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Effects of Grazing Intensity on Belowground Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling

Guiyao Zhou,Lingyan Zhou,Xuhui Zhou

Published 2020 in Grasses and Grassland Aspects

ABSTRACT

Livestock grazing activities substantially affect grassland ecosystem functions such as carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles. Although numerous individual and synthesized studies had been conducted, how grazing, especially its intensity, affects belowground C and N cycling in grasslands remains poorly understood. In this chapter, our previous published studies were summarized to elucidate the 19 variables associated with belowground C and N cycling in response to livestock grazing across global grasslands. Overall, grazing significantly decreased belowground C and N pools in grassland ecosystems, with the largest decreases observed in microbial biomass C and N (21.62 and 24.40%, respectively). However, the response magnitude and direc-tions of belowground C- and N-related variables largely depend on grazing intensities. Specifically, light grazing promoted soil C and N sequestration, whereas moderate and heavy grazing significantly accelerated C and N losses. This study highlights the importance of grazing intensity for belowground C and N cycling, which urges sci-entists to incorporate it into regional and global models for predicting human distur-bance on global grasslands and assessing the climate-biosphere feedbacks accurately.

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2020

  • Venue

    Grasses and Grassland Aspects

  • Publication date

    2020-01-16

  • Fields of study

    Agricultural and Food Sciences, Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.5772/intechopen.90416
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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