Responses of soil microbial biomass carbon and microbial entropy to soil properties in typical sloping croplands of China under erosion conditions

Abstract

Soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial entropy play a crucial role in the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems, while their responses to soil properties in typical sloping croplands under the impact of soil erosion remain poorly understood due to the complexity of the soil erosion process. In this study, we selected typical sloping croplands with different erosion levels for the four severely eroded soil types (black, loess, purple, and red soil) in China to assess the key controls of MBC and microbial entropy under the influence of soil erosion. The results showed that soil erosion significantly reduced the MBC content but increased the microbial entropy of sloping croplands in black soil region (BS) (22 %, 43.6 %), purple soil region (PS) (25.5 %, 26.2 %) and red soil region (RS) (28.9 %, 21.9 %), but not in loess soil region (LS). The soil physicochemical properties had significantly positive and negative correlations on the MBC and microbial entropy, respectively. The MBC and microbial entropy of these sloping croplands had different dominant drivers under soil erosion. Overall, our results revealed that changes in MBC and microbial entropy directly depended on the fundamental properties of the soil and soil erosion could indirectly affect the MBC and microbial entropy by directly affecting the physicochemical properties of soil. Thus, the impact of soil erosion on sloping croplands and the associated responses following changes in MBC and microbial entropy provide fresh insights into predicting the effects of soil erosion on carbon stability.