A keystone microbial enzyme for nitrogen control of soil carbon storage

Chen, Ji; Luo, Yiqi; Groenigen, Kees Jan van; Hungate, Bruce A.; Cao, Junji; Zhou, Guiyao; Wang, Rui wu

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaq1689

Cited by 242 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 103 publications

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“…Database 3 included studies on the effects of warming on recalcitrant C pools, and Database 4 included studies on the effects of warming on labile C pools. A previous version of Database 2 was published by Chen, Luo, Van Groenigen, et al (); the current version has been updated to include 16 observations (six studies) that were published since the previous version was compiled. The other three new databases were created following the same method as used in Chen, Luo, Van Groenigen, et al ().…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A previous version of Database 2 was published by Chen, Luo, Van Groenigen, et al (); the current version has been updated to include 16 observations (six studies) that were published since the previous version was compiled. The other three new databases were created following the same method as used in Chen, Luo, Van Groenigen, et al (). Detailed information about the databases can be found via figshare (https://figshare.com/s/7dd68e1fa45e32b2f9fa) and in the online Supplementary materials, methods and databases in Supporting Information S1.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil carbon loss with warming: New evidence from carbon‐degrading enzymes

Chen

Elsgaard

Groenigen

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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149

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Climate warming affects soil carbon (C) dynamics, with possible serious consequences for soil C stocks and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, the mechanisms underlying changes in soil C storage are not well understood, hampering long‐term predictions of climate C‐feedbacks. The activity of the extracellular enzymes ligninase and cellulase can be used to track changes in the predominant C sources of soil microbes and can thus provide mechanistic insights into soil C loss pathways. Here we show, using meta‐analysis, that reductions in soil C stocks with warming are associated with increased ratios of ligninase to cellulase activity. Furthermore, whereas long‐term (≥5 years) warming reduced the soil recalcitrant C pool by 14%, short‐term warming had no significant effect. Together, these results suggest that warming stimulates microbial utilization of recalcitrant C pools, possibly exacerbating long‐term climate‐C feedbacks.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon loss with warming: New evidence from carbon‐degrading enzymes

Chen

Elsgaard

Groenigen

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

149

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“…Because incubation temperature for enzyme measurements varied among studies, we included “incubation temperature” as a random factor in the meta‐analysis. Because several papers contributed more than one response ratio, we also included the variable “paper” as a random factor (Chen et al., ; Terrer, Vicca, Hungate, Phillips, & Prentice, ; Van Groenigen et al., ). The effects of warming were considered significant if the 95% confidence interval did not overlap with zero.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The meta‐analytic models were selected using the same approach as in Chen et al. (), Terrer et al. (), and Van Groenigen et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is specific that there is a lack of information regarding the degree to which soil extracellular enzymes (EEs), which catalyze the rate‐limiting step in SOM decomposition (Allison, Wallenstein, & Bradford, ; Jing et al., ; Sinsabaugh, ; Stone et al., ), are affected by warming. These enzymes, primarily produced by microbes, are considered proximate agents of SR because they lower the activation energy of key reactions and speed up the breakdown of polymers (Chen, Luo et al., ; Chen et al., ; Janssens et al., ; Suseela, Tharayil, Xing, & Dukes, ). Although the rates at which these enzymes are produced and degraded are sensitive to temperature (Allison & Treseder, ; German, Marcelo, Stone, & Allison, ; Papanikolaou, Britton, Helliwell, & Johnson, ; Steinweg, Dukes, Paul, & Wallenstein, ), it is still unclear how warming responses of enzymes affect SR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential responses of carbon‐degrading enzyme activities to warming: Implications for soil respiration

Chen

Luo

García‐Palacios

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

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138

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Extracellular enzymes catalyze rate-limiting steps in soil organic matter decomposition, and their activities (EEAs) play a key role in determining soil respiration (SR). Both EEAs and SR are highly sensitive to temperature, but their responses to climate warming remain poorly understood. Here, we present a meta-analysis on the response of soil cellulase and ligninase activities and SR to warming, synthesizing data from 56 studies. We found that warming significantly enhanced ligninase activity by 21.4% but had no effect on cellulase activity. Increases in ligninase activity were positively correlated with changes in SR, while no such relationship was found for cellulase. The warming response of ligninase activity was more closely related to the responses of SR than a wide range of environmental and experimental methodological factors. Furthermore, warming effects on ligninase activity increased with experiment duration. These results suggest that soil microorganisms sustain long-term increases in SR with warming by gradually increasing the degradation of the recalcitrant carbon pool.

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Distinct microbial communities alter litter decomposition rates in a fertilized coastal plain wetland

Koceja¹,

Bledsoe²,

Goodwillie³

et al. 2021

Ecosphere

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Human activities have led to increased deposition of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into soils. Nutrient enrichment of soils is known to increase plant biomass and rates of microbial litter decomposition. However, interacting effects of hydrologic position and associated changes to soil moisture can constrain microbial activity and lead to unexpected nutrient feedbacks on microbial community structurefunction relationships. Examining feedbacks of nutrient enrichment on decomposition rates is essential for predicting microbial contributions to carbon (C) cycling as atmospheric deposition of nutrients persists. This study explored how long-term nutrient addition and contrasting litter chemical composition influenced soil bacterial community structure and function. We hypothesized that long-term nutrient enrichment of low fertility soils alters bacterial community structure and leads to higher rates of litter decomposition especially for low C:N litter, but low-nutrient and dry conditions limit microbial decomposition of high C:N ratio litter. We leveraged a long-term fertilization experiment to test how nutrient enrichment and hydrologic manipulation (due to ditches) affected decomposition and soil bacterial community structure in a nutrient-poor coastal plain wetland. We conducted a litter bag experiment and characterized litter-associated and bulk soil microbiomes using 16S rRNA bacterial sequencing and quantified litter mass losses and soil physicochemical properties. Results revealed that distinct bacterial communities were involved in decomposing higher C:N ratio litter more quickly in fertilized compared to unfertilized soils especially under drier soil conditions, while decomposition rates of lower C:N ratio litter were similar between fertilized and unfertilized plots. Bacterial community structure in part explained litter decomposition rates, and long-term fertilization and drier hydrologic status affected bacterial diversity and increased decomposition rates. However, community composition associated with high C:N litter was similar in wetter plots with available nitrate detected, regardless of fertilization treatment. This study provides insight into long-term fertilization effects on soil bacterial diversity and composition, decomposition, and the increased potential for soil C loss as nutrient enrichment and hydrology interact to affect historically lownutrient ecosystems.

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A keystone microbial enzyme for nitrogen control of soil carbon storage

Abstract: Nitrogen-induced suppression of lignin-modifying enzyme activity contributes to soil carbon sequestration.

Cited by 242 publications

References 103 publications

Soil carbon loss with warming: New evidence from carbon‐degrading enzymes

Soil carbon loss with warming: New evidence from carbon‐degrading enzymes

Differential responses of carbon‐degrading enzyme activities to warming: Implications for soil respiration

Distinct microbial communities alter litter decomposition rates in a fertilized coastal plain wetland

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