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Influence of grazing on hydraulic and mechanical properties of semiarid steppe soils under different vegetation type in Inner Mongolia, China

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Abstract

Over the last few decades, due to increase in grazing intensity, animal trampling has led to soil structure deterioration in Inner Mongolia, China. We investigated two different steppe ecosystems: Leymus chinensis (LCh, characterized by relatively higher precipitation) and Stipa grandis (SG) and two grazing intensities: ungrazed since 1979 (UG79) and grazed (continuously grazed, CG, at the Stipa grandis site and winter grazed, WG, at Leymus chinensis). Soil mechanical and hydraulic properties of semiarid steppe soils from each site and treatment were determined for soil aggregates and disturbed and bulk soil samples from different depths (4–8, 18–22, 30–34 and 56–60 cm for disturbed and bulk samples and 0–15 cm for the aggregates). Grazing causes a significant increase in tensile strength of aggregates and in the precompression stress of the bulk soil as well as a decrease in air and saturated hydraulic conductivity, irrespective of the vegetation type. Furthermore, exclusion from grazing led to more pronounced recovery of soil strength and pore continuity and hydraulic conductivity at the LCh site but it also depended on the moisture conditions of the sites. Under wetter conditions as well as after repeated freezing and thawing the soil strength declined.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are highly indebted to the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the financial support of this research group MAGIM (Forschergruppe 536 MAGIM—Matter fluxes in grasslands of Inner Mongolia as influenced by stocking rate) as well as they would like to thank Xingguo Han, Yongfei Bai and the Institute of Botany (Chinese Academy of Sciences) for the opportunity to work at IMGERS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, Christian-Albrechts-University zu Kiel, Herman-Rodewald-Str. 2, D-24118, Kiel, Germany

    Agnieszka Reszkowska, Stephan Peth, Rainer Horn & Lei Gan

  2. Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Process Engineering, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, Konrad-Wachsmann-Allee 6, 03046, Cottbus, Germany

    Julia Krümmelbein

  3. College of Resource and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yang Ling, 712100, Shan Xi, China

    Ying Zhao

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  1. Agnieszka Reszkowska
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  2. Julia Krümmelbein
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  3. Stephan Peth
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  4. Rainer Horn
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  5. Ying Zhao
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  6. Lei Gan
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Correspondence to Agnieszka Reszkowska.

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Responsible Editor: Ingrid Koegel-Knabner.

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Reszkowska, A., Krümmelbein, J., Peth, S. et al. Influence of grazing on hydraulic and mechanical properties of semiarid steppe soils under different vegetation type in Inner Mongolia, China. Plant Soil 340, 59–72 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0405-3

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