Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on soil respiration components and their temperature sensitivities in a semiarid grassland

Chunping Zhang; Decao Niu; Sharon J. Hall; Haiyan Wen; Xudong Li; Hua Fu; Changgui Wan; James J. Elser

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.013

Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on soil respiration components and their temperature sensitivities in a semiarid grassland

Chunping Zhang
, Decao Niu
, Sharon J. Hall
, Haiyan Wen
, Xudong Li
, Hua Fu
, Changgui Wan
, James J. Elser

Flathead Lake Biological Station

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

175 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) deposition to semiarid ecosystems is increasing globally, yet few studies have investigated the ecological consequences of N enrichment in these ecosystems. Furthermore, soil CO₂ flux - including plant root and microbial respiration - is a key feedback to ecosystem carbon (C) cycling that links ecosystem processes to climate, yet few studies have investigated the effects of N enrichment on belowground processes in water-limited ecosystems. In this study, we conducted two-level N addition experiments to investigate the effects of N enrichment on microbial and root respiration in a grassland ecosystem on the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. Two years of high N additions (9.2gNm^-2y^-1) significantly increased soil CO₂ flux, including both microbial and root respiration, particularly during the warm growing season. Low N additions (2.3gNm^-2y^-1) increased microbial respiration during the growing season only, but had no significant effects on root respiration. The annual temperature coefficients (Q₁₀) of soil respiration and microbial respiration ranged from 1.86 to 3.00 and 1.86 to 2.72 respectively, and there was a significant decrease in Q₁₀ between the control and the N treatments during the non-growing season but no difference was found during the growing season. Following nitrogen additions, elevated rates of root respiration were significantly and positively related to root N concentrations and biomass, while elevated rates of microbial respiration were related to soil microbial biomass C (SMBC). The microbial respiration tended to respond more sensitively to N addition, while the root respiration did not have similar response. The different mechanisms of N addition impacts on soil respiration and its components and their sensitivity to temperature identified in this study may facilitate the simulation and prediction of C cycling and storage in semiarid grasslands under future scenarios of global change.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	113-123
Number of pages	11
Journal	Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Volume	75
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.013
State	Published - Aug 2014

Funding

This study was supported by National Basic Research Program of China ( 2014CB138703 ), the “Strategic Priority Research Program – Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( XDA05050406-8 ), Key Science and Technology Projects of Gansu Province ( 1203FKDA035 ) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31070412 and 31201837 ). The authors are grateful to the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) for providing the meteorological data and supporting the field work. We would like to thank Zhuo An, Yi Yang, Huige Han, Meiling Song and Zeqin Teng for their help of samples collecting and analyzing.

Funders	Funder number
XDA05050406-8
1203FKDA035
National Natural Science Foundation of China	31070412, 31201837
2014CB138703

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Loess Plateau
Microbial respiration
Nitrogen addition
Root respiration
Soil respiration

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10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.013

Cite this

@article{a3675a6137e54de29736b3abe18ff326,

title = "Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on soil respiration components and their temperature sensitivities in a semiarid grassland",

abstract = "Nitrogen (N) deposition to semiarid ecosystems is increasing globally, yet few studies have investigated the ecological consequences of N enrichment in these ecosystems. Furthermore, soil CO2 flux - including plant root and microbial respiration - is a key feedback to ecosystem carbon (C) cycling that links ecosystem processes to climate, yet few studies have investigated the effects of N enrichment on belowground processes in water-limited ecosystems. In this study, we conducted two-level N addition experiments to investigate the effects of N enrichment on microbial and root respiration in a grassland ecosystem on the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. Two years of high N additions (9.2gNm-2y-1) significantly increased soil CO2 flux, including both microbial and root respiration, particularly during the warm growing season. Low N additions (2.3gNm-2y-1) increased microbial respiration during the growing season only, but had no significant effects on root respiration. The annual temperature coefficients (Q10) of soil respiration and microbial respiration ranged from 1.86 to 3.00 and 1.86 to 2.72 respectively, and there was a significant decrease in Q10 between the control and the N treatments during the non-growing season but no difference was found during the growing season. Following nitrogen additions, elevated rates of root respiration were significantly and positively related to root N concentrations and biomass, while elevated rates of microbial respiration were related to soil microbial biomass C (SMBC). The microbial respiration tended to respond more sensitively to N addition, while the root respiration did not have similar response. The different mechanisms of N addition impacts on soil respiration and its components and their sensitivity to temperature identified in this study may facilitate the simulation and prediction of C cycling and storage in semiarid grasslands under future scenarios of global change.",

keywords = "Loess Plateau, Microbial respiration, Nitrogen addition, Root respiration, Soil respiration",

author = "Chunping Zhang and Decao Niu and Hall, \{Sharon J.\} and Haiyan Wen and Xudong Li and Hua Fu and Changgui Wan and Elser, \{James J.\}",

note = "Funding Information: This study was supported by National Basic Research Program of China ( 2014CB138703 ), the “Strategic Priority Research Program – Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( XDA05050406-8 ), Key Science and Technology Projects of Gansu Province ( 1203FKDA035 ) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31070412 and 31201837 ). The authors are grateful to the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) for providing the meteorological data and supporting the field work. We would like to thank Zhuo An, Yi Yang, Huige Han, Meiling Song and Zeqin Teng for their help of samples collecting and analyzing.",

year = "2014",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.013",

language = "English",

volume = "75",

pages = "113--123",

journal = "Soil Biology and Biochemistry",

issn = "0038-0717",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on soil respiration components and their temperature sensitivities in a semiarid grassland

AU - Zhang, Chunping

AU - Niu, Decao

AU - Hall, Sharon J.

AU - Wen, Haiyan

AU - Li, Xudong

AU - Fu, Hua

AU - Wan, Changgui

AU - Elser, James J.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was supported by National Basic Research Program of China ( 2014CB138703 ), the “Strategic Priority Research Program – Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ( XDA05050406-8 ), Key Science and Technology Projects of Gansu Province ( 1203FKDA035 ) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31070412 and 31201837 ). The authors are grateful to the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) for providing the meteorological data and supporting the field work. We would like to thank Zhuo An, Yi Yang, Huige Han, Meiling Song and Zeqin Teng for their help of samples collecting and analyzing.

PY - 2014/8

Y1 - 2014/8

N2 - Nitrogen (N) deposition to semiarid ecosystems is increasing globally, yet few studies have investigated the ecological consequences of N enrichment in these ecosystems. Furthermore, soil CO2 flux - including plant root and microbial respiration - is a key feedback to ecosystem carbon (C) cycling that links ecosystem processes to climate, yet few studies have investigated the effects of N enrichment on belowground processes in water-limited ecosystems. In this study, we conducted two-level N addition experiments to investigate the effects of N enrichment on microbial and root respiration in a grassland ecosystem on the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. Two years of high N additions (9.2gNm-2y-1) significantly increased soil CO2 flux, including both microbial and root respiration, particularly during the warm growing season. Low N additions (2.3gNm-2y-1) increased microbial respiration during the growing season only, but had no significant effects on root respiration. The annual temperature coefficients (Q10) of soil respiration and microbial respiration ranged from 1.86 to 3.00 and 1.86 to 2.72 respectively, and there was a significant decrease in Q10 between the control and the N treatments during the non-growing season but no difference was found during the growing season. Following nitrogen additions, elevated rates of root respiration were significantly and positively related to root N concentrations and biomass, while elevated rates of microbial respiration were related to soil microbial biomass C (SMBC). The microbial respiration tended to respond more sensitively to N addition, while the root respiration did not have similar response. The different mechanisms of N addition impacts on soil respiration and its components and their sensitivity to temperature identified in this study may facilitate the simulation and prediction of C cycling and storage in semiarid grasslands under future scenarios of global change.

AB - Nitrogen (N) deposition to semiarid ecosystems is increasing globally, yet few studies have investigated the ecological consequences of N enrichment in these ecosystems. Furthermore, soil CO2 flux - including plant root and microbial respiration - is a key feedback to ecosystem carbon (C) cycling that links ecosystem processes to climate, yet few studies have investigated the effects of N enrichment on belowground processes in water-limited ecosystems. In this study, we conducted two-level N addition experiments to investigate the effects of N enrichment on microbial and root respiration in a grassland ecosystem on the Loess Plateau in northwestern China. Two years of high N additions (9.2gNm-2y-1) significantly increased soil CO2 flux, including both microbial and root respiration, particularly during the warm growing season. Low N additions (2.3gNm-2y-1) increased microbial respiration during the growing season only, but had no significant effects on root respiration. The annual temperature coefficients (Q10) of soil respiration and microbial respiration ranged from 1.86 to 3.00 and 1.86 to 2.72 respectively, and there was a significant decrease in Q10 between the control and the N treatments during the non-growing season but no difference was found during the growing season. Following nitrogen additions, elevated rates of root respiration were significantly and positively related to root N concentrations and biomass, while elevated rates of microbial respiration were related to soil microbial biomass C (SMBC). The microbial respiration tended to respond more sensitively to N addition, while the root respiration did not have similar response. The different mechanisms of N addition impacts on soil respiration and its components and their sensitivity to temperature identified in this study may facilitate the simulation and prediction of C cycling and storage in semiarid grasslands under future scenarios of global change.

KW - Loess Plateau

KW - Microbial respiration

KW - Nitrogen addition

KW - Root respiration

KW - Soil respiration

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84899702488

U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.013

DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.013

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84899702488

SN - 0038-0717

VL - 75

SP - 113

EP - 123

JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry

JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry

ER -

Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on soil respiration components and their temperature sensitivities in a semiarid grassland

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

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