Reconciling multiple impacts of nitrogen enrichment on soil carbon: plant, microbial and geochemical controls

Ye, Chenglong; Chen, Dima; Hall, Steven J.; Pan, Shang; Yan, Xin; Bai, Tongshuo; Guo, Hui; Zhang, Yi; Bai, Yongfei; Hu, Shuijin

doi:10.1111/ele.13083

Cited by 173 publications

(143 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…When N addition decreases soil acidity, as described in the model, microbial biomass decreases and hence increases the particulate organic matter (POM) pool (as a result of suppressed POM decomposition by lower microbial biomass) but decreases mineral‐associated organic matter sequestration (as a result of a reduce in microbial product), while under the condition of no change in acidity, both POM and mineral‐associated organic matter display inverse responses as a result of accelerated microbial biomass. In addition, in a semiarid grassland N‐enrichment experiment, an associated decreased soil pH under N addition plays a critical effect on suppressing soil microbial biomass C, and decomposition of Ca‐bonding C and heavy fraction C was similar to the effect of acid addition (Ye et al, ). Nevertheless, this mechanism or conceptual model is not consistent with the evidence that N addition affected soil microbial biomass and soil C accumulation but did not affect pH in these short‐term and other long‐term N‐addition experiments (e.g., Entwistle et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Abiotic control is proposed to be associated with the constrained effect of decreased pH on microbial biomass, SOM decomposition, and turnover under N addition (Averill & Waring, 2017;Du et al, 2018;Ye et al, 2018). In a conceptual model proposed by Averill and Waring (2017), the response of soil C progress with N addition is relative with the changes in soil acidity.…”

Section: Abiotic Control and Aggregate Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anthropogenic Nitrogen Deposition Increases Soil Carbon by Enhancing New Carbon of the Soil Aggregate Formation

et al. 2019

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Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition can most likely increase temperate forest soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Increased SOC is usually suggested to be associated with the suppression of SOC decomposition, which has been hypothesized to be due to the decrease in the activity of lignin‐degrading extracellular enzymes and/or the decrease in soil acidity under N addition. However, the potential mechanism of SOC protection derived from N addition is less understood. Here in a low‐deposition temperate montane forest, short‐term N addition could increase SOC storage in the aggregate fraction but not in the bulk soil. N‐induced SOC accumulation was partly associated with the suppressed SOC decomposition (indicated by lower soil respiration) that resulted from the reduced microbial biomass rather than from decreased lignin‐degrading enzyme activity or from reduced soil acidity. In addition, N addition promoted soil aggregate formation, which could partly suppress SOC decomposition by protecting new carbon that originated from plant litter residue to a greater degree, while dissolved organic carbon retention in the mineral soils played a limited role in the SOC sequestration derived from N addition, at least in the short term. A conceptual model was proposed and highlighted a new underlying mechanism of new carbon protection by enhanced aggregate formation, other than the role of microbial suppression, to explain the positive effect of anthropogenic N deposition on forest SOC.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Abiotic Control and Aggregate Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic Nitrogen Deposition Increases Soil Carbon by Enhancing New Carbon of the Soil Aggregate Formation

et al. 2019

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“…Soil pH was determined with a deionized water‐to‐soil ratio of 2.5:1. Soil TC and TN were analyzed by using a CN analyzer (Elementar Vario Micro Cube, Germany; Ye et al, ). Soil nitrate (NO 3 − ) and ammonium (NH 4 + ) were extracted with 2 M KCl and quantified using a flow injection auto analyzer (SEAL‐AA3, SEAL Analytical Inc., Germany; Ye et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil TC and TN were analyzed by using a CN analyzer (Elementar Vario Micro Cube, Germany; Ye et al, ). Soil nitrate (NO 3 − ) and ammonium (NH 4 + ) were extracted with 2 M KCl and quantified using a flow injection auto analyzer (SEAL‐AA3, SEAL Analytical Inc., Germany; Ye et al, ). Microbial biomass C (MBC) was determined following the chloroform extraction method, using a 0.38 of conversion factor (extraction efficiency; Vance, Brookes, & Jenkinson, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing practices affect the soil microbial community composition in a Tibetan alpine meadow

et al. 2018

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Grazing is the primary land‐use activity on the Tibetan Plateau and can affect soil microbes and their function through aboveground vegetation removal, animal trampling, and manure deposition. Two distinct grazing systems (i.e., winter grazing [WG] and annual grazing [AG]) dominate on the Tibetan Plateau, but their effects on soil microbes have rarely been assessed. Taking advantage of a 5‐year field experiment that controlled timing and density of grazers via fence exclosures, we examined impacts of different grazing practices on the biomass, diversity, and composition of the soil microbial community in a Tibetan alpine meadow. On the basis of high‐throughput sequencing, we found that grazing had no significant effects on bacterial and fungal α‐diversities but altered their community compositions. Although total soil carbon (TC), total soil nitrogen (TN), and carbon/nitrogen (C/N) were related to both bacterial and fungal community compositions, plant shoot biomass only correlated with bacteria, and soil pH and moisture significantly influenced fungi under grazing. Also, grazing altered plant community composition but did not lead to corresponding changes in bacterial or fungal community composition. Moreover, grazing practices affected the relative abundance of specific bacterial and fungal taxa, reducing Actinobacteria but increasing Basidiomycete fungi in WG. Soil TC and TN were higher, and the soil microbial community was more stable in AG than WG, likely due to more stable litter inputs in AG. Together, these results showed that AG was less disruptive to soil microbes, suggesting that AG may provide a viable option for sustainable utilization and conservation of these fragile alpine systems.

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“…However, Bai et al (2010) reported that the change in ANPP and PFG composition levelled off at a N addition rate of 10.5 g N m −2 year −1 . These divergent effects of N addition might be mediated by multiple factors that vary in time and space, including N amount and form, plant traits such as root systems, and soil physical and chemical features (Deng, Hui, Dennis, & Reddy, 2017;Schwinning et al, 2005), as well as soil micro-biotic crust and microbial community status (Evans & Belnap, 1999;Treseder et al, 2018;Ye et al, 2018). F I G U R E 3 Changes in the absolute and relative above-ground biomass of the three plant functional groups: the dominant species--Artemisia capillaris (a, d), grass (b, e) and forbs (c, f), and the relationships between the plant functional groups' metrics and precipitation amounts under the two N levels (inserted panels, n = 10).…”

Section: Ecosystem Responses To Nitrogen Additionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen deposition magnifies the sensitivity of desert steppe plant communities to large changes in precipitation

et al. 2019

Journal of Ecology

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Precipitation alteration and nitrogen (N) deposition caused by anthropogenic activities could profoundly affect the structure and functioning of plant communities in arid ecosystems. However, the plant community impacts conferred by large temporal changes in precipitation, especially with a concurrent increase in N deposition, remain unclear. To address this uncertainty, from 2016 to 2017, an in situ field experiment was conducted to examine the effects of five precipitation levels, two N levels and their interaction on the plant community function and composition in a desert steppe in northern China. Above‐ground net primary production (ANPP) and plant community‐weighted mean (CWM) height significantly increased with increasing precipitation, and both were well fitted with a positive linear model, but with a higher slope under N addition. The ANPP increase was primarily driven by the increase in Artemisia capillaris, a companion forb sensitive to precipitation variation. The plant community composition shifted with precipitation enhancement—from a community dominated by Stipa tianschanica, a perennial grass, to a community dominated by Artemisia capillaris. Synthesis. The findings imply that the ecosystem sensitivity to future changes in precipitation variability will be mediated by two potential mechanisms: concurrent N deposition and plant community‐level change. It is suggested that we should consider the vegetation compositional shift and multiple resource colimitation in assessing the sensitivity of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change.

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Reconciling multiple impacts of nitrogen enrichment on soil carbon: plant, microbial and geochemical controls

Cited by 173 publications

References 69 publications

Anthropogenic Nitrogen Deposition Increases Soil Carbon by Enhancing New Carbon of the Soil Aggregate Formation

Anthropogenic Nitrogen Deposition Increases Soil Carbon by Enhancing New Carbon of the Soil Aggregate Formation

Grazing practices affect the soil microbial community composition in a Tibetan alpine meadow

Nitrogen deposition magnifies the sensitivity of desert steppe plant communities to large changes in precipitation

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