DOI: 10.5061/dryad.n02v6wwzj
title: Deepened snow cover mitigates soil carbon loss from intensive land use in a semi-arid temperate grassland

description: Carbon (C) loss due to soil erosion is a major issue in semi-arid
 grasslands. The extent of soil erosion is determined by soil properties
 and vegetation structure, especially during the non-growing season. In
 many Inner Mongolian grasslands, intensive land use, such as overgrazing
 and mowing, has severely reduced plant cover and damaged soil structure,
 which has exacerbated soil C loss by erosion. At the same time, increasing
 winter snowfall due to climate change is stimulating plant growth and
 altering plant composition. However, we do not know how changes in winter
 snow cover interact with land-use practices to regulate soil C loss due to
 erosion. Here, we conducted a six-year snow manipulation experiment under
 different land-use practices (control; moderately mowed, MM; heavily
 mowed, HM) to measure net changes in soil depth, soil C, plant biomass,
 and vegetation structure. After six years, soil C loss under ambient snow
 was three times greater in the MM and four times greater in the HM
 treatment compared with controls during non-growing season. However,
 deepened winter snow alleviated erosion-induced soil C loss by 14%, 47%,
 16% in the controls, MM and HM treatments, respectively. The severity of
 soil C loss declined with increasing aboveground biomass (AGB), surface
 root biomass and vegetation structure. Vegetation structure and AGB
 explained more of the variation in soil C loss than surface root biomass,
 possibly because a complex canopy and plant cover increases overall
 surface roughness, thereby reducing soil C loss. Intensified land use
 reduced AGB, surface root biomass and vegetation structure, but deepened
 snow increased overall surface roughness by promoting AGB. Hence, our
 study demonstrates that deepened snow can alleviate soil C loss due to
 land use practices by promoting AGB.   
description: # Deepened snow cover mitigates soil carbon loss from intensive land use
 in a semi-arid temperate grassland Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.n02v6wwzj](10.5061/dryad.n02v6wwzj) ## Description of the
 data and file structure **Date of data collection**: 2013.10.01-2019.10.31
 **Geographic location of data collection**: 43°38’N, 116°42’E, Inner
 Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station, Inner Mongolia, China
 **Treatments:** * Snow: ambient snow, deep-snow * LU: unmowed (Control),
 moderately mowed (MM), heavily mowed(HM) * block: 3 **Factors:** *
 Precipitation: daily rainfall or snowfall from 2013 to 2019 * P_GS:
 precipitation during growing season * P_NGS: precipitation during
 non-growing season * wind_GS: frequency of heavy wind during growing
 season * wind_NGS: frequency of heavy wind during non-growing season *
 Depth_NG: annual net changes in soil depth during non-growing season *
 Depth_G: annual net changes in soil depth during growing season *
 Depth_Whole: annual net changes in soil depth during whole year * C_NG:
 annual net changes in soil C during non-growing season * C_G: annual net
 changes in soil C during growing season * C_Whole: annual net changes in
 soil C during whole year * Depth_NG_sum: total net changes in soil depth
 during non-growing season across 6 years * Depth_G_sum: total net changes
 in soil depth during growing season across 6 years * Depth_Whole_sum:
 total net changes in soil depth during whole year across 6 years *
 C_NG_sum: total net changes in soil C during non-growing season across 6
 years * C_G_sum: total net changes in soil C during growing season across
 6 years * C_Whole_sum: total net changes in soil C during whole year
 across 6 years * Depth_NG_ave: mean net changes in soil depth during
 non-growing season across 6 years * Depth_G_ave: mean total net changes in
 soil depth during growing season across 6 years * Depth_Whole_ave: mean
 total net changes in soil depth during whole year across 6 years *
 C_NG_ave: mean net changes in soil C during non-growing season across 6
 years * C_G_ave: mean net changes in soil C during growing season across 6
 years * C_Whole_ave: mean net changes in soil C during whole year across 6
 years * pre_community.CVplot1: CV of height at plot scale from previous
 growing season * pre_AGB.sum: annual AGB from previous growing season *
 pre_BGB.0: annual surface root biomass (0-5cm depth) from previous growing
 season * community.CVplot1: CV of height at plot scale from current
 growing season * AGB.sum: annual AGB from current growing season * BGB.0:
 annual surface root biomass (0-5cm depth) from current growing season