The microbially mediated soil organic carbon loss under degenerative succession in an alpine meadow

Journal Article · Fri Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Molecular Ecology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14148· OSTI ID:1479320

Zhang, Yuguang  ^[1]; Liu, Xiao ^[1]; Cong, Jing ^[2]; Lu, Hui ^[3]; Sheng, Yuyu ^[1]; Wang, Xiulei ^[1]; Li, Diqiang ^[1]; Liu, Xueduan ^[4]; Yin, Huaqun  ^[4]; Zhou, Jizhong ^[5]; Deng, Ye  ^[6]

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1. Chinese Academy of Forestry, and the Key Lab. of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Beijing (China). Inst. of Forest Ecology
2. Chinese Academy of Forestry, and the Key Lab. of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Beijing (China). Inst. of Forest Ecology; Central South Univ., Changsha (China). School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering
3. Chinese Academy of Forestry, and the Key Lab. of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Beijing (China). Inst. of Forest Ecology; Minzu Univ. of China, Beijing, China)
4. Central South Univ., Changsha (China). School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering
5. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). Dept. of Botany and Microbiology, Inst. for Environmental Genomics
6. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). CAS Key Lab. of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing (China). College of Resources and Environment

Land-cover change has long been recognized as having marked effect on the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the microbially mediated processes and mechanisms on SOC are still unclear. In this study, the soil samples in a degenerative succession from alpine meadow to alpine steppe meadow in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau were analysed using high-throughput technologies, including Illumina sequencing and geochip functional gene arrays. The soil microbial community structure and diversity were significantly (p <.05) different between alpine meadow and alpine steppe meadow; the microbial α-diversity in alpine steppe meadow was significantly (p <.01) higher than in alpine meadow. Molecular ecological network analysis indicated that the microbial community structure in alpine steppe meadow was more complex and tighter than in the alpine meadow. Here, the relative abundance of soil microbial labile carbon degradation genes (e.g., pectin and hemicellulose) was significantly higher in alpine steppe meadow than in alpine meadow, but the relative abundance of soil recalcitrant carbon degradation genes (e.g., chitin and lignin) showed the opposite tendency. The Biolog Ecoplate experiment showed that microbially mediated soil carbon utilization was more active in alpine steppe meadow than in alpine meadow. Consequently, more soil labile carbon might be decomposed in alpine steppe meadow than in alpine meadow. Therefore, the degenerative succession of alpine meadow because of climate change or anthropogenic activities would most likely decrease SOC and nutrients medicated by changing soil microbial community structure and their functional potentials for carbon decomposition.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1479320
• Journal Information: Molecular Ecology, Vol. 26, Issue 14; ISSN 0962-1083
• Publisher: Wiley
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
climate change
ecological function
geochip
land‐cover change
microbial community
soil organic carbon