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Changes in soil greenhouse gas fluxes by land use change from primary forest
Author(s) -
Han Mengguang,
Zhu Biao
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/gcb.14993
Subject(s) - environmental science , greenhouse gas , soil carbon , land use, land use change and forestry , biomass (ecology) , soil water , agronomy , land use , soil science , ecology , biology
Primary forest conversion is a worldwide serious problem associated with human disturbance and climate change. Land use change from primary forest to plantation, grassland or agricultural land may lead to profound alteration in the emission of soil greenhouse gases (GHG). Here, we conducted a global meta‐analysis concerning the effects of primary forest conversion on soil GHG emissions and explored the potential mechanisms from 101 studies. Our results showed that conversion of primary forest significantly decreased soil CO 2 efflux and increased soil CH 4 efflux, but had no effect on soil N 2 O efflux. However, the effect of primary forest conversion on soil GHG emissions was not consistent across different types of land use change. For example, soil CO 2 efflux did not respond to the conversion from primary forest to grassland. Soil N 2 O efflux showed a prominent increase within the initial stage after conversion of primary forest and then decreased over time while the responses of soil CO 2 and CH 4 effluxes were consistently negative or positive across different elapsed time intervals. Moreover, either within or across all types of primary forest conversion, the response of soil CO 2 efflux was mainly moderated by changes in soil microbial biomass carbon and root biomass while the responses of soil N 2 O and CH 4 effluxes were related to the changes in soil nitrate and soil aeration‐related factors (soil water content and bulk density), respectively. Collectively, our findings highlight the significant effects of primary forest conversion on soil GHG emissions, enhance our knowledge on the potential mechanisms driving these effects and improve future models of soil GHG emissions after land use change from primary forest.