Julie Bethany, Steve Kutos, Kristen Oliver, Eva Stricker
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
In light of climate change, ranchers need management tools to restore dry grasslands. To boost productivity and resilience, compost applications have shown promise, but little is known about the effect of composts that differ in initial feedstock and resulting biological and chemical characteristics. Our objective was to compare commonly available composts to evaluate how they affected soil microbial community composition and soil health−related responses in drylands. We added biosolid versus manure composts to 64-m2 plots in a rangeland in Socorro County, New Mexico and measured microbial, soil, and plant characteristics after 6 mo and 1 yr. We found that while composts hosted diverse microbial taxa, relative abundance of native soil microbial communities did not shift dramatically from controls at either 6 mo or 1 yr after compost addition. Aggregate stability was 22% lower in manure than biosolid compost and controls (P = 0.048), but aboveground biomass tended to strongly increase depending on exclosure treatment (P = 0.048), and composition shifted to relatively abundant annual forbs with biosolid compost compared with controls. Together, these results suggest that while increased organic matter enhanced vegetation biomass, an important implication for range managers, the dominant microbial community members were not primarily responsible for observed shifts in responses.
期刊介绍:
Rangeland Ecology & Management publishes all topics-including ecology, management, socioeconomic and policy-pertaining to global rangelands. The journal''s mission is to inform academics, ecosystem managers and policy makers of science-based information to promote sound rangeland stewardship. Author submissions are published in five manuscript categories: original research papers, high-profile forum topics, concept syntheses, as well as research and technical notes.
Rangelands represent approximately 50% of the Earth''s land area and provision multiple ecosystem services for large human populations. This expansive and diverse land area functions as coupled human-ecological systems. Knowledge of both social and biophysical system components and their interactions represent the foundation for informed rangeland stewardship. Rangeland Ecology & Management uniquely integrates information from multiple system components to address current and pending challenges confronting global rangelands.