Physical protection is one of the important ways to stabilize organic carbon in soils. In order to under- stand the role of soils as a carbon sink or source in global climatic change and carbon cycles and properly man...Physical protection is one of the important ways to stabilize organic carbon in soils. In order to under- stand the role of soils as a carbon sink or source in global climatic change and carbon cycles and properly manage soils as a carbon sink, we ought to know how many organic car- bon (OC) in a given soil could be protected. By a density fractionation approach and ultrasonic technique, each soil sample was divided into three fractions: free light fraction (free-LF), occluded fraction (occluded-LF) and heavy frac- tion (HF). The obtained fractions were analyzed for total OC content, carbohydrate content and recalcitrant OC content. The results showed: (ⅰ) In the whole soil profile, dominance of OC consistently decreased in the following order: HF, free-LF, occluded-LF. This suggested that OC in soils were mostly protected. From 0—10 to 60—80 cm horizons, the OC in free-LF decreased from 25.27% to 3.72%, while OC in HF they were increased from 72.57% to 95.39%. The OC in oc- cluded-LF was between 2.16% and 0.89%. (ⅱ) Organic carbon recalcitrance in free-LF was similar to that in HF, and was even higher than that in HF below the surface hori- zon. This suggested that free-LF was not always the most fresh and non-decomposed fraction. OM quality of HF was higher than that of free-LF in the surface 10 cm below, namely the protected OM had higher quality than free OM in these horizons.展开更多
基金the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2002CB111505).
文摘Physical protection is one of the important ways to stabilize organic carbon in soils. In order to under- stand the role of soils as a carbon sink or source in global climatic change and carbon cycles and properly manage soils as a carbon sink, we ought to know how many organic car- bon (OC) in a given soil could be protected. By a density fractionation approach and ultrasonic technique, each soil sample was divided into three fractions: free light fraction (free-LF), occluded fraction (occluded-LF) and heavy frac- tion (HF). The obtained fractions were analyzed for total OC content, carbohydrate content and recalcitrant OC content. The results showed: (ⅰ) In the whole soil profile, dominance of OC consistently decreased in the following order: HF, free-LF, occluded-LF. This suggested that OC in soils were mostly protected. From 0—10 to 60—80 cm horizons, the OC in free-LF decreased from 25.27% to 3.72%, while OC in HF they were increased from 72.57% to 95.39%. The OC in oc- cluded-LF was between 2.16% and 0.89%. (ⅱ) Organic carbon recalcitrance in free-LF was similar to that in HF, and was even higher than that in HF below the surface hori- zon. This suggested that free-LF was not always the most fresh and non-decomposed fraction. OM quality of HF was higher than that of free-LF in the surface 10 cm below, namely the protected OM had higher quality than free OM in these horizons.
