Vegetation controls on soil organic carbon dynamics in an arid, hyperthermic ecosystem

The large land area occupied by arid lands, roughly 36% to 40% globally, underscores the importance for understanding how these ecosystems function in the global carbon cycle. Few studies have directly examined soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics and the effect of vegetation on SOC and microbial community structure in arid ecosystems. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of vegetation type on SOC dynamics in an arid, hyperthermic Sonoran Desert ecosystem. We specifically examined the influence of Prosopis velutina (mesquite), Larrea tridentata (creosote), and a combination of Bouteloua barbata, Bouteloua aristidoides, Aristida adscensionis, and Cynodon dactylon (mixed grass) vegetation types on...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Geoderma, aggregate stability, analysis of similarity, arid ecosystem, bouteloua aristidoides, All tags... bouteloua barbata, carbon mineralization, hyperthermic, incubation, larrea tridentata, multi-dimensional scaling, prosopis velutina, soil organic carbon, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism, Fewer tags