Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment最新文献

{"title":"Optimal nitrogen distribution in maize canopy can synergistically improve maize yield and nitrogen utilization efficiency while reduce environmental risks","authors":"Xiaoxia Guo ,&nbsp;Wanmao Liu ,&nbsp;Yunshan Yang ,&nbsp;Guangzhou Liu ,&nbsp;Bo Ming ,&nbsp;Ruizhi Xie ,&nbsp;Keru Wang ,&nbsp;Shaokun Li ,&nbsp;Peng Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109540","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109540","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Under the premise of 0 increase in nitrogen input and environmental friendliness, optimizing planting density to improve canopy nitrogen distribution is conducive to balancing the contradiction between resource consumption and yield increase, and promoting a cleaner production model of high yield and high efficiency in maize. We studied the effects of nitrogen application on grain yield, grain nitrogen concentration, grain protein concentration, nitrogen utilization efficiency, and vegetative organ nitrogen uptake, distribution, remobilization, economic returns and environmental benefit of two high-yielding maize hybrids under different planting densities (7.5 ×10⁴ plant ha⁻¹ and 12.0 × 10⁴ plant ha⁻¹) and nitrogen applications (0, 180, 360, and 540 kg N ha⁻¹) during 2019–2020. The results showed that the maize yield, grain nitrogen concentration and grain protein concentration reached the maximum of 22.7 t ha⁻¹, 1.9 %, 12.7 % corresponding to planting density of 12.0 × 10⁴ plant ha⁻¹ and nitrogen application of 360 kg ha⁻¹. The economic returns were also maximized which was 5.4 × 10³ USD ha⁻¹. Nitrogen utilization efficiency decreased with increasing nitrogen application, while increased with increasing planting density. The nitrogen accumulation and remobilization of plants had a positive response to nitrogen application and planting density. Higher yields were obtained due to higher vegetative organs of pre-silking nitrogen accumulation and stalk nitrogen remobilization and high nitrogen accumulation in the middle leaf. Under this high-yielding condition, both reactive nitrogen losses and greenhouse gas emissions of the optimal combination were 6.1 % lower than the low-yielding combination. Therefore, under high planting density, selecting suitable hybrids, defining the appropriate nitrogen application and optimizing nitrogen distribution in maize canopy can achieve high-yield and efficient production of maize while reduce environmental risks. This study highlights the importance of optimizing canopy nitrogen distribution in maize, and likewise provides new insights into mitigating the negative environmental effects of agricultural production.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109540"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143377005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dynamically managing soil phosphorus could halve phosphorus losses from cropland in lake basins","authors":"Pengqi Liu ,&nbsp;Qingwen Shi ,&nbsp;Zhuo Chen ,&nbsp;Mingyang Wang ,&nbsp;Feiyu Ying ,&nbsp;Xiaowen Gu ,&nbsp;Yuxiao Wu ,&nbsp;Zhi Yao ,&nbsp;Wen-Feng Cong ,&nbsp;Zhengxiong Zhao ,&nbsp;Hao Ying","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109532","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109532","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Excessive fertilization leads to the accumulation of phosphorus (P) in the soil, potentially leading to P pollution in water bodies. A key challenge is to provide long-term solutions for sustainable P management to meet environmentally safe levels, meanwhile maintaining high crop yields. Here, we developed a dynamic P management (DPM) strategy that utilizes a P cycling model integrated with machine learning to manage the long-term soil P status and reduce P losses from soil and fertilizers within the safe threshold. We used the Erhai Lake Basin as an example witnessed a substantial increase in P balance, from 20.8 kg ha⁻¹ to 43.6 kg ha⁻¹, with an increase in soil available P by 51 % and total P losses by 63 % between 2010 and 2020. We then estimated the soil P threshold as 34.0 mg kg⁻¹ and 18.9 mg kg⁻¹ on average for the water environmental and agronomic thresholds, respectively. Currently, 90 % of the townships exceed these soil P thresholds. Employing a DPM strategy could achieve an optimal steady-state level of soil P in the basin within 44 years, balancing agronomic and environmental needs and reducing P application and losses by 60 % and 56 %, respectively. This study provides long-term solutions for sustainable P management in lake basins.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109532"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143372131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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 micro-structure drives trophic interactions within micro-food webs via bottom-up regulation under different planting patterns","authors":"Qiwen Xu ,&nbsp;Mengdie Feng ,&nbsp;Binghui He ,&nbsp;Tianyang Li ,&nbsp;Peng Tang ,&nbsp;Dengyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Yonghong Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109539","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109539","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Agroforestry systems, a transformative planting pattern, have the potential to enhance soil health and maintain sustainable production. Planting patterns effects on soil micro-food webs, including organisms from multiple trophic levels, remain largely ambiguous. This study interpreted the effects of Sichuan pepper-bean agroforestry system (AF) on trophic interactions among the bacteria and fungi as prey and their predators protists in comparison to no-planting system (BK), bean monoculture system (A) and Sichuan pepper economic forest monoculture system (F) using high-throughput sequencing. Results showed that compared to BK, AF significantly increased the soil pH, total carbon and nitrogen, moisture content and capillary porosity (PorC), and enhanced the diversity of soil bacteria, fungi and protists (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05). Random Forest analysis indicated the bacterial diversity was well predicted by soil biological and chemical factors (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05), but the diversity of fungi and protists was better explained by soil physical factors. Meanwhile, co-occurrence network analysis visualized the shift of soil micro-food webs with planting patterns, presenting a network complexity order AF &gt; A &gt; F &gt; BK. Mantel test revealed PorC significantly influence network structures by potentially altering the capabilities of soil organisms to disperse, forage, and predate. Partial least square path model demonstrated soil micro-aggregate had the greatest effect, i.e., marginal direct effect (5.85 %) and strong indirect effect (65.33 %), on protistan communities (71.18 %). These findings indicate soil micro-structure plays a vital role in shaping trophic interactions and affecting protistan community through bottom-up regulation, which provides important implications for leveraging soil properties as a catalyst to sustain agroecosystem functions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109539"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143372232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Deep insights into the diversified cropping and their impact on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi: A global meta-analysis","authors":"Shiqiang Ge ,&nbsp;Yongjian Chen ,&nbsp;Zixuan Wang ,&nbsp;Zixuan Li ,&nbsp;Chang Shen ,&nbsp;Tantan Zhang ,&nbsp;Jianwu Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109537","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109537","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play a pivotal role as essential symbionts in agricultural soils, forming mycorrhizal associations with a wide array of crops. Meanwhile, crop diversification is the cornerstone of sustainable agricultural practices. However, the complexity of cropping systems and the varying environmental conditions across different regions limit our full understanding of AMF in crop diversification. Herein, we conducted a global meta-analysis, integrating observational data from 82 publications and 86 field studies on diversified cropping systems, such as cover crops, intercropping and crop rotation. Our objective was to investigate the effects of different diversified cropping patterns on AMF abundance and diversity. Results indicate that compared with fallow, cover crops significantly enhanced the total colonization, spore abundance, hyphal length density and extraradical biomass of AMF, with increases of 34.42 %, 54.66 %, 47.50 % and 36.74 %, respectively. Intercropping significantly enhanced the total colonization and hyphal length density of AMF compared with mono-cropping, with increases of 19.76 % and 24.54 %, respectively. In contrast to continuous cropping, crop rotation had no effect on AMF abundance, but it reduced the AMF richness in crop roots by 42.52 %. Furthermore, the response of AMF abundance to different cropping systems was regulated by climate conditions, soil properties and agronomic practices. In summary, our findings highlight that optimizing AMF abundance and diversity in agro-ecosystems requires considering specific cropping practices and environmental factors when implementing diversified cropping systems. In particular, cover crops and intercropping significantly enhance the AMF abundance, offering valuable insights for the future optimization of agro-ecosystems and AMF management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109537"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143350287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Weed suppression and maize yield influenced by cover crop mixture diversity and tillage","authors":"Robert Leskovšek ,&nbsp;Klemen Eler ,&nbsp;Sergeja Adamič Zamljen","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109530","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109530","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The integration of cover crops into cropping systems has demonstrated significant potential for enhancing weed suppression, improving soil health, and reducing dependence on chemical herbicides. A three-year field study conducted in Slovenia between 2020 and 2023 aimed to quantify the seasonal competitive relationships between cover crop and weeds while also evaluating potential yield benefits for the subsequent maize crop. A randomized complete block design accounted for variations in soil tillage (conventional and conservation) and cover crop type (single species: oilseed radish and berseem clover; a simple five-species cover crop mixture; and a functionally diverse seven-species cover crop mixture). Oilseed radish imposed the highest level of competition against weeds within the first four weeks post-sowing. The highest levels of weed suppression across years and tillage practices were observed with oilseed radish and the simple cover crop mixture (81–85 %). The functionally more diverse cover crop mixture was not more productive or weed suppressive than other cover crops neither did improve the level of weed control. The weed suppression level not closely linked to cover crop biomass production, suggests that rapid early growth may be more relevant functional trait for cover crop weed suppression capabilities. Maize yields were insignificantly improved with berseem clover and the most productive simple cover crop mixture by 0.7 t ha ⁻¹. The present study confirms the importance of cover crops as a key non-chemical weed management strategy for diversification. However, it also indicates the need for developing trait-based cover crop mixtures to further enhance cover crop-weed competition and main crop yield outcomes under specific resource availability, management practices, and desired ecosystem services.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109530"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143348022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying nitrogen provisioning and release from cover crops in walnut orchards","authors":"Andrew J. Curtright ,&nbsp;Diana Zapata-Rojas ,&nbsp;William R. Horwath ,&nbsp;Xia Zhu-Barker","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109529","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109529","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Walnut orchards in Mediterranean climates are characterized by wet winters that can lead to nitrogen (N) leaching. Cover cropping can help alleviate N losses from leaching, but using cover crops as a N management strategy in orchards requires understanding and quantifying N mineralization and availability throughout the growing season. This study measured total N input, N derived from fixation, and N mineralization rates from cover crop residues across four cool-season cover crop treatments: a clover mixture, a clover-grass mixture, a multiplex mixture, and resident vegetation. We grew cover crops in two consecutive years in a California walnut orchard and measured changes in the N status of orchard soils. By using isotopically labeled cover crop residues, we were able to determine the mineralization rate of cover crop N. We found that the multiplex treatment consistently provided the greatest carbon and N inputs. Moreover, the multiplex treatment also had the most N inputs derived from fixation. Clover and multiplex aboveground residues had the largest N mineralization rates, and the decomposition of these residues on the soil surface appeared to prime N mineralization in the topsoil. In our study, the multiplex treatment offered the greatest overall N benefits, likely due to the overall success of this treatment in establishment and biomass production. Moreover, we found that the non-leguminous species in the multiplex treatment appeared to also utilize and sequester fixed N from the leguminous covers, demonstrating a relatively unexplored benefit of this multiplex cover crop mixture.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109529"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143195675","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Aboveground vegetation communities affect dung seedling richness and density based on the diet selection of large herbivores","authors":"Shulin Wang ,&nbsp;Fujiang Hou","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109536","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109536","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The function of the dung seed bank from large generalist herbivores in grassland ecosystems is often overlooked. The dung seed bank is the product of the canopy seed bank ingested by herbivores that then accumulates in their feces. However, the mechanisms by which aboveground vegetation composition and structure affect the dung seed bank remain unclear, especially when considering the forage preferences effects of large generalist herbivores. We conducted a 4-year (2019–2022) rotational grazing experiment with yaks in an alpine meadow during the warm season on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and investigated the aboveground vegetation community height, richness, and biomass; the forage preferences of the yaks; and the richness and density of dung seedlings. Aboveground vegetation community height, richness, and biomass showed fluctuations across the years and seasons. During the warm season, the dung seedling richness and density were 0.042 ± 0.013 species/g dung and 0.112 ± 0.043 seedlings/g dung, respectively. Among the 63 species of plants that were present as aboveground vegetation and that germinated from the dung samples, 65.08 % had a neutral preference for foraging by the yaks. Significant differences between yak dung seedlings and aboveground vegetation composition indicated the potential for dung seedlings to promote microhabitat patchiness around dung deposition sites. Aboveground vegetation community height had a negative effect on the dung seed bank, whereas richness and biomass had a positive effect. Our findings suggest that the aboveground vegetation community structure affects the size and composition of the dung seed bank through its effect on the diet selection of large generalist herbivores. We emphasize that the complementary roles of the herbivore dung seed bank and the soil seed bank should be considered when assessing the contribution of the soil seed bank to aboveground vegetation regeneration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109536"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143195678","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Green manuring combined with optimal water management achieves a triple-win for paddy soil quality, rice productivity, and environmental benefits","authors":"Guopeng Zhou ,&nbsp;Zhengbo Ma ,&nbsp;Shang Han ,&nbsp;Danna Chang ,&nbsp;Jinxin Sun ,&nbsp;Han Liu ,&nbsp;Guodong Zhou ,&nbsp;Qingxu Ma ,&nbsp;Jia Liu ,&nbsp;Ji Wu ,&nbsp;David R. Chadwick ,&nbsp;Davey L. Jones ,&nbsp;Weidong Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109507","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109507","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Green manuring significantly increased rice yield and soil carbon (C) stocks, however, improper farming practices may result in elevated methane (CH₄) emissions. This study investigated the effects of optimizing water management after green manure incorporation on soil quality index (SQI), rice productivity, C Footprint, net ecosystem economic budget (NEEB), and comprehensive evaluation index (CEI) over a 2-year period in a rice-green manure rotation system. A field experiment was conducted including five treatments: winter fallow-rice (WF) and green manure-single rice rotation combined with 0, 5, 10, and 15 days of delayed flooding after green manure incorporation (GM, GM-WM5, GM-WM10, GM-WM15). Compared with WF, green manuring treatments enhanced rice productivity and SQI. Delayed flooding following green manure incorporation achieved CH₄ emission levels equal to or lower than those from WF, with emissions reduced by 37.7 %−76.1 % relative to GM. C Footprint and yield-scaled C Footprint lowered respectively from 43.9 t CO₂-eq ha⁻¹ and 2.7 kg CO₂-eq kg⁻¹ in GM to 9.8 −26.1 t CO₂-eq ha⁻¹ and 0.6 −1.6 kg CO₂-eq kg⁻¹ in delayed flooding managements, while NEEB increased by 1594 −2340 CNY ha⁻¹ compared with GM. CEI showed the trend of WF &lt; GM &lt; GM-WM15 &lt; GM-WM5 &lt; GM-WM10. In conclusion, delayed flooding practice, especially delayed by 10 days after incorporating green manure, achieved a triple-win scenario for soil quality, rice productivity, and environmental benefits compared with traditional water management practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109507"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143195679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Short-term effect of grazing on net ecosystem exchange and fluxes of greenhouse gases in C3 and C4 pastures during the growing season","authors":"Milad Bagheri Shirvan,&nbsp;Feike A. Dijkstra,&nbsp;Luciano A. Gonzalez","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109538","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109538","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Pastures play an important role in the livestock feed production and global cycle of greenhouse gases. The response of summer and winter pastures to livestock grazing might be different due to environmental requirements and plant physiology. A dynamic chamber technique consisting of a set of 8 automated chambers was used to quantify the fluxes of greenhouse gases, soil temperature and moisture in C₄ (kikuyu grass) and C₃ (ryegrass) pastures. The kikuyu pasture was slashed (mulching) at the start of the trial because of large accumulation of biomass. Plant biomass samples were taken at the start of the trial, before and after grazing, and at the end of the trial to measure plant production in the pre-grazing, grazing, and post-grazing periods. Aboveground biomass production in the ryegrass pasture was 29.1 and 54.3 kg dry matter ha⁻¹ day⁻¹, and in the kikuyu pasture was 27.8 and 73.1 kg dry matter ha⁻¹ day⁻¹ for the grazed and ungrazed areas, respectively. The ryegrass pasture was a net sink of carbon dioxide equivalent (global warming potential) in all periods, whereas the kikuyu pasture was a source of carbon dioxide equivalent during pre-grazing and grazing periods due to decomposition of slashed biomass and shifted to a sink of carbon dioxide equivalent in the post-grazing period. During the post-grazing period in the ryegrass pasture, an average of 0.85 and 3.25 ± 0.31 kg carbon dioxide equivalent per kg of aboveground biomass change was taken up in grazed and ungrazed treatments, respectively. The kikuyu pasture captured 0.41 ± 0.252 and 0.73 ± 0.218 kg carbon dioxide equivalent per kg of standing aboveground biomass change in grazed and ungrazed treatments of the post-grazing period, respectively. Results of the present study suggested that slashing and mulching kikuyu pastures releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and well-managed pastures have the potential to offset the emissions from enteric methane production of grazing cattle being part of the carbon cycle in grazing livestock production systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109538"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143195676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shrubs increase phosphorus transformation from inorganic to organic form via lowering soil pH in grazed alpine meadows","authors":"Jie Chen,&nbsp;Yawen Li,&nbsp;Bin Jia,&nbsp;Fen-Can Li,&nbsp;Xiao Ming Mou,&nbsp;Shu Gang,&nbsp;Xiao Gang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109533","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.agee.2025.109533","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Shrubs are expanding in grassland ecosystems across the world, yet their influence on the spatial heterogeneity of soil phosphorus (P) transformation has seldom been investigated. We conducted grid sampling to a soil depth of 1.2 m in a grazed alpine meadow dominated by grass patches and four shrub species to analyze the spatial distributions of soil pH and total soil P and its acid-soluble (representing inorganic P) and acid-insoluble (organic) P fractions. Heterogeneities of soil pH and total, acid-soluble and acid-insoluble P were all visible to the depth of 1.2 m across the plot. The total P stock decreased in the upper 0.4 m of soil, but increased in the lower 0.8 m, under shrubs compared to grasses, resulting in only negligible differences in the total soil P stock in the entire 1.2 m profile between vegetation patch types. The acid-soluble P stock decreased under shrubs throughout the profile, responding to the lowering of soil pH by shrubs, while the acid-insoluble P stock increased in the lower 0.8 m, under shrubs compared with grasses. Soil acid-insoluble P under shrubs increased at the expense of acid-soluble P. These features led to significantly higher proportions of acid-insoluble P in the total P across the 1.2 m soil profile under shrubs (66–71 %) compared to grasses (55 %), associated with the lowered soil pH in shrubby patches. We conclude that shrubification alters the biochemistry of the soil P pool to a depth of at least 1.2 m. The lowered soil pH under shrubs drives the transformation of soil P from inorganic to organic forms in alpine meadows. The altered biochemistry of the soil P pool suggests a rapid release of available P, which supports primary productivity. We emphasize the importance of deep soil sampling in investigating the effects of shrubification on soil P cycling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":7512,"journal":{"name":"Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment","volume":"383 ","pages":"Article 109533"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143195680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}