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Effects of land cover conversion on soil properties and soil microbial activity in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Land cover conversion intensively occurred in the Tibetan Plateau of China during the past decades. However, responses of soil properties and soil microbial activities to land cover conversion under different land cover types have not been fully understood. The objective was to assess the effects of land cover conversion on soil C and N stocks and soil microbial properties of topsoil of an alpine meadow in the Tibetan Plateau. Soil cores of surface soil (0–20 cm) were collected from three adjacent land cover types: native alpine meadow, artificial grassland and mound-shaped denuded land. Soil microbial metabolic diversity was measured using Biolog EcoPlates. Significant losses of SOC and TN storages were subject to land cover conversion in topsoil, decreasing 14.5 and 10.9 % of alpine meadow to artificial grassland and 52.9 and 51.7 % to denuded land. Alpine meadow soils had the highest soil microbial biomass and microbial metabolic activity of three land cover types. Microbial biomass and microbial metabolic activity decreased markedly after alpine meadow conversion to denuded land. Land use conversion from original alpine meadow to artificial grassland and denuded land caused decline in soil organic carbon density, total nitrogen density and soil microbial activity. Soil carbon emissions from alpine meadow conversion were released to the atmosphere and could influence climatic change.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by projects of the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CBA01086) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41222001 and 91025011). We thank our colleagues at the Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station for their valuable assistance with the fieldwork. We also greatly appreciate the responsible editor and the two anonymous reviewers whose comments dramatically improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Qilian Alpine Ecology and Hydrology Research Station, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Ping Zhu, Rensheng Chen & Yaoxuan Song

  2. Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Ping Zhu, Rensheng Chen, Yaoxuan Song, Guangxiu Liu, Tuo Chen & Wei Zhang

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  1. Ping Zhu
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  2. Rensheng Chen
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  3. Yaoxuan Song
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Correspondence to Rensheng Chen.

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Zhu, P., Chen, R., Song, Y. et al. Effects of land cover conversion on soil properties and soil microbial activity in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. Environ Earth Sci 74, 4523–4533 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4509-1

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