Title: Microbial responses to inorganic nutrient amendment overridden by warming: Consequences on soil carbon stability

Abstract

Eutrophication and climate warming, induced by anthropogenic activities, are simultaneously occurring worldwide and jointly affecting soil carbon stability. Thus, it is of great interest to examine whether and how they interactively affect soil microbial community, a major soil carbon driver. In this work, we showed that climate warming, simulated by southward transferring Mollisol soil in agricultural ecosystems from the cold temperate climate zone (N) to warm temperate climate (C) and subtropical climate zone (S), decreased soil organic matter (SOM) by 6%-12%. In contrast, amendment with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium enhanced plant biomass by 97% and SOM by 6% at the N site, thus stimulating copiotrophic taxa but reducing oligotrophic taxa in relative abundance. Yet, microbial responses to nutrient amendment were overridden by soil transfer in that nutrient amendment had little effect at the C site but increased recalcitrant carbon-degrading fungal Agaricomycetes and Microbotryomycetes taxa derived from Basidiomycota by 4-17 folds and recalcitrant carbon-degrading genes by 23%-40% at the S site, implying a possible priming effect. Consequently, SOM at the S site was not increased by nutrient amendment despite increased plant biomass by 108%. Collectively, we demonstrate that soil transfer to warmer regions overrides microbial responses to nutrient amendment and weakensmore » soil carbon sequestration.« less

Authors:

Wang, Mengmeng ^[1]; Ding, Junjun ^[2]; Sun, Bo ^[3]; Zhang, Junyu ^[1]; Wyckoff, Kristen N. ^[4]; Yue, Haowei ^[5]; Zhao, Mengxin ^[1]; Liang, Yuting ^[3]; Wang, Xiaoyue ^[3]; Wen, Chongqing ^[6]; Zhou, Jizhong ^[7]; Yang, Yunfeng ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
2. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Nanjing (China)
4. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
5. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Bureau of Environmental Protection and Water Resources, Shenzhen (China)
6. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Guangdong Ocean Univ., Zhanjiang (China)
7. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Publication Date:

2018-07-26

Research Org.:

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Natural Scientific Foundation of China (NNSFC)

OSTI Identifier:

1567126

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-05CH11231

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Environmental Microbiology

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 20; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1462-2912

Publisher:

Wiley

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES