Effects of grazing on N2O production potential and abundance of nitrifying and denitrifying microbial communities in meadow-steppe grassland in northern China

Zhong, Lei; Du, Rui; Ding, Kai; Kang, Xiaoming; Li, Frank Y.; Bowatte, Saman; Hoogendoorn, C. J.; Wang, Yanfen; Rui, Yichao; Jiang, Lili; Wang, Shiping

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2013.10.028

Cited by 69 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…We speculated that grazing imposing no significant impact on the abundance of functional genes might due to a buffering effect induced by moisture on grazing. Furthermore, our finding was consistent with a study in meadow steppe that grazing did not significantly change gene abundance of nitrifier and denitrifier groups (Zhong et al 2014). In this research, the abundance of AOA and narG genes was not obviously different between grazing and livestock exclusion in July while a significant difference was observed in May and September, confirming that moisture condition controls the effect of grazing on soil N-cycling microbial functional potentials.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Previous study only focused on the impact of animal grazing on ecosystem functioning and stoichiometry (Bai et al 2012). For microbial functional groups, researchers reported the effect of grazing on the abundance of functional microbial genes in one precipitation regime (Zhong et al 2014), but no information is available along precipitation gradient. Therefore, we address the following research questions: First, how does the abundance of functional genes associated with N-cycling change along a precipitation gradient across the arid and semiarid steppe?…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effect of grazing on the abundance of functional genes associated with N cycling in three types of grassland in Inner Mongolia

et al. 2014

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Purpose The aim of the study was to investigate the patterns of soil nitrogen (N)-cycling functional gene abundance along a precipitation gradient on the Mongolian Plateau, and the effects of grazing on the population size of microbial functional group under different precipitation regimes. Materials and methods Soil samples were taken from grazing and non-grazing plots of meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe plots on the Mongolian Plateau for soil gravimetric moisture content, pH, and soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, and inorganic N (NH 4 + -N and NO 3 − -N)concentrations, and the abundance of functional genes associated with N 2 fixation (nifH gene), nitrification (AOA and AOB genes), and denitrification (narG, nirS, nirK, and nosZ genes) was studied. The relationships between environmental variables, soil physicochemical properties, and functional microbial abundance were examined. Results and discussion Soil properties (soil moisture, pH, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, NH 4 + -N, and NO 3 − -N content) and abundance of N-cycling groups all varied with precipitation. Compared with desert steppe, precipitation significantly decreased the abundance of nifH gene by 1 order of magnitude, but markedly increased the abundance of AOA and AOB genes by 1.32 to 4.72 times and denitrifying genes narG, nirS, nirK, and nosZ by 0.66 to 9.02 times in meadow steppe. Grazing significantly decreased the abundance of functional groups in desert steppe and typical steppe (p<0.001), while there was no difference between grazing and non-grazing treatments in meadow steppe which had the highest precipitation level. Soil pH was the main factor affecting the abundance of nifH gene according to simple linear regression (R 2 = 0.934, p<0.001), while moisture was positively related with population sizes of nitrifier and denitrifier groups, explaining 53.8-92.34 % of the variation in the abundance of AOA, narG, nirS, and nosZ genes in all three steppes. Conclusions Soil pH was the major factor that significantly affected the gene abundance of nitrogen fixation process, and soil moisture was the dominant factor controlling the gene abundance of nitrification and denitrification process along the precipitation gradient. Grazing had no effect on the gene abundance of N-cycling process in meadow steppe but decreased it in desert and typical steppe. Our results suggest that grazing may not necessarily be associated with a reduction in microbial functional potentials when soil moisture was relatively good but will decrease the soil microbial functional

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

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confidence: 99%

Effect of grazing on the abundance of functional genes associated with N cycling in three types of grassland in Inner Mongolia

et al. 2014

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“…High rates of N 2 O production from these grazed pastures are primarily associated with high rates of N and C cycling through animal excreta deposition and with the anaerobic conditions created by animal treading (Keil et al, 2011;Oenema et al, 2007;Saggar et al, 2004Saggar et al, , 2007. In our study, rotational grazing with excreta returned compared to grazing with no excreta returned resulted in a significantly greater concentration of soil TN and NO 3 − which is consistent with the measured greater amoA and narG gene abundance and activity in the soil in the present study and elsewhere (Zhong et al, 2014). Our results show that there was an enduring effect of the 14 year history of excreta return on soil N processes for at least 10 months after animals were removed from the area; since areas where excreta had been returned still had an increased potential to produce N 2 O compared to areas where no excreta was returned.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Soil N cycling processes in a pasture after the cessation of grazing and CO 2 enrichment

et al. 2015

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“…Previous studies have indicated that N 2 O is emitted from soils by microbial mediated nitrification and denitrification under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively (Holst et al, 2008;Zhong et al, 2014). CH 4 flux is the function of balance between the consumption by methanotrophic microbes and the production by methanogenic microbes (Hou et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal changes of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in different types of alpine grassland in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China

Dong

Zhou

et al. 2015

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

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Effects of grazing on N2O production potential and abundance of nitrifying and denitrifying microbial communities in meadow-steppe grassland in northern China

Cited by 69 publications

References 57 publications

Effect of grazing on the abundance of functional genes associated with N cycling in three types of grassland in Inner Mongolia

Effect of grazing on the abundance of functional genes associated with N cycling in three types of grassland in Inner Mongolia

Soil N cycling processes in a pasture after the cessation of grazing and CO 2 enrichment

Seasonal changes of CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in different types of alpine grassland in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China

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