Long-term warming of a forest soil reduces microbial biomass and its carbon and nitrogen use efficiencies

Tian, Ye; Schindlbacher, Andreas; Malo, Carolina Urbina; Shi, Chupei; Heinzle, Jakob; Kengdo, Steve Kwatcho; Inselsbacher, Erich; Borken, Werner; Wanek, Wolfgang

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109109

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…The more assimilation of C in microbial biomass ultimately leads to a higher availability of N produced by microorganisms ( Bei et al, 2022 ) due to the fact that N is generally coupled with C in the soils ( Luo et al, 2015 ). The positive links between microbial CUE and soil N availability have been reported for agricultural soils with different fertilizer regimes ( Spohn et al, 2016 ) and those were also found in unmanaged ecosystems ( Tian et al, 2023 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Soil nitrogen availability and microbial carbon use efficiency are dependent more on chemical fertilization than winter drought in a maize–soybean rotation system

Bao,

He,

Han

et al. 2024

Front. Microbiol.

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Soil nitrogen (N) availability is one of the limiting factors of crop productivity, and it is strongly influenced by global change and agricultural management practices. However, very few studies have assessed how the winter drought affected soil N availability during the subsequent growing season under chemical fertilization. We conducted a field investigation involving snow removal to simulate winter drought conditions in a Mollisol cropland in Northeast China as part of a 6-year fertilization experiment, and we examined soil physicochemical properties, microbial characteristics, and N availability. Our results demonstrated that chemical fertilization significantly increased soil ammonium and total N availability by 42.9 and 90.3%, respectively; a combined winter drought and fertilization treatment exhibited the highest soil N availability at the end of the growing season. As the growing season continued, the variation in soil N availability was explained more by fertilization than by winter drought. The Mantel test further indicated that soil Olsen-P content and microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) were significantly related to soil ammonium availability. A microbial community structure explained the largest fraction of the variation in soil nitrate availability. Microbial CUE showed the strongest correlation with soil N availability, followed by soil available C:P and bacteria:fungi ratios under winter drought and chemical fertilization conditions. Overall, we clarified that, despite the weak effect of the winter drought on soil N availability, it cannot be ignored. Our study also identified the important role of soil microorganisms in soil N transformations, even in seasonally snow-covered northern croplands.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

Soil nitrogen availability and microbial carbon use efficiency are dependent more on chemical fertilization than winter drought in a maize–soybean rotation system

Bao,

He,

Han

et al. 2024

Front. Microbiol.

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“…There is a view that long‐term warming increases available N by decreasing soil moisture loss which inhibits extracellular hydrolytic enzymes and further decreases microbial transformation of available N (Tian et al, 2023). Moreover, the results of no effect of warming (+2°C) on soil N mineralization were also observed in forest and agricultural ecosystems, since root biomass and soil moisture were not affected by the temperature increase (Fu et al, 2019; Trammell et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of flooding and warming on soil nitrogen fraction transformation under low‐molecular‐weight organic acid inputs

He,

Zhao,

Lan

et al. 2024

European J Soil Science

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Flooding and climate warming lead to the increase of low‐molecular‐weight organic acid (LMWOA) inputs to soil. However, it is unclear what the effects of flooding and climate warming on soil nitrogen fraction transformation under LMWOA input are. Fluvisol was collected in the riparian zone of the Three Gorges Reservoir to conduct an incubation experiment with the treatments of three LMWOAs at five contents, two hydrological environments and two temperatures. Compared with LMWOA input of 0 mg kg−1, the soil nitrogen in ion exchangeable fraction (IEF‐N), strong oxidant extractable fraction (SOEF‐N) and non‐transformable nitrogen (NTF‐N) were increased by 35.77, 54.71 and 25.49 mg kg−1, respectively, under LMWOA input of 40 mmol kg−1. Soil nitrogen in the weak acid extractable fraction (WAEF‐N) was decreased by 117.41 mg kg−1. Microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) was increased by 25.29 mg kg−1, and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) was decreased by 8.03 g kg−1. The contents of IEF‐N, NTF‐N and amorphous iron oxides were higher under the flooding environment than under the drying environment. In contrast, opposite results were observed for soil nitrogen in the strong alkali extractable fraction (SAEF‐N), SOEF‐N and MBN. IEF‐N and NTF‐N contents were higher at 20°C than at 30°C, and the contents of SOEF‐N and MBN were higher at 30°C than at 20°C. WAEF‐N was dissolved by LMWOA through CaCO3 dissolution. The dissolved WAEF‐N was partly transformed into SOEF‐N and NTF‐N by microbial assimilation and humification. Flooding desorbed SAEF‐N through the crystalline transformation of iron oxides. Flooding inhibited the transformation of IEF‐N to SOEF‐N and promoted the formation of NTF‐N, while warming did the opposite. The results provide a perspective of the bound state between soil and nitrogen for understanding the soil nitrogen cycling and help to assess the impacts of climate warming and flooding on soil nitrogen loss from soil to the surrounding water.

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“…This is consistent with the fact that warming increased exposure to freeze–thaw cycles during winter, and that this selected for an enhanced microbial allocation of C to growth during the course of the perturbation, which could ultimately result in an increased stabilization of soil C (Liang et al., 2017). Theoretical arguments (Bosatta & Ågren, 1999; Manzoni et al., 2012) and some empirical evidence (Frey et al., 2013; Li et al., 2019; Purcell et al., 2022; Qiao et al., 2019; Tian et al., 2023) have suggested that microbial CUE decreases with elevated temperatures because of the increased energy requirements directed to metabolism as a direct effect of warming (Fang et al., 2005; Melillo et al., 2002). Our results add complexity to this issue by suggesting that exposure to increased freeze–thaw cycles, as an indirect effect of warming, will create an ecological memory that will accelerate microbial growth responses and increase microbial CUE during the perturbation, thus slowing soil C loss.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subarctic winter warming promotes soil microbial resilience to freeze–thaw cycles and enhances the microbial carbon use efficiency

Lí,

Hicks,

Brangarí

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Climate change is predicted to cause milder winters and thus exacerbate soil freeze–thaw perturbations in the subarctic, recasting the environmental challenges that soil microorganisms need to endure. Historical exposure to environmental stressors can facilitate the microbial resilience to new cycles of that same stress. However, whether and how such microbial memory or stress legacy can modulate microbial responses to cycles of frost remains untested. Here, we conducted an in situ field experiment in a subarctic birch forest, where winter warming resulted in a substantial increase in the number and intensity of freeze–thaw events. After one season of winter warming, which raised mean surface and soil (−8 cm) temperatures by 2.9 and 1.4°C, respectively, we investigated whether the in situ warming‐induced increase in frost cycles improved soil microbial resilience to an experimental freeze–thaw perturbation. We found that the resilience of microbial growth was enhanced in the winter warmed soil, which was associated with community differences across treatments. We also found that winter warming enhanced the resilience of bacteria more than fungi. In contrast, the respiration response to freeze–thaw was not affected by a legacy of winter warming. This translated into an enhanced microbial carbon‐use efficiency in the winter warming treatments, which could promote the stabilization of soil carbon during such perturbations. Together, these findings highlight the importance of climate history in shaping current and future dynamics of soil microbial functioning to perturbations associated with climate change, with important implications for understanding the potential consequences on microbial‐mediated biogeochemical cycles.

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Long-term warming of a forest soil reduces microbial biomass and its carbon and nitrogen use efficiencies

Cited by 17 publications

References 91 publications

Soil nitrogen availability and microbial carbon use efficiency are dependent more on chemical fertilization than winter drought in a maize–soybean rotation system

Soil nitrogen availability and microbial carbon use efficiency are dependent more on chemical fertilization than winter drought in a maize–soybean rotation system

Effects of flooding and warming on soil nitrogen fraction transformation under low‐molecular‐weight organic acid inputs

Subarctic winter warming promotes soil microbial resilience to freeze–thaw cycles and enhances the microbial carbon use efficiency

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