Effects of land-use types on the temporal dynamics of soil active carbon and nitrogen in the rocky mountainous of North China

Abstract

To evaluate the effects of land-use types on the temporal dynamics of soil active carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), a field experiment was conducted from five adjacent sites, farmland (FL), abandoned land (AL), Platycladus orientalis artificial forest (PO), Robinia pseudoacacia artificial forest (RP) and Quercus variabilis artificial forest (QV) in the rocky mountainous of North China. Soil dissolved organic C and N (DOC, DON), soil microbial biomass C and N (MBC, MBN), ammonium-N (NH4+-N) and nitrate-N (NO3−-N) were determined during four seasons. The results showed that soil DOC, DON, MBC, MBN, NH4+-N, and NO3−-N contents in PO were higher than other land-use types, especially in QV. Soil DOC, DON, MBC, and MBN contents all showed a higher value in March. Both soil DOC/DON and MBC/MBN showed peak values in June. With the increase of soil depth, soil DOC, DON, MBC, and MBN contents all tended to decrease. Most of soil active C and N components had significant correlations with SOC, TN, AP, soil particle volume fraction and the activities of BG and PROT, while the main influencing factors for soil active C and N components were various. The key contributing factors to soil DOC and MBC was SOC, accounting for 62.6% and 67.9%, respectively. Soil TN was the main affecting factor of soil DON (98.4%) and MBN (75.7%). Soil NH4+-N and NO3−-N were, respectively, affected by volume fraction of silt particles (10.3%) and AP (15.0%). In conclusion, soil active C and N components are more likely to accumulate in the PO soil in spring, indicating tree species and temperature are the key factors driving soil active C and N turnover in this area.