{"title":"Litter application increases soil multinutrient cycling in alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.apsoil.2024.105566","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In soil, multiple nutrients are cycled simultaneously (multinutrient cycling), rather than a single measurable process. While the impact of litter decomposition on individual soil nutrient cycling in alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau is well-documented, its effects on soil multinutrient cycling remain unclear. We deployed a three-year litter application experiment in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau to examine the responses of soil microclimate, extracellular enzyme activities, and bacterial and fungal communities to litter applications, as well as the correlations between these vital factors with soil multinutrient cycling induced by litter application. We showed that litter application raised the soil multinutrient cycling index, temperature, and moisture content by an average of 190 %, 1.2 °C, and 12 %, respectively. Litter application increased the activities of soil extracellular enzyme β-1,4-glucosidase, β-1,4-xylosidase, β-D-cellobiosidase, L-leucine aminopeptidase, acid phosphatase, and phenol oxidase. Moreover, litter application increased the richness and diversity of both soil bacterial and fungal communities, and altered their community structure, but with larger effects on bacterial communities (<em>R</em><sup>2</sup> = 0.43 for bacterial community and <em>R</em><sup>2</sup> = 0.19 for fungal community). This indicates that bacterial communities are more responsive to litter application than fungal communities in alpine meadow soils on the Tibetan plateau. Partial least-square path modeling indicated that soil bacterial and fungal communities and extracellular enzyme activities were significantly positively correlated with soil multinutrient cycling after litter application. The relative abundances of bacterial phyla of <em>Proteobacteria</em>, <em>Actinobacteria</em>, and <em>Verrucomicrobiota</em>, and fungal phyla of <em>Basidiomycota</em> were positively related to most of the critical soil nutrients, indicating that those microbial taxa are the main drivers of soil multinutrient cycling. Overall, this study provides explicit evidence that litter application accelerates Tibetan meadow soil multinutrient cycling, which contributes to an enhanced understanding of the role of litter in sustaining the functions and services of alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8099,"journal":{"name":"Applied Soil Ecology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Soil Ecology","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092913932400297X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"SOIL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In soil, multiple nutrients are cycled simultaneously (multinutrient cycling), rather than a single measurable process. While the impact of litter decomposition on individual soil nutrient cycling in alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau is well-documented, its effects on soil multinutrient cycling remain unclear. We deployed a three-year litter application experiment in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau to examine the responses of soil microclimate, extracellular enzyme activities, and bacterial and fungal communities to litter applications, as well as the correlations between these vital factors with soil multinutrient cycling induced by litter application. We showed that litter application raised the soil multinutrient cycling index, temperature, and moisture content by an average of 190 %, 1.2 °C, and 12 %, respectively. Litter application increased the activities of soil extracellular enzyme β-1,4-glucosidase, β-1,4-xylosidase, β-D-cellobiosidase, L-leucine aminopeptidase, acid phosphatase, and phenol oxidase. Moreover, litter application increased the richness and diversity of both soil bacterial and fungal communities, and altered their community structure, but with larger effects on bacterial communities (R2 = 0.43 for bacterial community and R2 = 0.19 for fungal community). This indicates that bacterial communities are more responsive to litter application than fungal communities in alpine meadow soils on the Tibetan plateau. Partial least-square path modeling indicated that soil bacterial and fungal communities and extracellular enzyme activities were significantly positively correlated with soil multinutrient cycling after litter application. The relative abundances of bacterial phyla of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Verrucomicrobiota, and fungal phyla of Basidiomycota were positively related to most of the critical soil nutrients, indicating that those microbial taxa are the main drivers of soil multinutrient cycling. Overall, this study provides explicit evidence that litter application accelerates Tibetan meadow soil multinutrient cycling, which contributes to an enhanced understanding of the role of litter in sustaining the functions and services of alpine meadow ecosystems on the Tibetan Plateau.
期刊介绍:
Applied Soil Ecology addresses the role of soil organisms and their interactions in relation to: sustainability and productivity, nutrient cycling and other soil processes, the maintenance of soil functions, the impact of human activities on soil ecosystems and bio(techno)logical control of soil-inhabiting pests, diseases and weeds.