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Effects of rotational and continuous overgrazing on newly assimilated C allocation

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Abstract

In situ 13CO2 pulse labeling was conducted in temperate grasslands, managed by no grazing, rotational, or continuous overgrazing, to trace the allocation pattern and the dynamics of newly assimilated C into the plant-soil system. Forty-eight days after the labeling, the belowground 13C allocations under overgrazing were substantially lower than those under no grazing (55% for no grazing, 29% for rotational grazing, 36% for continuous grazing). Overgrazing reduced the relative amount of C incorporation into soil organic C (SOC). Overgrazing led to more C losses through shoot respiration (23%, 54%, 46% by no, rotational, and continuous grazing, respectively), but fewer losses via soil respiration (33%, 12%, 13% by no, rotational, and continuous grazing, respectively). Continuous grazing produced more C allocation to roots than rotational grazing (12% vs 4%), indicating that plants had stronger root C storage capacity under continuous than rotational grazing. The mean C residence time of the belowground rhizodeposits and C used for root respiration under rotational grazing (2.08 days) was longer than that under no grazing (1.47 days) or continuous grazing (1.37 days). Overgrazing decreased the C stocks in shoots but remained stable in roots. Meanwhile, overgrazing decreased the newly assimilated C allocation to belowground, creating a negative effect on C sequestration. Under overgrazing regimes, continuous grazing is more preferable in the investigated temperate grasslands than rotational grazing for C allocation and sequestration in soil.

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Acknowledgments

This study was carried out on the Grassland Ecological Research Base of Inner Mongolia University. We thank a lot for the assistance of college president Yonghong Li, Inner Mongolia University. We also thank Ruixue Wang for her assistance in the field work and Yu Cui for her assistance in the laboratory work.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0500502), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41771325; 41877089), Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (2019QZKK0405), the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2014CB138803).

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  1. Min Liu and Shengnan Ouyang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability (CHESS), State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Min Liu, Shengnan Ouyang, Yuqiang Tian, Shuhai Wen, Yan Zhao & Xiaobing Li

  2. School of Natural Resources, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Min Liu, Shengnan Ouyang, Yuqiang Tian, Shuhai Wen, Yan Zhao & Xiaobing Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11A, Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Min Liu, Shuhai Wen & Xingliang Xu

  4. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yanqi Lake, Huairou District, Beijing, 101408, China

    Min Liu & Shuhai Wen

  5. School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, No. 235 West College Road, Hohhot, 010021, Inner Mongolia, China

    Taoge-tao Baoyin

  6. Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Department of Agricultural Soil Science, University of Göttingen, Büsgenweg 2, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Yakov Kuzyakov

  7. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, China

    Xingliang Xu

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  1. Min Liu
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Liu, M., Ouyang, S., Tian, Y. et al. Effects of rotational and continuous overgrazing on newly assimilated C allocation. Biol Fertil Soils 57, 193–202 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01516-2

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