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Do different land use changes in a deciduous forest ecosystem result in alterations in soil organic C and total N stocks?

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Abstract

Aims

This study sought to evaluate how soil organic carbon (SOC) and total nitrogen (STN) stocks vary following the conversion of a deciduous natural forest (DNF) to a paddy rice farm (PRF), a seventy-year-old Pinus koraiensis monoculture (CP70), a mixed forest (MF) plantation, and a P. koraiensis monoculture resulting from the re-plantation of a portion of the CP70 attacked by bugs.

Methods

Soil samples (0–30 cm) were collected from DNF, PRF, CP7, CP70 and MF in the Gwangneung experimental site located in Gyeonggi-do (South Korea), and analyzed for bulk density, pH, SOC, STN content and stocks (0–30 cm).

Results

The conversion of DNF into PRF showed 23.9% SOC stocks and 54.5% STN stocks increases. However, there were no significant changes in STN or SOC stocks after DNF was reforested for seven or 70 years or when PRF was reforested to MF.

Conclusions

The conversion of a DNF to a PRF increased the SOC and STN stock, which might be due to over 63 years’ fertilizations with urea and diammonium phosphate, but reforestation with a P. koraiensis monoculture for 70 years and/or mixed forest was enough time to restore SOC and STN stocks to natural levels.

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Acknowledgements

All authors are appreciative of the Gwangneung Experimental Forest staff who permitted us to conduct this study in the region. We are equally thankful to Chung Sang Hoon from the Korean National Institute of Forest Science for drawing a map of the study area, Mohamed Shumais from Korea Polytechnic University for assisting with fieldwork and Jiae An from Korea University, Ji Won Han, Ma Carmina Canua and Minji Seo in Dongguk University with laboratory work and Asia Khamzina for constructive and valuable comments on earlier manuscript versions. This study was financially supported by the 2020 Dongguk University Research Program. I would like to extend my gratitude to the National Institute of International Education (NIID), South Korea for providing the Wainkwa Chia Rogers scholarship under the Korean Government Scholarship Program (KGSP) for the Ph.D studies through which this research was completed as a partial fulfilment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Dongguk University, Ilsan, 10326, South Korea

    Rogers Wainkwa Chia & Hoduck Kang

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea

    Yowhan Son

  3. National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul, 02455, South Korea

    Wonwoo Cho & Young Geun Lee

  4. Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography & Geoecology, Ulaanbaatar, 16062, Mongolia

    Ganchudur Tsetsegmaa

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  1. Rogers Wainkwa Chia
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  2. Yowhan Son
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  3. Wonwoo Cho
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  4. Young Geun Lee
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  5. Ganchudur Tsetsegmaa
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  6. Hoduck Kang
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Contributions

RWC designed the study, interpreted data and wrote the manuscript’s first draft; RWC, YS, WC, YGL and GTC contributed to data collection and commented on previous versions of the manuscript; KHD provided technical advice and support for this study. All authors read and approved the paper’s final version.

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Correspondence to Hoduck Kang.

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Chia, R.W., Son, Y., Cho, W. et al. Do different land use changes in a deciduous forest ecosystem result in alterations in soil organic C and total N stocks?. Plant Soil 457, 153–165 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-020-04724-9

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