Solid components and acid buffering capacity of soils in South China

The effects of soil solid components on soil sensitivity to acid deposition by sequential extraction method were studied. A multiple regression equation of soil sensitivity was set up on the basis of stepwise regression analysis. The results showed that organic matter expressed dual effects that were decided by soil original pH value and exchangeable cation composition on acid buffering reactions. The hydrolysis of activated oxides was a very important proton buffering reaction when in low pH situation. The crystalline oxides also played a role in the buffering reactions, but the role was restricted by the rate of activation of oxides. Meanwhile, the results by stepwise analysis showed that factors that had significant effect on soil acid buffering capacity were content of montmorillite, soil original pH value, Al 0, Mn 0 and CEC in decreasing order. Finally, sixteen soils were classified into four types of sensitive with single index cluster and multiple fuzzy cluster analysis respectively.

Sensitivity of soils to acid rain in South China

This paper deals with the sensitivity of soils to acid rain in 5 provinces, South China. Based on field work and literature, and taking soil pH, CEC, and the types of residua into account, the authors classified the sensitivity into 4 categories: highly sensitive, sensitive, slightly sensitive, and non-sensitive. By overlapping the maps of soil pH, CEC, and types of residua, the map of soil sensitivity in South China has finally resulted.The authors try to summarize the regularity of soil sensitivity to acid rain in this area. The sensitivity of different soil types in the studied area has also discussed.The seriousness and its prospects of acid rain in this area have been pointed out in order to draw the attention of relevant authorities.

Seasonal Changes in Soil Respiration with An Elevation Gradient in Abies nephrolepis(Trautv.)Maxim.Forests in North China

Soil respiration(Rs)plays an important role in regulating carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems and presents temporal and spatial heterogeneity.Abies nephrolepis is a tree species that prefers the cold and wet environment and is mainly distributed in Northeast Asia and East Asia.The Rs variations of Abies nephrolepis forests communities are generally environmental-sensitive and can effectively reflect the adaptive responses of forest ecosystems to climate change.In this study,the growing-seasonal variations of Rs,soil temperature,soil water content and soil properties of Abies nephrolepis forests were analyzed along an altitude gradient(2000,2100,2200 and 2300 m)over two years on Wutai Mountain in North China.As the main results showed,soil respiration keeps the same change trend as soil temperature and reached peaks in July at 2000 m in 2019 and 2020.During 26th July to 25th October in 2019 and 27th May to 23rd October in 2020,on the whole,the soil temperature independently explained 76.2%of Rs variations while the soil water content independently explained 26.8%.Soil temperature and soil water content jointly explained 81.8%of Rs variations.Soil properties explained 61.8%and 69.6%of Rs variation in 2019 and 2020,respectively.Soil organic carbon content and soil enzyme activity had the signifi-cant(P<0.01)negative and positive relationships,respectively,with Rs variation.With altitudes evaluated from 2000 to 2300 m,soil respiration temperature sensitivity(Q10)and the soil organic carbon content increased by 12.4%and 10.4%,respectively,while invertase activity,cellulase activity and urease activity dropped by 41.2%,29.45%and 38.19%,respectively.The results demonstrate that(1)soil temperature is the major factor affecting Rs variations in Abies nephrolepis forests;(2)weakened microbial carbon metabolism in high-altitude areas results in the accumulation of soil organic carbon;(3)with a higher Q10,forest ecosystems in high-altitude areas might be more easily affected by climate change;(4)climate warming might accelerate the consumption of soil organic carbon sink in forest ecosystems,especially in high-altitude areas.

Mapping Critical Loads of Acid Deposition for Soils in China

A method described is to produce critical load maps of acid deposition for soils in China. Critical loads were assigned to the most sensitive soil in each 0.1°×0.1° grid square of China based on the Skokloster classification [1] and adjusted for temperature and land use. The map shows that soils with small critical load (<0.5keq·ha -1 ·a -1 ) i.e., highly sensitive to acid deposition, dominate in the south and northeast China. As a result of the adjustment, much of the acid sensitive area in the south estimated by the Skokloster method is lost. This reflects the decreased sensitivity as a result of agricultural activities and increased weathering rate in response to high temperature. Based on the 0.1°×0.1° map, a series of percentile critical load maps at 1°×1° scale were compiled for integrated assessments, as well as a critical load map using the minimum critical load for each grid. Comparison of critical loads with sulphur deposition in 1995 led to the critical load exceedance maps for sulphur deposition, which show that high exceedance areas do not correlate well with the low critical load areas, and almost one fourth of the land area, mainly in the southeast, is subject to the risk of acidification.