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Assessment of Labile Organic Carbon in Soil Using Sequential Fumigation Incubation Procedures
Published on: October 29, 2016
[Variations of soil labile organic carbon along an altitude gradient in Wuyi Mountain]
Xia Xu1, Yue-Qin Chen, Jia-She Wang
1Key Laboratory of Forestry Ecological Engineering of Jiangsu Province, College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China. xuxia8227@yahoo.com.cn
Abstract:
By using sequential fumigation-incubation method, this paper determined the soil labile organic carbon (LOC) content under evergreen broadleaf forest, coniferous forest, sub-alpine dwarf forest, and alpine meadow along an altitude gradient in Wuyi Mountain National Nature Reserve in Fujian Province of China, with its relations to soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and fine root biomass (FRB) analyzed. The results showed that soil LOC occupied 3.40%-7.46% of soil TOC, and soil MBC occupied 26.87%-80.38% of the LOC. The LOC under different forest stands increased significantly with altitude, and decreased with soil depth. Soil LOC had very significant correlations with soil MBC, TOC, TN and FRB, and its content was obviously higher at higher altitudes than at lower altitudes.
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