The Effect of Crataegus pseudomelanicarpa Pojark. Canopy on Soil Total Carbon and Particulate Organic Matter in Grazed and Ungrazed Areas in Alborz Rangelands, Noor County, Iran

Journal of Rangeland Science

دوره 11، شماره 4، دی 2021، صفحه 446-456   

نوع مقاله: Research and Full Length Article

نویسندگان

Reza Erfanzadeh^{* 1}؛ Fatemeh Barzegaran²؛ Siroos Saber Amoli³

¹Department of Rangeland Management, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Iran

²Rangeland Management Departmen, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor,

³Research Assistant Professor, Research Division Natural Resources Department, Mazandaran Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, AREEO, Sari

چکیده

Trees and shrubs can act as nurse plants that facilitate the growth and development of other herbaceous species under their canopies and induced the autogenic development of soil parameters. Therefore, we studied the effect of Crataegus pseudomelanicarpa on carbon sequestration (total carbon and particulate organic matter) in two grazed and ungrazed areas during the two seasons (spring and autumn) in central Alborz, Pasperes village, Noor rangelands, Iran. Fifteen individual trees (according to the surface of each region, five in the ungrazed and ten in the grazed areas) were selected. Soil samples were taken in spring and autumn in 2017 under woody canopy (patch) and outside the canopy (interpatch) of individual trees. Soil samples were tested for total carbon (TC) and particulate organic matter (POM). The results showed that the value of TC was higher in the autumn than the spring and conversely, POM was significantly higher in the spring than the autumn. Generally the results showed that the presence of the shrubs in both grazed and ungrazed areas improved the values of TC and POM in both seasons. In the grazed area, POM (24.43 g kg-1 vs. 15.41 g kg-1 in the spring and 11.71 g kg-1 vs. 8.59 g kg-1 in the autumn) and TC (1.53% vs. 1.35% in the spring and 1.61% vs. 1.58% in the autumn) had significantly higher values in patches than interpatches, while in the ungrazed area, these differences were less pronounced or not significant between patches and interpatches. It was concluded that the facilitated role of woody species in the conservation of soil carbon is more prominent in the grazed compared with ungrazed grasslands. It was emphasized on conservation of woody species in the rangelands particularly in the grazed areas.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Nurse plants؛ Soil parameters؛ Subalpine grasslands

مراجع

Abdallah, F., Noumi, Z., Ouled-Belgacem, A., Michalet, R., Touzard, B. and Chaieb, M., 2012. The influence of Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) ssp. raddiana (Savi) Brenan presence, grazing, and water availability along the growing season, on the understory herbaceous vegetation in southern Tunisia. Journal of Arid Environments, 76: 105-114.

Abdulahi, M.M., Ebro, A. and Nigatu, L., 2016. Impact of woody plants species on soil physio-chemical properties along grazing gradients in rangeland of eastern Ethiopia. Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems, 19: 343 – 355.

Aerts, R., Maes, W., November, E., Behailu, M., Poesen, J., Deckers, J., Hermy, M. and Muys, B., 2006. Surface runoff and seed trapping efficiency of shrubs in a regenerating semiarid woodland in northern Ethiopia. Catena, 65: 61-70.

Akiyama, T. and Kawamura, K., 2007. Grassland degradation in China: methods of monitoring, management and restoration. Grassland Science, 53: 1-17.

Augustine, D.J. and Frank, D.A., 2001. Effects of migratory grazers on spatial heterogeneity of soil nitrogen properties in a grassland ecosystem. Ecology, 82: 3149-3162.

Badano, E.I., Pérez, D. and Vergara, C.H., 2009. Love of nurse plants is not enough for restoring oak forests in a seasonally dry tropical environment. Restoration Ecology, 17: 571-576.

Baskan, O., Dengiz, O. and Gunturk, A., 2016. Effects of toposequence and land use-land cover on the spatial distribution of soil properties. Environmental Earth Sciences, 75:1-10.

Bu, X., Ruan, H., Wang, L., Ma, W., Ding, J. and Yu, X., 2012. Soil organic matter in density fractions as related to vegetation changes along an altitude gradient in the Wuyi Mountains, southeastern China. Applied Soil Ecology, 52: 42-47.

Cavieres, L.A., Badano, E.I., Sierra‐Almeida, A., Gómez‐González, S. and Molina‐Montenegro, M.A., 2006. Positive interactions between alpine plant species and the nurse cushion plant Laretia acaulis do not increase with elevation in the Andes of central Chile. New Phytologist, 169: 59-69.

Daryanto, S., Eldridge, D.J. and Throop, H.L., 2013. Managing semi-arid woodlands for carbon storage: grazing and shrub effects on above-and belowground carbon. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 169: 1-11.

Dohn, J., Dembélé, F., Karembé, M., Moustakas, A., Amévor, K. A. and Hanan, N. P., 2013. Tree effects on grass growth in savannas: competition, facilitation and the stress‐gradient hypothesis. Journal of Ecology, 101: 202-209.

Eldridge, D.J., Beecham, G. and Grace, J.B., 2015. Do shrubs reduce the adverse effects of grazing on soil properties? Ecohydrology, 8: 1503-1513.

Erfanzadeh, R., Bahrami, B., Motamedi, J. and Petillon, J., 2014a. Changes in soil organic matter driven by shifts in co-dominant plant species in a grassland. Geoderma, 213: 74-78.

Erfanzadeh, R., Kahnuj, S. H.H., Azarnivand, H. and Pétillon, J., 2013. Comparison of soil seed banks of habitats distributed along an altitudinal gradient in northern Iran. Flora-Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants, 208: 312-320.

Erfanzadeh, R., Shahbazian, R. and Zali, H., 2014b. Role of plant patches in preserving flora from the soil seed bank in an overgrazed high-mountain habitat in northern Iran. Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology, 16: 229-238.

Facelli, J.M. and Temby, A.M., 2002. Multiple effects of shrubs on annual plant communities in arid lands of South Australia. Austral Ecology, 27: 422-432.

Follett, R.F. and Reed, D.A., 2010. Soil carbon sequestration in grazing lands: societal benefits and policy implications. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 63: 4-15.

Franzluebbers, A.J., Stuedemann, J.A. and Schomberg, H.H., 2000. Spatial distribution of soil carbon and nitrogen pools under grazed tall fescue. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 64: 635-639.

Han, J.G., Zhang, Y.J., Wang, C.J., Bai, W.M., Wang, Y.R., Han, G.D. and Li, L.H., 2008. Rangeland degradation and restoration management in China. The Rangeland Journal, 30: 233-239.

Howard, K.S., Eldridge, D.J. and Soliveres, S., 2012. Positive effects of shrubs on plant species diversity do not change along a gradient in grazing pressure in an arid shrubland. Basic and Applied Ecology, 13: 159-168.

Khaleghi, P., 1998. The profile of the Caspian forests, research forest of Vazrud. Research Institute Forests and Rangelands publication, Tehran, Iran, 380 P. (In Persian).

Kondo, J., Hirobe, M., Yamada, Y., Undarmaa, J., Sakamoto, K. and Yoshikawa, K., 2012. Effects of Caragana microphylla patch and its canopy size on “islands of fertility” in a Mongolian grassland ecosystem. Landscape and Ecological Engineering, 8:1-8.

Loydi, A., Zalba, S.M. and Distel, R.A., 2012. Vegetation change in response to grazing exclusion in montane grasslands, Argentina. Plant Ecology and Evolution, 145: 313-322.

Motamedi, J., Alizadeh, A. and Sheidai Karkaj, E., 2018. Effect of halophyte patches on some soil properties of a saline rangeland around Urmia Lake, Iran. Journal of Rangeland Science, 8: 363-372.

Noumi, Z., Abdallah, L., Touzard, B. and Chaieb, M., 2012. Acacia tortilis (Forssk.) subsp. raddiana (Savi) Brenan as a foundation species: a test from the arid zone of Tunisia. The Rangeland Journal, 34: 17-25.

Noumi, Z., 2015. Effects of exotic and endogenous shrubs on understory vegetation and soil nutrients in the south of Tunisia. Journal of Arid Land, 7: 481–487.

Ren, J.Z., Hu, Z.Z., Zhao, J., Zhang, D.G., Hou, F.J., Lin, H.L. and Mu, X.D., 2008. A grassland classification system and its application in China. Rangeland Journal, 30: 199-209.

Rotich, H., Onwonga, R., Mbau, J. and Koech, O., 2018. Soil Organic Carbon Content and Stocks in Relation to Grazing Management in Semi-Arid Grasslands of Kenya. Journal of Rangeland Science, 8: 143-155.

Rousset, O. and Lepar, J., 2000. Positive and negative interactions at different life stages of a colonizing species (Quercus humilis). Journal of Ecology, 88: 401-412.

Ruiz, T., Zaragoza, S. and Cerrato, R., 2008. Fertility islands around Prosopis laevigata and Pachycereus hollianus in the drylands of Zapotitlán Salinas, México. Journal of Arid Environments, 72: 1202-1212.

Singh, J.S., Raghubanshi, A.S., Singh, R.S. and Srivastava, S.C., 1989. Microbial biomass acts as a source of plant nutrients in dry tropical forest and savanna. Nature, 338: 499-500.

Smit, C., Gusberti, M. and Müller-Schärer, H., 2006. Safe for saplings; safe for seeds? Forest Ecology and Management, 237: 471-477.

Stock, W., Dlamini, T. and Cowling, R., 1999. Plant induced fertile islands as possible indicators of desertification in a succulent desert ecosystem in northern Namaqualand, South Africa. Plant Ecology, 142: 161-167.

Su, Y.-Z., Zhao H., Zhang, T. and Li, Y., 2004. Characteristics of plant community and soil properties in the plantation chronosequence of Caragana microphylla in Horqin sandy land. Acta Phytoecologica Sinica, 28: 93-100.

Van Veen, J.A. and Paul, E.A., 1981. Organic carbon dynamics in grassland soils. I. background information and computer simulation. Canadian Journal of Soil Sciences, 61: 185-201.

Wang, X., He, X., Williams, J. R., Izaurralde, R. C. and Atwood, J. D., 2005. Sensitivity and uncertainty analyses of crop yields and soil organic carbon simulated with EPIC. Transactions of the ASAE, 48: 1041-1054.

Wang, X.-P., Li. X.-R., Xiao, H.-L. and Pan, Y.-X., 2006. Evolutionary characteristics of the artificially revegetated shrub ecosystem in the Tengger Desert, northern China. Ecological Research, 21: 415-424.

Wu. G. L., Du, G. Z., Liu, Z. H. and Thirgood, S., 2009. Effect of fencing and grazing on a Kobresia-dominated meadow in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Plant and Soil, 319: 115-126.

Xu, C., Holmgren, M., Van Nes, E.H., Maestre, F.T., Soliveres, S., Berdugo, M., Kéfi, S., Marquet, P.A., Abades, S. and Scheffer, M., 2015. Can we infer plant facilitation from remote sensing? A test across global drylands. Ecological Applications, 25: 1456-1462.

Yu, Z.-Y., Chen, F.-S., Zeng, D.-H., Zhao, Q. and Chen, G.-S., 2008. Soil inorganic nitrogen and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen under pine plantations in Zhanggutai sandy soil. Pedosphere, 18: 775-784.

Zandi, L., Erfanzadeh, R. and Joneidi Jafari, H., 2016. Rangeland use change to agriculture has different effects on soil organic matter fractions depending on the type of cultivation. Land Degradation & Development, 28: 175–180.