[1]JIANG Rentao,LI Fucheng,SHEN Songtao.Effects of Degradation of Alpine Grassland on Soil Aggregates Composition and Stability in Northwestern Sichuan Province[J].Research of Soil and Water Conservation,2018,25(04):36-42.
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Research of Soil and Water Conservation[ISSN 1005-3409/CN 61-1272/P] Volume:
25
Number of periods:
2018 04
Page number:
36-42
Column:
Public date:
2018-06-13
- Title:
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Effects of Degradation of Alpine Grassland on Soil Aggregates Composition and Stability in Northwestern Sichuan Province
- Author(s):
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JIANG Rentao, LI Fucheng, SHEN Songtao
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College of Resources & Environment, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, Sichuan 621010, China
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- Keywords:
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alpine grassland; soil degradation; soil aggregates; stability
- CLC:
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S152.4
- DOI:
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- Abstract:
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We used dry and wet sieving methods to investigate the composition characteristics of soil in different degraded alpine grasslands in northwestern Sichuan Province. The macro-aggregates content (R0.25), mean weight diameter (MWD), geometric mean diameter (GMD) and the percentage of aggregate destruction (PAD) of soil aggregates were selected to research the stability of soil aggregates in degradation process. The results showed that soil mechanical-stable aggregates and water-stable aggregates of non-degraded grassland was mainly composed of macro-aggregates (>0.25 mm), while micro-aggregates (<0.25 mm) were found in all degraded grasslands; with the expansion of grassland degradation, the R0.25 decreased significantly, MWD and GMD decreased in the order: non-degraded grassland > lightly degraded grassland > moderately degraded grassland > heavily degraded grassland, while PAD showed the opposite of trend of the change, the stability of aggregates was the most obvious in the stage of non-degraded to lightly degraded; the stability of soil aggregates in non-degraded grassland and lightly degraded grassland decreased from soil surface to deep layer, but the soil aggregates in moderately degraded grassland and heavily degraded grassland soil surface (0—10 cm) were weaker than the deeplayer (10—40 cm). These results indicated that stability of aggregates reduced significantly with the degradation of alpine grassland. The lightly degraded grassland was the critical period in the decline of soil structure stability in alpine grassland, and attention should be paid to desertification control.