RETRACTED: Carbon stock and storage potential as affected by land-use in meadow steppe of Northeast China (Retracted Article)

Accurately predicting terrestrial carbon (C) storage requires understanding the stock and storage potential of C, because it helps us understand how ecosystems would respond to natural and anthropogenic disturbances under different management strategies. We investigated organic C storage in aboveground biomass, litter, roots, and soil organic matter (SOM) in six land-use types (i.e. artificial pasture, AP; natural meadow, NM; corn plantation, CP; bare land, BL; pasturable grassland, PG; and enclosed grassland, EG) in meadow steppe of Northeast China. The primary objective of this study was to ascertain the impact of different land-use types on the stock and storage potential of C. The results revealed that the total C storage (including aboveground biomass, litter, roots, and SOM, i.e. 0-100cm soil layer) was significantly different between one and another type among the five pairs (P < 0.05), and varied from 5829.4gC m(-2) to 16451.6gC m(-2). The C stored in the aboveground biomass was less than 2014.2gC m(-2), accounting for negligible amounts (< 1% of the total) of total C storage except corn plantation in the ecosystem. The amount of C stored in SOM accounted for over 90% of the total C storage in AP, NM, BL, PG, and EG, and the C stored in litter was very low (< 1%), compared to other pools in the ecosystem. The amount of C stored in the roots varied from 0gC m(-2) for plot BL and CP to 450.6gC m(-2) for plot AP2, and it accounted for less than 5% of C storage in the grassland. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Organizers of 2011 International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science.