Fig. 4: Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and losses with increasing degradation.
From: Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation
Total SOC stocks along the degradation sequence (S0–S5) down to 30 cm for each horizon (A). SOC losses by erosion and by reduced C input and increased SOC mineralization (B) during degradation (S1–S5). Lowercase letters indicate significant differences in SOC stocks between degradation stages. The absence of significant differences (n.s.) between quantified total SOC losses (red outline) and the calculated sum of erosion- and mineralization-induced SOC losses confirms the validity of the estimations. Error bars display standard error.
