Effects of Nitrogen Addition on the Mixed Litter Decomposition in <i>Stipa baicalensis</i> Steppe in Inner Mongolia — Oak Academic Publishing
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Effects of Nitrogen Addition on the Mixed Litter Decomposition in <i>Stipa baicalensis</i> Steppe in Inner Mongolia
Department of Horticulture, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
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Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Tianjin, China
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Department of Horticulture, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
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Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environment Quality of Ministry of Agriculture and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Safe-Product, Tianjin, China
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Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environment Quality of Ministry of Agriculture and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Safe-Product, Tianjin, China
1 Department of Horticulture, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
2 Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Tianjin, China
3 Department of Horticulture, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, China
4 Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environment Quality of Ministry of Agriculture and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Safe-Product, Tianjin, China
5 Key Laboratory of Original Agro-Environment Quality of Ministry of Agriculture and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Agro-Environment and Safe-Product, Tianjin, China
During the past two centuries, global changes ( i.e. , enhanced nitrogen deposition) have exerted profound effects on ecological processes of steppe ecosystems. We used litterbag method and mixed litters of three different plant species tissues ( Stipa baicalensis : Sb, Leymus chinensis : Lc and Artemisia frigid : Af), endemic to Stipa baicalensis Steppe, and measured the mass loss of mixtures over 417 days under the N addition treatment. We studied the effect of N addition (N0: no N addition; N15: 1.5 g N/m 2 ·a; N30: 3.0 g N/m 2 ·a; N50: 5.0 g N/m 2 ·a; N100: 10.0 g N/m 2 ·a; N150: 15.0 g N/m 2 ·a) on the rate of mixed litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics change. The decomposition constant (k) of leaf mixtures was higher than that of root mixtures. The k values of leaf mixed combinations were 0.880 (Sb + Lc), 1.231 (Lc + Af), 1.027 (Sb + Lc + Af), respectively. The k value of stem was 0.806 (Lc + Af) and the root mixed combinations were 0.665 (Sb + Lc), 0.979 (Lc + Af) and 1.164 (Sb + Lc + Af), respectively. The results indicated that N addition had significantly effect on the mixed litter decomposition and nutrient releasing. The rate of plant tissues litter decomposition had different response to N addition. In the context of N addition, litter decomposition rate and nutrient dynamics were changed by synthetic effect of decaying time, specie types and N addition dose. Our findings suggested that prairie plants may adapt to environmental change by adjusting litter quality, thus retaining the stability of the steppe ecosystem.
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