Effects of Land Use and Land Cover Change on Soil Properties in Mu Us Sand Land of Inner Mongolia, China

摘要

In arid and semiarid regions, cultivation and shrub invasion are two important factors to impact grassland. The land use and land cover change have been widely found to result in soil carbon and nitrogen loss. However, there are few studies to compare the effects of cultivation and shrub invasion on soil physical and chemical properties. In Mu Us sand land of Inner Mongolia, China, grassland cultivation and shrub invasion widely occur. We found that the grassland cultivation and shrub invasion significantly decreased the content of silt and clay and increased the content of sand. Moreover, the grassland cultivation and shrub invasion were found to lead to the soil carbon and nitrogen loss. In this study, grassland cultivation resulted in more sand accumulation and more soil carbon and nitrogen loss than shrub invasion of grassland. The results indicate that grassland cultivation was stronger than shrub invasion to accelerate soil desertification in arid and semiarid regions.