Impacts of vegetation restoration strategies on soil organic carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a karst area, southwest China

Soil carbon (C) sequestration through cropland conversion has been regarded as a major strategy to absorb atmospheric CO2 and thus mitigate global warming, but much uncertainty still exists in terms of restoration strategies. In this study, soil C and nitrogen (N) were measured 13 years after cropland conversion in a karst area, southwest China. Four restoration strategies were included, i.e., (i) restoration with an economic tree species Toona sinensis (TS), (ii) restoration with Guimu-1 hybrid elephant grass (GG), (iii) restoration with a combination of Zenia insignis and Guimu-1 hybrid elephant grass (ZG), and iv) spontaneous regeneration (SR). Cropland under maize-soybean rotation (CR) was used as reference and the space-for-time substitution approach was adopted to evaluate soil C and N stock (0-15 cm) change. Soil C stocks in TS and SR were elevated by 40% and 50%, respectively, relative to CR, while those in GG and ZG were not significantly changed. Soil N stocks in GG were not significantly changed, but stocks in TS, ZG and SR were enhanced by 130%, 81% and 117%, respectively, relative to CR. Significant correlation was found between soil C and N stock changes with rate of relative N stock change greater than that of C stock change. Similar to soil N stock, nitrate concentration, net nitrification rate and δ15N values in TS, ZG and SR were greater than those in GG or CR. Stepwise multiple linear regression indicated that exchangeable calcium was the soil variable mainly responsible for the dynamics of both soil C and N. Our results indicate that plantation with economic tree species and spontaneous regeneration are likely equally effective in soil C sequestration.