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Soil organic matter recovery in semiarid grasslands: implications for the Conservation Reserve Program

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dc.contributor.authorCoffin, Debra P., author
dc.contributor.authorLauenroth, William K., author
dc.contributor.authorBurke, Ingrid C., author
dc.contributor.authorEcological Society of America, publisher
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T06:30:45Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T06:30:45Z
dc.date.issued1995-08
dc.description.abstractAlthough the effects of cultivation on soil organic matter and nutrient supply capacity are well understood, relatively little work has been done on the long-term recovery of soils from cultivation. We sampled soils from 12 locations within the Pawnee National Grasslands of northeastern Colorado, each having native fields and fields that were historically cultivated but abandoned 50 years ago. We also sampled fields that had been cultivated for at least 50 years at 5 of these locations. Our results demonstrated that soil organic matter, silt content, microbial biomass, potentially mineralizable N, and potentially respirable C were significantly lower on cultivated fields than on native fields. Both cultivated and abandoned fields also had significantly lower soil organic matter and silt contents than native fields. Abandoned fields, however, were not significantly different from native fields with respect to microbial biomass, potentially mineralizable N, or respirable C. In addition, we found that the characteristic small-scale heterogeneity of the shortgrass steppe associated with individuals of the dominant plant, Bouteloua gracilis, had recovered on abandoned fields. Soil beneath plant canopies had an average of 200 g/m2 more C than between-plant locations. We suggest that 50 years is an adequate time for recovery of active soil organic matter and nutrient availability, but recovery of total soil organic matter pools is a much slower process. Plant population dynamics may play an important role in the recovery of shortgrass steppe ecosystems from disturbance, such that establishment of perennial grasses determines the rate of organic matter recovery.
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dc.format.mediumarticles
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationBurke, Ingrid C., William K. Lauenroth and Debra P. Coffin, Soil Organic Matter Recovery in Semiarid Grasslands: Implications for the Conservation Reserve Program. Ecological Applications 5, no. 3 (August 1995): 793-801. https://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1941987.
dc.identifier.doihttps://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1941987
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/82106
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartofFaculty Publications
dc.relation.referencesBurke, Ingrid C., SGS-LTER Earthwatch Project: nitrogen and carbon in native, abandoned and cultivated fields in eastern Colorado, USA 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10217/82140
dc.rights©1995 Ecological Society of America.
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjectmicrobial biomass
dc.subjectconservation reserve program (CRP)
dc.subjectcultivation
dc.subjectagroecosystem
dc.subjectnitrogen mineralization
dc.subjectshortgrass steppe
dc.subjectsoil organic matter recovery
dc.titleSoil organic matter recovery in semiarid grasslands: implications for the Conservation Reserve Program
dc.typeText

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