Ecological stoichiometric characteristics of the straw-soil-microbial system in the straw checkerboard barriers across different laying years

Description

Kong and Liu apply ecological stoichiometry in this 2026 study. They track how carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus shift through straw, soil, and microbes. The setting is straw checkerboard barriers. These grid fences of half-buried straw pin down moving sand in arid China. They sampled barrier plots aged 1, 2, 5, 10, and 24 years against bare sand as a control.

As barriers aged, the straw itself lost carbon and gained nitrogen, so its carbon-to-nitrogen ratio fell while nitrogen-to-phosphorus climbed; straw phosphorus rose first and then declined. Soil and microbial nutrient levels at two depths, down to 30 centimeters, responded in their own patterns rather than marching together. Straw carbon and nitrogen directly influenced soil nutrient ratios, while straw nitrogen suppressed microbial ratios. The authors describe the regulation as a complex system spanning multiple components, processes, and scales.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13429105