Climatic factors drive the aboveground ecosystem functions of alpine grassland via soil microbial biomass nitrogen on the Qingzang Plateau

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2020.0204

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims In recent years, under the background of climate change and human activities, the trend of biodiversity loss is increasing. Such accelerated loss in biodiversity could bring serious consequences to ecosystem functions. At present, the research on ecosystem function ignores the important driving role of carbon and nitrogen cycling in soil and microorganism on the above ground ecosystem functions. Any changes of soil carbon, nitrogen and microorganism may affect the ability of belowground community, which can have substantial effects on the aboveground ecosystem functions. Our aim was to explore the driving factors and key mechanism of abovegroud ecosystem functions (AEF) in alpine grassland.
Methods From July to August 2015, we conducted a transect survey in alpine grasslands to measure plant community and soil properties across Qingzang Plateau. There were in total 115 sample sites. The aboveground ecosystem function was calculated based on the aboveground biomass, leaf carbon, leaf nitrogen and leaf phosphorus. The effects of key elements such as soil organic carbon, total nitrogen and biomass on the aboveground ecosystem function were analyzed. Combined with mean annual precipitation and air temperature, we explored important drivers of AEF and related mechanisms.
Important findings Precipitation has a greater impact on aboveground ecosystem functions, while air temperature has a minor impact. Mean annual precipitation, soil microbial nitrogen content and aridity index had relative higher importance to aboveground ecosystem functions. Specificially, mean annual precipitation, soil microbial nitrogen content and aridity index accounted for the variations of 21.1%, 10.9% and 10.1%, respectively. The findings indicated that soil properties might play more important roles than plant community and productivity to aboveground ecosystem functions. Considering the cascading impacts of climate factors on soil nutrients cycling and microorganisms, soil microbial biomass nitrogen content plays an important role in regulating AEF of alpine grassland, Qingzang Plateau.

Key words: aboveground ecosystem function, alpine grassland, soil total nitrogen, soil microbial biomass nitrogen, Qingzang Plateau

WANG Yi, SUN Jian, YE Chong-Chong, ZENG Tao. Climatic factors drive the aboveground ecosystem functions of alpine grassland via soil microbial biomass nitrogen on the Qingzang Plateau[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2021, 45(5): 434-443.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2020.0204

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2021/V45/I5/434

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Sample sites on the Qingzang Plateau. ATP, annual total precipitation, mm.

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of each index in the transect survey on the Qingzang Plateau

调查指标 Survey indicator	p	平均值 Mean	标准误 SE	最大值 Max	最小值 Min
地上生态系统功能 Aboveground ecosystem functions	0.200	0.05	0.54	1.77	-1.70
地上生物量 Aboveground biomass (g·m^-2)	0.000	91.15	77.22	318.48	7.56
地下生物量 Belowground biomass (g·m^-2)	0.000	3.20	6.16	42.53	0.01
叶片碳含量 Leaf carbon content (g·kg^-1)	0.000	40.59	3.75	45.12	27.42
叶片磷含量 Leaf phosphorus content (g·kg^-1)	0.001	1.67	0.79	5.32	0.34
叶片氮含量 Leaf nitrogen content (g·kg^-1)	0.098	17.98	4.34	34.44	5.90
土壤含水量 Soil water content (%)	0.000	0.15	0.13	0.53	0.01
土壤速效磷含量 Soil available phosphorus content (mg·kg^-1)	0.001	2.50	1.66	8.48	0.32
土壤速效氮含量 Soil available nitrogen content (mg·kg^-1)	0.000	130.35	118.11	536.78	12.03
土壤有机碳含量 Soil organic carbon content (g·kg^-1)	0.000	24.23	25.74	128.63	0.75
土壤总磷含量 Soil total phosphorus content (g·kg^-1)	0.025	0.49	0.32	2.03	0.05
土壤总氮含量 Soil total nitrogen content (g·kg^-1)	0.000	1.64	1.42	6.82	0.29
土壤微生物生物量碳含量 Microbial biomass carbon content (mg·kg^-1)	0.000	398.98	423.82	2 064.00	3.50
土壤微生物生物量氮含量 Microbial biomass nitrogen content (mg·kg^-1)	0.000	123.34	115.03	451.20	2.60

Fig. 2 Relationships between climate factors, belowground biomass, soil factors and aboveground ecosystem functions (AEF). A, The correlation between AEF value and each factor; black box indicates positive correlation, and red box indicates negative correlation, * and ** represented significantly correlated with AEF value (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). B, Principal component analysis of AEF value and each factor. AI, aridity index; AMT, mean annual air temperature; ATP, mean annual precipitation; BGB, belowground biomass; EMF, ecosystem multi-function; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; MBN, microbial biomass nitrogen content; SAN, soil available nitrogen content; SAP, soil available phosphorus content; SOC, soil organic carbon content; STN, soil total nitrogen content; STP, soil total phosphorus content.

Fig. 3 Relative importance of environmental factors and soil factors to aboveground ecosystem functions. AI, aridity index; AMT, mean annual air temperature; ATP, mean annual precipitation; BGB, belowground biomass; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; MBN, microbial biomass nitrogen content; SAN, soil available nitrogen content; SAP, soil available phosphorus content; SOC, soil organic carbon content; STN, soil total nitrogen content; STP, soil total phosphorus content.

Fig. 4 Relationships of climate and soil factors with aboveground ecosystem functions. AEF, aboveground ecosystem functions value; AI, aridity index; ATP, mean annual precipitation; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; MBN, microbial biomass nitrogen content; SOC, soil organic carbon content; STN, soil total nitrogen content. Except for AEF, all other are log-transformed data.

Fig. 5 Changes of soil nutrient and microbial properties with climatic factors. AI, aridity index; ATP, mean annual precipitation; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; MBN, microbial biomass nitrogen content; SOC, soil organic carbon content; STN, soil total nitrogen content. All data are log-transformed data.

Fig. 6 Effects of climatic and soil factors on aboveground ecosystem functions value (AEF). The path with significant effect is shown in the figure (p < 0.05), the solid lines indicate a positive effect and the dotted line indicates a positive effect. AI, aridity index; ATP, mean annual precipitation; MBC, microbial biomass carbon content; MBN, microbial biomass nitrogen content; SOC, soil organic carbon content; STN, soil total nitrogen content.

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