Nature Communications (Feb 2018)

Afforestation neutralizes soil pH

  • Songbai Hong,
  • Shilong Piao,
  • Anping Chen,
  • Yongwen Liu,
  • Lingli Liu,
  • Shushi Peng,
  • Jordi Sardans,
  • Yan Sun,
  • Josep Peñuelas,
  • Hui Zeng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-02970-1
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Afforestation is often used to increase terrestrial carbon sequestration and restore ecosystem services. Here, the authors show that afforestation can also neutralize soil pH by lowering pH in alkaline soil but raising pH in acid soil, thus further promoting the restoration of ecosystem functions.