Carbon storage under different grazing management in the typical steppe

Understanding the carbon storage is necessary to understand how grassland ecosystems would respond to natural and anthropogenic disturbances under different management strategies. Carbon storage was investigated in aboveground biomass, litter, roots and soil organic matter (SOM) in eight sites that were floristically and topographically similar, but had been subjected to different years of grazing exclusion and different grazing intensities. The primary objective of this study was to ascertain the effect of different grazing management regimes on carbon storage in the typical steppe ecosystem of China. The results revealed that the total carbon stored in aboveground biomass, litter, roots and SOM (the top 100cm soil layer) varied from 9.29 to 18.51 kg m². Over 94% of the carbon stored in the SOM, with minor storage in other pools. Soil carbon storage decreased substantially with grazing intensity and the six years of grazing exclusion had a higher storage than 32 and 15 years grazing exclusion. The carbon storage trend observed in these treatments suggests that moderate grazing as well as mowing can improve the carbon sequestration and the longer fencing year is not better for carbon accumulation of typical steppe in China.