J Plant Ecol ›› 2019, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (5): 882-893 .DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtz026

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Early positive effects of tree species richness on soil organic carbon accumulation in a large-scale forest biodiversity experiment

Yin Li1,2, Helge Bruelheide3,4, Thomas Scholten5, Bernhard Schmid6, Zhenkai Sun7, Naili Zhang1, Wensheng Bu8, Xiaojuan Liu1 and Keping Ma1,2,*   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
    2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
    3 Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108 Halle, Germany
    4 German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
    5 Department of Geosciences, Soil Science and Geomorphology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19–23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany
    6 Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland
    7 Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
    8 College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
    *Corresponding address. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20 Nanxincun, Xiangshan, Beijing 100093, China. Tel: +86-10-62836223; Fax: +86-10-82599518; E-mail: kpma@ibcas.ac.cn
  • Received:2018-09-06 Revised:2019-05-03 Accepted:2019-05-24 Published:2019-10-01

Abstract:

Aims

Tree species richness has been reported to have positive effects on aboveground biomass and productivity, but little is known about its effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation.

Methods

To close this gap, we made use of a large biodiversity–ecosystem functioning experiment in subtropical China (BEF-China) and tested whether tree species richness enhanced SOC accumulation. In 2010 and 2015, vertically layered soil samples were taken to a depth of 30 cm from 57 plots ranging in tree species richness from one to eight species. Least squares-based linear models and analysis of variance were used to investigate tree diversity effects. Structural equation modeling was used to explore hypothesized indirect relationships between tree species richness, leaf-litter biomass, leaf-litter carbon content, fine-root biomass and SOC accumulation.

Important Findings

Overall, SOC content decreased by 5.7 and 1.1 g C kg−1 in the top 0–5 and 5–10 cm soil depth, respectively, but increased by 1.0 and 1.5 g C kg−1 in the deeper 10–20 and 20–30 cm soil depth, respectively. Converting SOC content to SOC stocks using measures of soil bulk density showed that tree species richness did enhance SOC accumulation in the different soil depths. These effects could only to some extent be explained by leaf-litter biomass and not by fine-root biomass. Our findings suggest that carbon storage in new forests in China could be increased by planting more diverse stands, with the potential to contribute to mitigation of climate warming.

Key words: BEF-China, diversity, fine-root biomass, leaf-litter biomass, soil carbon accumulation