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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Response of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Storage
to Nitrogen Addition in Alpine Meadow
of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
1
College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Qinghai University, China
Submission date: 2023-11-21
Final revision date: 2024-02-01
Acceptance date: 2024-02-29
Online publication date: 2024-07-29
Publication date: 2025-01-02
Corresponding author
De Kejia
College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Qinghai University, Qinghai Province, Xining, China
College of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Qinghai University, Qinghai Province, Xining, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2025;34(1):359-368
KEYWORDS
nitrogen additionalpine meadowsoil carbon storagesoil nitrogen storagesoil physicochemical propertiesplant diversity
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Exogenous nitrogen addition can alter plant growth and community structure, thereby influencing
soil carbon and nitrogen storage and ultimately impacting ecosystem services and functions. Previous
studies have primarily focused on the effects of biological or abiotic factors on soil carbon and nitrogen
storage in alpine meadows, but there is a lack of research investigating changes in soil organic carbon
and total nitrogen storage as well as their controlling factors under nitrogen addition. Therefore,
this study examined soil organic carbon and nitrogen storage across four levels of nitrogen addition.
The results showed that nitrogen input significantly increased soil organic carbon and total nitrogen
storage. Soil total nitrogen storage was positively influenced by soil total nitrogen, graminoid
importance value, soil available nitrogen, and plant belowground biomass, while it was negatively
affected by soil bulk density. Soil carbon storage was positively affected by soil organic carbon and
soil nitrate nitrogen, and negatively affected by soil bulk density and forb importance value. This study
emphasizes the positive effects of nitrogen addition on the accumulation of soil organic carbon and total
nitrogen storage and highlights the combined effects of plant traits and soil physicochemical properties
on soil total nitrogen storage.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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