Effects of desertification on the C:N:P stoichiometry of soil, microbes, and extracellular enzymes in a desert grassland

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2018.0121

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims In order to discuss the underlying mechanism of desertification effect on the ecological stoichiometry of soil, microbes and extracellular enzymes, we studied the changes of soil, soil microbial and extracellular enzyme C:N:P stoichiometry during the desertification process in the desert grassland in Yanchi County, China.
Methods The “space-for-time” method was used.
Important findings The results demonstrated that: (1) Soil C, N, P contents and soil C:P, N:P significantly decreased, but soil C:N gradually increased with increasing desertification. (2) Soil microbial biomass C (MBC):soil microbial biomass P (MBP), soil microbial biomass N (MBN):MBP and soil β-1,4-glucosidase (BG):β-1,4-N- acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) gradually decreased, soil BG:alkaline phosphatase (AP) and NAG:AP basically showed an increasing trend with increasing desertification. (3) Desertification increased the soil microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE_C:Nand CUE_C:P) gradually, while soil microbial nitrogen use efficiency (NUE_N:C) and soil microbial phosphorus use efficiency (PUE_P:C) basically decreased. (4) Soil, soil microbial and soil extracellular enzyme C:N stoichiometry (C:N, MBC:MBN, BG:NAG) were significantly negatively correlated with the soil, soil microbial and extracellular enzyme N:P stoichiometry (N:P, MBN:MBP, NAG:AP), the soil and extracellular enzymes C:N (C:N, BG:NAG) were significantly positively correlated with the soil and extracellular enzymes C:P (C:P, BG:AP). Soil N:P was significantly positively correlated with the soil MBN:MBP, but was significantly negatively correlated with the soil NAG:AP. The analysis demonstrated that soil microbial biomass and extracellular enzyme activity changed with soil nutrient during the desertification process in the desert grassland. The covariation relationship between soil nutrient and C:N:P stoichiometry of microbial-extracellular enzyme provides a theoretical basis for understanding the underlying mechanism of C, N, P cycling in the soil-microbial system in desert grasslands.

Key words: desert grassland, desertification, ecoenzymatic stoichiometry, soil microbes, nutrient use efficiency

WU Xiu-Zhi, YAN Xin, WANG Bo, LIU Ren-Tao, AN Hui. Effects of desertification on the C:N:P stoichiometry of soil, microbes, and extracellular enzymes in a desert grassland[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2018, 42(10): 1022-1032.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2018.0121

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2018/V42/I10/1022

Figures/Tables 4

Fig. 1 Characteristics of soil C、N、P content and C:N:P ecological stoichiometry (mean ± SD) at different stages of desertification. FD, fixed dunes; G, grasslands; MD, mobile dunes SFD, semi-fixed dunes. Different lowercase letters indicate significance differences among stages (p < 0.05).

Fig. 2 C:N:P ecological stoichiometry of soil microbial biomass and soil extracellular enzymes (mean ± SD) at different stages of desertification. FD, fixed dunes; G, grasslands; MD, mobile dunes SFD, semi-fixed dunes. AP, alkaline phosphatase; BG, β-1,4-glucosidase; NAG, β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase. Different lowercase letters indicate significance differences among stages (p < 0.05).

Table 1 Characteristics of soil microbial nutrient utilization efficiency at different desertification stages (mean ± SD)

沙化阶段 Desertification stage	CUE_C:N	CUE_C:P	NUE_N:C	PUE_P:C
荒漠草地 Grasslands	0.25 ± 0.06^a	0.84 ± 0.02^a	0.37 ± 0.06^a	0.13 ± 0.03^a
固定沙地 Fixed dunes	0.26 ± 0.05^a	0.85 ± 0.03^a	0.40 ± 0.04^ab	0.08 ± 0.03^a
半固定沙地 Semi-fixed dunes	0.36 ± 0.04^ab	0.85 ± 0.02^a	0.29 ± 0.05^ab	0.10 ± 0.02^ab
流动沙地 Mobile dunes	0.52 ± 0.04^b	0.90 ± 0.01^a	0.23 ± 0.02^b	0.01 ± 0.01^b

Table 2 Correlation analysis among soil, microbial and extracellular enzyme ecological stoichiometry

	Soil C:N	Soil C:P	Soil N:P	MBC:MBN	MBC:MBP	MBN:MBP	BG:NAG	BG:AP	NAG:AP
Soil C:N	1	0.760^**	-0.396^*	0.149	-0.118	-0.143	-0.249	-0.194	0.131
Soil C:P		1	0.159	0.100	0.096	0.260	0.230	0.071	-0.207
Soil N:P			1	-0.157	0.435^*	0.573^**	0.543^**	0.217	-0.427^**
MBC:MBN				1	-0.038	-0.604^**	-0.150	-0.185	0.039
MBC:MBP					1	0.570^**	0.198	0.149	-0.224
MBN:MBP						1	0.427^*	0.203	-0.366^*
BG:NAG							1	0.542^**	-0.706^**
BG:AP								1	0.102
NAG:AP									1

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