Pedosphere 25(4): 489--500, 2015
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2015 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Soil enzyme activities on eroded slopes in the Sichuan Basin, China |
NIE Xiao-Jun1, ZHANG Jian-Hui2 and GAO Han1 |
1Land Research Integrated Monitoring and Sustainable Utilization in Central China, Field Science Observation & Research Base of the Ministry of Land and Resources of China, School of Surveying and Land Information Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University,Jiaozuo 454003 (China)
2Key Laboratory of Mountain Surface Processes and Ecological Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041 (China) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Determining how soil erosion affects enzyme activity may enhance our understanding of soil degradation on eroded agricultural landscapes. This study assessed the changes in enzyme activity with slope position and erosion type by selecting water and tillage erosion-dominated slopes and performing analyses using the 137Cs technique. The 137Cs data revealed that soil loss occurred in the upper section of the two eroded slope types, while soil accumulation occurred in the lower section. The invertase activity increased downslope and exhibited a pattern similar to the 137Cs data. The spatial patterns of urease and alkaline phosphatase activities were similar to the 137Cs inventories on the water and tillage erosion-dominated slopes, respectively. On both the eroded slope types, the invertase activity and soil organic carbon content were correlated, but no correlation was observed between the alkaline phosphatase activity and total phosphorus content. Nevertheless, the urease activity was correlated with the total nitrogen content only on the water erosion-dominated slopes. The enzyme activity-to-microbial biomass carbon ratios indicated high activities of invertase and urease but low activity of phosphatase on the water erosion-dominated slopes compared with the tillage erosion-dominated slopes. Both the invertase activity and the invertase activity-to-microbial biomass carbon ratio varied with the slope position. Changes in the urease activity-to-microbial biomass carbon ratio were significantly affected by the erosion type. These suggested that the dynamics of the invertase activity were linked to soil redistribution on the two eroded slope types, whereas the dynamics of the urease and alkaline phosphatase activities were associated with soil redistribution only on the water or tillage erosion-dominated slopes, respectively. The erosion type had an obvious effect on the activities of invertase, urease and alkaline phosphatase. Soil redistribution might influence the involvement of urease in the N cycle and alkaline phosphatase in the P cycle. Thus, enzyme activity-to-microbial biomass ratios may be used to better evaluate microbiological activity in eroded soils. |
| Key Words: 137Cs technique, microbial biomass C, N cycle, P cycle, soil organic C, soil redistribution, tillage rosion, water erosion |
| Citation: Nie, X. J., Zhang, J. H. and Gao, H. 2015. Soil enzyme activities on eroded slopes in the Sichuan Basin, China. Pedosphere. 25(4): 489-500. |
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