Dynamics of soil microbial metabolic activity during grassland succession after farmland abandonment

Secondary succession has a major influence on vegetation and soil biogeochemical processes, however, the dynamics of microbial metabolic activity and the driving factors during grassland succession after farmland abandonment remain unclear. Therefore, we examined variations in microbial biomass carbon (Cmic), soil basal respiration (BR), microbial quotient (Cmic:Corg), and metabolic quotient (qCO2) in sloping farmlands that had been abandoned...