[Soil C and N dynamics during desertification of grassland in Northern China]

This paper investigated the aboveground vegetations and the soil texture and total C and N at 75 sites of Duolun County in Xilinguole League of Inner Mongolia. The results showed that different types of vegetation community could be used to describe different stages of desertification process. During desertification, the community types were changed in the series of Leymus chinensis + Cleistogenes squarrosa --> Artemisia frigida --> Artemisia intramongolia --> Corispermum staunyonii, Chenopodium bryoniaefolium --> drift sand, and a regular change of soil clay and total C and N contents could also be found. The soil C/N ratio was increased with different stages of grassland desertification, which could be expressed in the series of 8.11-->13.96-->12.36-->28.17.