Effects of habitat types on the dynamic changes of allocation in carbon and nitrogen storage of vegetation-soil system in sandy grasslands

The progressive restoration of degraded vegetation in semiarid and arid desertified areas undoubtedly formed different habitat types. The most plants regulate their growth by fixing carbon with their energy deriving from photosynthesis, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) play the crucial role in regulating plant growth, community structure and function in the vegetation restoration progress. However, it is still unclear how habitat types affect the dynamic changes of allocation in C and N storage of vegetation-soil system in sandy grasslands. Here, we investigated plant community characteristics and soil properties across three successional stages of habitat types: semi-fixed dunes (SFD), fixed dunes (FD) and grasslands (G) in 2011, 2013 and 2015. We also examined the C and N concentrations of vegetation-soil system, and estimated their C and N storage. The C and N storage of vegetation system, soil and vegetation-soil system remarkably increased from SFD to G. The litter C and N storage in SF...