Hydrolases Control Soil Carbon Sequestration in Alpine Grasslands in the Tibetan Plateau

Yuanye Zhang, Xia Wang (), Yuxin Sun, Jinhong Wu, Tao Deng, Menghan Yuan, Wenhui Duan and Yunfei Zhao
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Yuanye Zhang: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xia Wang: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yuxin Sun: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Jinhong Wu: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Tao Deng: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Menghan Yuan: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Wenhui Duan: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yunfei Zhao: Gansu Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Prediction and Control, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Microbial-sourced carbon is an important component of soil organic carbon (SOC) and influences SOC’s size and turnover. Soil extracellular enzymes can participate in the degradation of plants in the soil to produce substances needed by microorganisms, which in turn affects microbial sources of carbon. Most of the current studies focus on the effects of soil extracellular enzymes on SOC pools, while there is a lack of clarity regarding the effects on microbial sources of carbon during SOC pool formation. In this paper, three typical grassland types (alpine meadow, alpine grassland, and desert grassland, respectively) on the Tibetan Plateau were selected as research objects to investigate the effects of grassland type and soil depth on microbial-sourced carbon (amino sugars) and soil extracellular enzymes (hydrolytic enzymes: β-glucosidase and cellulase; oxidative enzymes: peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase) in the soil profiles. Our study shows that the content of amino sugars in the three grassland types followed the order: alpine meadow > alpine grassland > desert grassland; the content of hydrolytic enzyme followed the order of alpine meadow > alpine grassland > desert grassland; the content of oxidative enzyme followed the order of desert grassland > alpine grassland > alpine meadow; amino sugars content showed a positive correlation with hydrolytic enzymes and a negative correlation with oxidative enzymes; and the hydrolytic enzyme was the main factor promoting the accumulation of amino sugars. The environmental conditions of alpine meadows and alpine grasslands are more favorable for the formation of microbial-derived carbon and have greater sequestration potential, while desert grasslands are not favorable for the formation of microbial-derived carbon. The results of this study provide a reference basis for exploring the model of organic carbon sequestration in the Tibetan Plateau.

Keywords: grassland types; amino sugar; extracellular enzymes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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