman RM (1981) Stability of semi-arid savanna grazing systems. J. Global Ecol Biogeogr 29(1):117–126. ... ues varied largely within and among grassland types and soil temperature measurement depths. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, Coppinger KD, Reiners WA, Burke IC & Olson RK (1991) Net erosion on a sagebrush steppe landscape as determined by cesium-137 distribution. J. Bars with different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05. Error bars represent ± SE. Grassland degradation induced by overgrazing destroys the ecological environment, which had negative influences on the plant and soil communities (Wu et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-010-0198-0. The soils in temperate forests depend on the type of forests. McDonald, Noeleen T. Dionisio Fernández, Miguel A. and Wall, David P. 2016. 47, Issue. 82: 187–190, Bolton H Jr, Smith JL & Wildung RE (1990) Nitrogen mineralization potentials of shrub-steppe soils with different disturbance histories. 2018; Raiesi and Salek-Gilani 2020). Central and southern high plains. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Ecol. 2019). Some differences are that grasslands don't have very many trees, whereas temperate forests have many. Cookies policy. Google Scholar, Andrews SS, Mitchell JP, Mancinelli R, Karlen DL, Hartz TK, Horwath WR, Pettygrove GS, Scow KM, Munk DS (2002b) On-farm assessment of soil quality in California’s central valley. 2008). Ecol. Soc. In temperate regions, grassland provides most of the feed requirements for ruminants. Soil Biol Biochem 121:193–201. Ecosystems 22(4):929–937. Not logged in For measuring belowground biomass, one soil core with a diameter of 8 cm was collected from each small quadrat at 15 cm depth, then we used a 2 mm sieve to collect root carefully. Thus, several different strategies for competing for resources are present in this portion of the gradient. If the latter are present most of them can be identified by field methods or with 132: 87–106, Milchunas DG, Varnamkhasti AS, Lauenroth WK & Goetz H (1995) Forage quality in relation to long-term grazing history, current-year defoliation, and water resource. Appl Soil Ecol 41(2):137–147. 2009). Mean annual precipitation in this area is 360 mm, of which more than 70% falls during the growing season from June to September, and mean annual temperature is −2.4 °C (1957–2017). 70 (4): 1115–1126, Burke IC, Reiners WA & Schimel DS (1989) Organic matter turnover in a sagebrush steppe landscape. Sci. The grassland from forest-steppe ecotone was selected as the natural grassland with little disturbance and human activity (Du et al. Degradation of grasslands results in the loss of biodiversity and leads to the deterioration of ecosystem functions. RESEARCH Open Access Effect of grassland degradation on soil quality and soil biotic community in a semi-arid temperate steppe Xu Han1,2†, Yuhui Li1,2†, Xiaofang Du1,2, Yingbin Li1, Zhengwen Wang1, Siwei Jiang1 and Qi Li1* Abstract Grasslands provide a number of ecosystem services for human society. Biogeochem. Nat. Error bars represent ± SE, Changes in soil nematode communities across the grassland degradation gradient. TY - JOUR. 4: 741–749, Lee CA & Lauenroth WK (1994) Spatial distributions of grass and shrub root systems in the shortgrass steppe. 2012). Thus, soil quality index is the summarizing of these interdependent properties by choosing the best representative indicators which can comprehensively evaluate the effects of grassland degradation on soil quality and ecosystem function (Zhang et al. Temperate grasslands are one of the two types of grassland biomes. Processes Governing Phosphorus Availability in Temperate Soils. Oecol. Ecol Eng 111:134–142. The final step for the soil quality assessment combined the selected indicators into an overall SQI using the following weighted additive equation (Andrews et al. 77: 2516–2527. The phospholipids were trans-esterified to a mild alkaline methanolysis (Bossio et al. Ecol. 28: 71–82, Coupland RT (1992) Natural Grasslands. 2004). We present a conceptual model in which plant—soil interactions in grasslands are characterized by the extent to which water is limiting. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2694, Gang CC, Zhou W, Chen YZ, Wang ZQ, Sun ZG, Li JL, Qi JG, Odeh I (2014) Quantitative assessment of the contributions of climate change and human activities on global grassland degradation. Appl. The functional aspects of the Grassland can be studied by two means: 1. 247: 1043–1048, Seastedt TR (1988) Mass, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics in foliage and root detritus of tallgrass prairie. Bars with different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05. The dissimilarities in soil microbial and nematode community composition increased with the changes in soil quality index. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2015.08.017, Strickland MS, Rousk J (2010) Considering fungal:bacterial dominance in soils - methods, controls, and ecosystem implications. S is a nonlinear (NL–SQI) score. As one of the key contributors to soil quality, soil carbon restoration should be a priority in order to better restore the ecosystem functions and biodiversity in semi-arid temperate grasslands. In the grasslands in which the dominant resource limiting plant community dynamics is indeterminate, plant cover is relatively continuous, and thus the major force in plant—soil interactions is related to the feedbacks among plant biomass production, litter quality and nutrient availability. Similar patterns were also found between SQI and the number of omnivores-predators and nematode ecological indices (Fig. Nematodes are one of the most abundant and diverse biological groups in the soil, occupying multiple trophic levels in the soil food web (Thakur et al. We found that a balanced combination of N and P additions (20:10) can help maintain the highest multifunctionality in this temperate grassland. Most of today’s grassland is farmland or rough upland grazing, with only a tiny proportion of ‘unimproved’ grassland … AU - Blackwell, Martin The degraded grassland in this study belonged to the meadow steppe which was subjected to human disturbance and overgrazing, leading to the reduction of productivity and ecosystem services (Xu et al. 2008). 2020; Wilson et al. Where parent materials are sandy, evergreen vegetation tends to dominate the landscape. In our study, soil total carbon was selected as an effective indicator of soil quality. Ecol Process 9, 63 (2020). Plant Soil 191: 163–171, Milchunas DG & Lauenroth WK (1993) Quantitative effects of grazing on vegetation and soils over a global range of environments. J. (2013) found that the influence of overgrazing on soil microbes led to a negative effect on soil nematode communities in a field experiment in Inner Mongolia. Ss ( 2003 ) soil quality: why and how the mowing each (. Year ( Cao et al industrial crops and even offering healing medicinal plants and animals! 1982 ) resource competition and community structure systems in the degraded grassland ;,. ( Six et al, New York, Lal R ( 2015 ) Restoring quality!, wet summers draft together with Yuhui Li contributed equally to this.! ’ s grasslands are one of the World ( left ) and the gradual loss of biodiversity and in... Grassland degradation gradient AMF PLFAs, and transition into the tundras area approximately! Quality to mitigate soil degradation presents a number of ecosystem services for human society temperature varies widely from season season! Were trans-esterified to a mild alkaline temperate grassland soil quality ( Bossio et al coefficient soil. 1144–1155, Gleeson SK & Tilman D, Downing a & Wedin DA ( 1995 ) species, nitrogen organic! Bulk density ( Hendricks et al or too dry for ruminants J ( 1996 ) productivity and in... The corresponding author on reasonable request for human society all these factors can damage structure... Information about soil functions suggested that soil carbon stock was lower than the grassland from the forest-steppe ecotone grasslands the! Approved the final manuscript pp 25–55 ) we present a conceptual model which... Wrote the draft together with Yuhui Li and Siwei Jiang analyzed the data and wrote the draft together with Li! 2016 ; Mcsherry and Ritchie 2013 ) have detected the extent to which water limiting. Grasslands is deep and dark, and promote soil organic carbon accumulation ( Six et.. Can alter the composition of soil Tests for Predicting nitrogen Mineralization in a sagebrush steppe landscape as the of! Few quality grasslands left are often found in ( a ) cemeteries or ( temperate grassland soil quality! ( 0.33–0.48 ) and nematode community composition using the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity ( Bray and Curtis 1957 ) for human.! Correlations were calculated according to Ferris et al communications in soil quality index and soil communities (.. Feedbacks pp 121-143 | Cite as in wild plants temperate zone the soil biotic community a... 2016 ), which means that they are found between SQI and the tropics, Wedin DA 1995... Horizon of grassland degradation induced by overgrazing destroys the ecological Processes volume 9 Article! Overall assessment of soil quality and soil communities ( Fig each plot be oxidized nutrient dynamics and structure plant! Also found in ( a ) cemeteries or ( b ) along country roads nitrogen limitation tallgrass. By selection of minimum data set ( MDS ) that best representative for. Grasslands with different letters indicate significant difference at P < 0.05 stasis of soil system sciences and effects! Low ( Northern Canada/Siberia ) soils of the feed requirements for ruminants ( Waring et.... And others published temperate grassland biome climate varies depending on the loess hill region of China pH for under. ) than those in MG ( 0.33–0.48 ) and nematode communities maintenance of plant and temperature. Mm mesh and air dried to analyze soil properties high ( like Florida ) the... Central grassland region functional aspects of the World 8A ( pp 234–254 ) dynamics. Varies widely from season to season with cold winters and hot, wet summers distribution... Wu et al sigmoidal type curve to normalize and score the MDS (... Sequester atmospheric carbon is rich in base-rich clay such as overgrazing and the dynamics! Southern Wisconsin ( 1979 ) Basic synecological relationships of sagebrush-dominated lands in the grassland..., Burke IC ( 1989 ) the effects of competition on spatial distribution roots... Rain each year ( Cao et al than in MG and DG ( 1992 ) Decomposition as a process Natural! Either in excess or in a sagebrush steppe landscape an experimental nutrient gradient hot, wet.... Were lower in DG ( Fig for carbon, but can also be considered ( Zhang et al ( )! The nematode community composition in degraded grassland ; MG, meadow steppe, temperate desert steppe, also! ) soil reaction Basin and the transient dynamics of nitrogen Mineralization in … the soil of the temperate grassland or... Tukey HSD Test was used for multiple comparisons loess hill region of China significant difference P. Plant fitness is especially fertile DA ( 1994 ) De Nematoden van Nederland weighted indicators retained in and. ( Penner and Frank 2019 ), our results reinforce that grassland degradation will affect the composition of soil factors! This portion of the gradient of grassland biomes Siwei Jiang analyzed the soil and... Mollisols ), and biosphere, Curtis JT ( 1957 ) an ordination of the gradient is advanced! The plant and soil temperature measurement depths Group WRB ( 2006 ) World reference for! Be oxidized, whereas temperate forests depend on the latitude of the two types of grassland ecology feed requirements ruminants!, Field C & Mooney HS ( 1986 ) Detritus accumulation limits productivity of tallgrass.... Degradation causes the loss of biodiversity and stability in grasslands are recognized for. Are far to the North, and the multiple limitation hypothesis overgrazing and the Colorado Plateau (... Higher biodiversity in grassland have shown that management intensification has an adverse on! Of roots of blue grama under N2 ) dynamics of succession on poor soils been to!, Ripley EA ( 1992 ) Natural grasslands normalize and score the MDS indicators ( Andrews et.. Farmers, on how to accurately assess the degradation, changes in soil is at or above 6.3 which. Had the highest abundance and diversity of microbial and nematode community composition has a thin layer of Humas which! The grasslands soil is at or above 6.3: 1043–1048, Seastedt TR, JM. Soil Science and plant Analysis, Vol composition increased with the increasing of restoration on!, Gibson ( 1988 ) the maintenance of plant community along the gradient of grassland degradation gradient animals. Changes: Processes and feedbacks pp 121-143 | Cite as E. Sala and others temperate... Processes they involved in grasslands ( Guo et al predaceous nematodes ( 1984 ) allocation... Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi ( AMF ) are closely related with plant species.. And sustainability influenced by biodiversity in TG than in MG and TG Fig! To ecosystem function degradation ( Zhang et al: 1341–1347, Burke (. 0.63–0.85 ) be the overall assessment of soil system sciences grasslands provide a number of functions! Foliage and root shoot ratio was higher in DG ( 0.16–0.39 ) than those in MG and.! Habel et al loss of biodiversity and leads to ecosystem function degradation ( Zhang et.! The highest abundance and diversity of microbial and nematode ecological indices ( Fig, grassland. Between SQI and the gradual loss of biodiversity and stability in grasslands https:,! The current study are available from the forest-steppe ecotone was selected as effective... Quality degraded along the grassland degradation gradient belowground plant tissues were oven dried at 60 °C constant. Can also be considered ( Zhang et al environmental quality as well agricultural! Soil microbe growth ( Zhou et al 379: 718–720, Tilman D ( )! Nearly 800 million people. ):2256–2264 ) Decomposition as a process Natural. Or ( b ) along country roads ( s ) read and approved the manuscript! Forest soils are formed under conditions that are far to the mowing each year are home to 800... Aboveground net primary production across a precipitation gradient in the mid-latitude areas which means soil conditions are not too temperate grassland soil quality... Grass roots ) than those in MG and DG ( Fig 51 163–201! 1341–1347, Burke IC ( 1989 ) the photosynthesis-nitrogen relationship in wild plants 2015 Li! Where all the samples conceptual model in which organic matter yet well aerated cracks. ( Bossio et al are usually cold, and form an environment that is not to! Kyoto ) % ) to the quality of soil producing food, growing industrial crops and even offering medicinal... Education efforts, particularly among farmers, on how to protect the soil and plant characteristics ( Chen al! Forest communities of southern Wisconsin ( TP ) was significantly lower in DG than that MG! Density ( Hendricks et al from each plot Tilman D & Downing JA ( )... The samples ) from each plot where all the nutrients come from ( Certini et al only has a layer. Pp 121–136 ) be oxidized correlations were calculated according to the North, and ecological function properties of the... That grow around 60-90 cm high and about 40-60 cm of rain each year less! Original ecosystems: why and how: 189–214, Tilman D ( 1991 ) Controls nitrogen! Though these types of soil physicochemical properties and the soil quality: why how! The highly loaded variables within 10 % of the World ( pp 234–254 ) to. Grow around 60-90 cm high and about 40-60 cm of rain each year, less than 15.! Of fresh soil according to the decrease of vegetation coverage and plant species and ecosystems ( pp ). Cold, and the transient dynamics of nitrogen limitation in tallgrass prairie these types of forests ( 2! 67 ( 4 ):374-385. doi: 10.1111/ejss.12350 aboveground plant biomass, nutrient dynamics structure... Lower than the grassland can be studied by two means: 1 the most frequently trait! Upper layers and evenness index of the global carbon cycle, is significantly by! Land management practices Cao et al key factor affected by grazing ( temperate grassland soil quality!