Land Degradation & Development最新文献

{"title":"Effects of Different Wheat Varieties on Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities","authors":"Lei Zhang, Minghui Li, Hua Cai, Shuo Li, Zhen Shen, Xingchen Li","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5351","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5351","url":null,"abstract":"The diversity and stability of soil microbial communities are indispensable components for maintaining the functions and services of agricultural ecosystems and play crucial roles in wheat production. However, the effects of different wheat varieties on soil microbial diversity, network complexity, stability, and assembly mechanisms remain largely unexplored. To bridge this research gap, we conducted field experiments in Chuzhou, China, to study the yield and soil microbial community composition of six different wheat varieties. The soil bacterial and fungal communities were investigated using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA and ITS gene regions. Our findings indicated that, compared to common wheat, high-yielding and disease-resistant (HD) wheat increased both bacterial and fungal α-diversity by regulating soil nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, significantly affecting community structure (Adonis, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). HD wheat significantly altered the co-occurrence network patterns of soil microbial communities. Network analyses revealed that HD wheat increased the complexity of fungal networks while exhibiting the opposite trend for bacterial networks. However, both the bacterial and fungal networks demonstrated increased stability. Furthermore, HD wheat may increase microbial migration rates, influencing assembly processes by promoting stochastic processes in bacterial and fungal communities. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the ecological functions and driving factors of soil microbes, offering information for the development of ecological management strategies to achieve sustainable wheat cultivation and improve soil quality. Furthermore, HD wheat significantly modified the co-occurrence network patterns of the soil microbial communities. Network analysis revealed increased fungal network complexity in HD wheat, whereas bacterial networks showed the opposite trend. However, both the bacterial and fungal networks exhibited enhanced stability. Additionally, HD wheat likely increased microbial migration rates, influencing assembly processes by promoting stochastic processes in both bacterial and fungal communities. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the ecological functions and driving factors of soil microbes, providing information for the development of ecological management strategies to achieve sustainable wheat cultivation and improve soil quality.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142588820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"To Investigate the Impact of Land Use Change on the Potential Groundwater Recharge on Hillslope With Deep Loess Deposits","authors":"Han Li, Yiming Cai, Min Min, Ze Tao, Bingcheng Si","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5364","url":null,"abstract":"Accurately estimating groundwater recharge in hilly areas with limited water and thick vadose zones is challenging. This study investigated the impact of land use changes on groundwater recharge at a hillslope scale of Yuanzegou Watershed in China's Loess Plateau. Three adjacent hillslopes were selected for three different land uses: arbor (jujube, <jats:italic>Ziziphus jujuba Mill</jats:italic>.), subshrub (native grass, <jats:italic>Artemisia gmelinii</jats:italic>), and crop (millet, <jats:italic>Setaria italica</jats:italic>). Soil cores (as deep as 10–16/18 m) were collected at each of the three landscape positions on a hillslope. Reported tritium profiles in the watershed were used to estimate the net chloride input into vadose zone on hillslope associated with inverse chloride mass balance (CMB) method/chloride accumulation method (CAM). Soil water content and chloride profiles in the study were measured to determine recharge rates at each landscape position beneath different vegetation types. For the first time, we evaluated the actual chloride input into vadose zone on hillslopes as 540.2 ± 23.8 mg m<jats:sup>−2</jats:sup> yr.<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>, excluding the impact of runoff. Then, estimated recharge rates ranged from 42.7 ± 3.5 to 62.4 ± 4.7 mm yr.<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>, consistent with nearby studies. Results showed that groundwater recharge does not change with landscape position except for higher value on upslope beneath subshrub hillslope. In contrast, groundwater recharge did significantly reduce by 12.9% ± 5.4% and 26.5% ± 4.5% after conversion from cropland to subshrub/arbor on the hillslope, respectively. Our findings contribute to understanding the ecohydrological effects of land use changes on groundwater recharge on hillslope and help to select suitable afforested vegetation for greening efforts in water‐limited hilly areas, with a priority on groundwater safety.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142574488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Soil Acidification and Its Temporal Changes in Tea Plantations of Guizhou Province, Southwest China","authors":"Xiubing Gao, Chunyan Liu, Can Guo, Xueyi Duan, Yuan Zhang, Chiyu Ma","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5321","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5321","url":null,"abstract":"Soil acidification is a significant problem in intensive agricultural systems, particularly in tea plantations. Guizhou province, located in the center of the karst mountainous region of southwest China, has the largest tea plantation area in China. However, the soil acidification characteristics in the tea plantations of Guizhou province, as well as their temporal changes, have not yet been adequately studied. Therefore, soil acidification and associated soil properties in the major tea‐planting counties of Guizhou province were extensively assessed, and the temporal changes in soil acidity over the past 11 years were also evaluated through long‐term and short‐term experiments. The results showed that the average soil pH in the tea plantations in Guizhou province varied from 4.08 to 4.87, with a mean of 4.47. The average cation exchange capacity (CEC), TEA (total exchangeable acidity, TEA), EH (exchangeable H<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>), and EA (exchangeable Al<jats:sup>3+</jats:sup>) values were 9.6, 3.7, 5.8, and 19.0 cmol/kg, respectively. Seasonal changes in tea plantation soil pH were observed in low‐ and moderately acidic soils but not in highly acidic soils. The soil pH values did not significantly change during three consecutive years of in situ observations but significantly decreased over the past 11 years at an average of 0.03 yearly. Correlation analysis revealed that the soil pH in tea plantations was significantly positively correlated with the content of specific amino acids, such as glutamic acid, arginine, and valine, but was significantly negatively correlated with certain soil physicochemical properties. The findings of this study indicate that soil acidification in tea plantations of the Guizhou province is severe and possesses distinctive attributes that should be considered for its effective management.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"142 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142574489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synergy Between Woody Peat and Bentonite Alters Stability of Soil Organic Carbon in Coarse Soil by Enhancing Capacity for Soil Aggregation and Hydro‐Physical Properties","authors":"Xi Wang, Jun Fan, Huan Wang, Mengge Du","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5363","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5363","url":null,"abstract":"Coarse soil has a poor structure and is susceptible to wind and water erosion, thereby making it difficult to maintain the soil organic carbon (SOC) content. Woody peat (WP) is an organic material that can increase the SOC content of the soil, while clay materials can rapidly enhance the capacity for soil aggregate formation. In order to explore the synergistic effects of WP and clay materials (bentonite and red clay) on the aggregate structure and hydro‐physical properties of coarse soil, as well as the mechanism associated with SOC mineralization (ΔSOC), we conducted an incubation study using lou soil (L0) and loessial soil (H0) with three treatments: addition of WP alone (LW, HW), mixture of WP and bentonite (LWB, HWB), and mixture of WP and red clay (LWR, HWR). The three treatments enhanced the proportion of macroaggregate (&gt; 2 mm) and aggregate stability of the two soils, and optimized the water retention and ventilation performance. The highest aggregate stability of LWB and HWB can be attributed to the positive synergistic effect of WP and bentonite, and bentonite was more effective than red clay due to its crystal structure. The results also showed that the ΔSOC values were significantly lower under LWB and HWB than those under WP addition alone and adding the mixture of WP and red clay (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; 0.05). Moreover, partial least squares path modeling analysis showed that the hydro‐physical properties of the two improved soils inhibited SOC mineralization (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &gt; 0.05), whereas particulate organic carbon (POC) content significantly accelerated SOC mineralization (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; 0.01). The synergistic effect of clay materials increased mineral‐associated organic carbon (MAOC), which was beneficial to maintain the long‐term effectiveness of WP. Overall, our results demonstrated that the synergistic use of WP and bentonite enhanced the aggregate stability and hydro‐physical properties of coarse soil and improved SOC storage capacity. These results provide scientific and theoretical guidance to facilitate the rapid improvement of coarse soil through engineering measures in arid and semi‐arid areas with water and fertilizer limitations.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142556074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response of Plant Phylogenetic Structure to Plateau Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) Disturbance on Alpine Meadow of Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Xinyang Chen, Jing Li, Suqin Wang, Zhaoxian Tan, Rong Wang, Yan Zhang, Yihong Wang, Baohui Yao, Jiapeng Qu","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5356","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5356","url":null,"abstract":"Plant community construction is influenced by bottom‐up processes, such as environmental factors, and top‐down processes, such as herbivore disturbances. With climate change and overgrazing, the stability of plant community structure and function decreases, and more land at risk of degradation. However, the response of the plant community to interference from native herbivores under similar environmental conditions remains unclear. Plateau pika (<jats:italic>Ochotona curzoniae</jats:italic>) is an important small rodent inhabiting the alpine meadow of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, and its disturbance may accelerate the degradation of grassland ecosystems when its population experiences a burst. In this study, we investigated the plant communities, collected and analyzed the soil samples, to explore the effects of plateau pikas' disturbance intensity on species composition and phylogenetic structure of plant communities on the alpine meadow. We utilized the generalized additive model and structural equation model to explain and predict the response of plant phylogenetic structure and species competition to the disturbance of plateau pikas. Our results indicated that plateau pika disturbance altered the dominance of plant groups, increased species substitution, and facilitated coexistence among different species, and it affected deterministic processes, reduced interspecific competition intensity, and promoted the dispersion of phylogenetic structures. These findings suggested that plateau pika, as a small native herbivore, plays a significant role in fostering multi‐species plant communities. Therefore, it is essential to manage plateau pika disturbance intensity to maintain the stability of alpine meadow plant communities, as well as to influence the long‐term succession of grassland ecosystems. This study provides some new evidence for exploring the effects of native small herbivores on the changes in grassland plant communities.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142556039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring the Soil Structure Analysis of a Subtropical Watershed by Introducing a Blanket Physico‐Hydraulic Health Index","authors":"Angelo Garcia Costa, Mauricio Fornalski Soares, Marília Alves Brito Pinto, Miguel David Fuentes‐Guevara, Rômulo Félix Nunes, Douglas Rodrigo Kaiser, Robson André Armindo, Luis Carlos Timm","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5326","url":null,"abstract":"Multiple disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were collected to assess the soil structure health in support of water use and management in a subtropical watershed, which is composed of shallow Entisols, near to Canguçu, RS state—Brazil. Various physico‐hydraulic properties related to soil structure, such as bulk density, total, micro and macroporosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity, organic carbon, soil water retention curve (SWRC), and the ranges of plant available water (PAWC) and drainable porosity (DP) were measured to be analyzed. The hydraulic‐energy indices of soil aeration and water retention were determined by integrating the areas under SWRC. Combining these properties with the contents of sand and clay, a unique blanket soil physico‐hydraulic health index (BSPHI) was formulated and applied to investigate the impact of land use and management on the soils of the Ellert Creek Watershed (ECW), thereby supporting soil physical health analysis and, consequently, the analysis of water and human health. The favorable outcomes found in the ECW soils under annual crops indicated good root aeration in the surface layer due to the balance between DP and PAWC. The BSPHI results showed that only about 19% of the areas exhibited unhealthy physical health. The soil structure in pasture areas of ECW was not significantly impacted by the extensive cattle grazing, whereas lands under native forest served as a control for the natural soil quality status. The BSPHI successfully captured small changes in soil structure, regardless of land use and management, highlighting its potential as a promising tool for evaluating soil health by assessing the soil physical quality.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"126 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142536784","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Accelerated Decline in Vegetation Resilience on the Tibetan Plateau","authors":"Yantao Liu, Pengfeng Xiao, Xueliang Zhang, Hao Liu, Siyong Chen, Yumeng Jia","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5361","url":null,"abstract":"The ability of ecosystems to resist and recover from external disturbances is declining due to climate change, increased frequency of disasters, and intensified human activities. Global vegetation resilience is considered to be at risk of being lost. The sensitive and fragile Tibetan Plateau (TP) has experienced changes in climate and management patterns over the past five decades, but due to the complexity of defining resilience, there is still no unified understanding of the spatial patterns and long time-series trends of resilience on the TP. In this study, we introduce the method based on critical slowing down, making it possible to clarify the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of resilience on the TP. The results show low resilience on the northeastern and southwestern edges of the TP and in the Three River Source region. The area experiencing resilience loss is approximately 1.16–1.44 times larger than the area of gain. Vegetation resilience on the TP has exhibited a declining trend, with the rate of decline after 2014 being more than double that of the preceding period. Factors such as elevation, vegetation type, and hydrothermal condition significantly influence the spatial and temporal patterns of resilience. These findings improve our understanding of vegetation resilience on the TP and its ecosystem vulnerability. We also recommend that ecological restoration efforts be maintained and regularly assessed.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142536904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Microbial Inoculants Modify the Functions of Resident Soil Microbes to Expedite the Field Restoration of the Abandoned Mine","authors":"Chong Li, Yuxuan Shi, Zhaohui Jia, Yingzhou Tang, Jie Lin, Xin Liu, Jinchi Zhang, Christoph Müller","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5362","url":null,"abstract":"Global‐scale mining activities have had significant deleterious impacts on local ecosystems and the overall environment, which will necessitate robust restoration efforts. A practical approach includes combining microbial inoculants with the technology of external soil spray seeding. This approach holds the potential for sustainable abandoned mine site restoration by enhancing plant growth through the modulation of soil nutrients and microbial communities. Nonetheless, the detailed effects of microbial inoculants on specific aspects of soil microbial community functions and their complex interactions with plant growth remain underexplored, particularly in the context of restoration efforts. To bridge this gap, we performed a four‐year field study at an abandoned carbonate mine location, using metagenomic sequencing to evaluate the influence of microbial inoculants on soil microbial functionality. Our research revealed that introducing microbial inoculants greatly enhanced essential soil parameters and notably increased plant biomass. Additionally, these inoculants altered the functional gene makeup of the microbial community, significantly boosting the relative abundance of processes such as nitrogen fixation, nitrification, denitrification, assimilatory nitrate reduction (ANRA), dissimilatory nitrate reduction (DNRA), and organic phosphorus mineralization. Conversely, there was a decrease in the relative abundance of carbon degradation, phosphorus regulation, and transport processes. We observed strong correlations between the abundance of nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and plant biomass. Crucially, microbial inoculants affect plant biomass by initially altering soil properties and subsequently coordinating nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. These findings provide valuable insights into the role of microbial inoculants in mine site restoration and offer a theoretical foundation for their broader practical application.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142490781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Technosols Made from Iron Mine Tailings and Construction and Demolition Waste as an Alternative for Sustainable Solid Waste Management","authors":"Beatriz Marchese Silva, Hermano Melo Queiroz, Amanda Duim Ferreira, Francisco Ruiz, Tiago Osório Ferreira","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5355","url":null,"abstract":"Brazil faces urgent environmental challenges due to large waste production from mining and construction activities particularly regarding the disposal and management of the solid waste generated by these activities. The extraction of iron ore and the storage of tailings in dams, most of which are at imminent risk of rupture, represent foretold environmental disasters. Additionally, the disposal of construction waste raises environmental concerns due to the decreasing vailability of inert landfill space. To address these challenges, we evaluated the potential of Technosols made from construction and demolition waste (CDW) and iron mining tailing (IMT) in different proportions (60:40, 70:30, 80:20, and 100% of IMT and CDW, respectively) to support grass development. The Technosols were compared to a natural soil (Haplic Ferralsol). The soils were cultivated with <jats:italic>Urochloa brizantha</jats:italic> cv. Marandu in a field experiment conducted for 120 days. At the end of experiment, soil samples were collected and analyzed their chemical, physical, and mineralogical attributes, while plants were analyzed for dry biomass. Plants cultivated in Technosols exhibited dry biomass production 3.3‐fold (825 ± 270 g) greater than those cultivated in the natural soil (251 ± 77 g). Higher biomass production in the Technosols, especially in the TEC<jats:sub>70:30</jats:sub>, was associated with the favorable chemical conditions of these soils, such as slightly neutral pH (~7.5), higher cation exchange capacity (68.1 ± 12.4 mmol dm<jats:sup>−3</jats:sup>) and nutrient availability, especially Ca and P (57.8 ± 0.8 and 28.2 ± 0.4 mmol dm<jats:sup>−3</jats:sup>, respectively). These results aim to provide insights for the effective use of different Technosols in mitigating environmental impacts and promoting sustainable land and waste management practices, primarily to prevent future environmental disasters.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142490820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Litter Chemistry Is a Main Driver of Inorganic Nitrogen in Disturbed Soils in the Arid Patagonian Monte","authors":"Tomás Bosco, Mónica B. Bertiller, Hebe Saraví Cisneros, Analía L. Carrera","doi":"10.1002/ldr.5360","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.5360","url":null,"abstract":"Changes in plant cover and soil characteristics induced by grazing may affect litter quality and nitrogen (N) release under varying abiotic conditions. Our study was focused on the importance of litter chemistry as a main driver of inorganic N (ammonium‐N: NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub><jats:sup>+</jats:sup>‐N and nitrate‐N: NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N) release to soil. Both inorganic N forms are important components for N availability to plants and soil processes, and the long‐term conservation of soil‐N fertility. We analyzed the effect of secondary compounds and the C/N ratio in litter under varying soil water, and UV exposure on soil inorganic N (NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub><jats:sup>+</jats:sup>‐N and NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N) in Patagonian Monte degraded soils. We hypothesized that secondary compounds and C/N ratio in litter are main drivers of soil inorganic N under varying abiotic conditions. We conducted a microcosm experiment (13 months) using intact upper soil blocks from denuded soil areas. Surface soils were added with shrub (SL), and mixed grass and shrub (GSL) litter with high versus low secondary metabolites concentration and low vs. high C/N ratio, respectively. Microcosms were maintained under ambient and reduced UV exposure, and high and low soil water. We used microcosms without litter as controls. Monthly, we assessed NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub><jats:sup>+</jats:sup>‐N and NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N concentrations in upper and sub‐superficial soils. Litter chemistry interacting with abiotic factors did not significantly influence soil NH<jats:sub>4</jats:sub><jats:sup>+</jats:sup>‐N at any soil depth while litter chemistry was a main driver of NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N in upper soil. SL enhanced NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N in upper soil compared with GSL independently of abiotic factors. In upper soils without litter and in those with GSL, the highest NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N concentration occurred mostly under high soil water and exposition to UV. We concluded that litter chemistry was a main driver of soil N fertility in disturbed rangelands. Shrub litter may enhance N fertility (NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub><jats:sup>−</jats:sup>‐N) in degraded soils.","PeriodicalId":203,"journal":{"name":"Land Degradation & Development","volume":"96 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2024-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142490787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}