Warming and Nitrogen Addition Change the Soil and Soil Microbial Biomass C:N:P Stoichiometry of a Meadow Steppe

Shiwei Gong, Tao Zhang and Jixun Guo
Additional contact information
Shiwei Gong: College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi University of Finance & Economics, Taiyuan 030006, China
Tao Zhang: Institute of Grassland Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Key Laboratory for Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Changchun 130024, China
Jixun Guo: Institute of Grassland Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Key Laboratory for Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Changchun 130024, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: Soil and soil microbial biomass (SMB) carbon: nitrogen: phosphorus (C:N:P) stoichiometry are important parameters to determine soil balance of nutrients and circulation of materials, but how soil and SMB C:N:P stoichiometry is affected by climate change remains unclear. Field experiments with warming and N addition had been implemented since April 2007. Infrared radiators were used to manipulate temperature, and aqueous ammonium nitrate (10 g m −2 yr −1 ) was added to simulate nitrogen deposition. We found that molar nutrient ratios in the soil averaged 60:11:1, warming and warming plus N addition reduced soil C:N by 14.1% and 20% ( P < 0.01), and reduced soil C:P ratios by 14.5% and 14.8% ( P < 0.01). N addition reduced soil C:N significantly by 17.6% ( P < 0.001) (Figure 2B,D). N addition and warming plus N addition increased soil N:P significantly by 24.6% and 7.7% ( P < 0.01). The SMB C:N, C:P and N:P ratios increased significantly with warming, N addition and warming plus N addition. Warming and N addition increased the correlations between SOC and soil microbial biomass C (SMBC), soil total P and soil microbial biomass P (SMBP), warming increased the correlation between the soil total N and soil microbial biomass N (SMBN). After four years’ treatment, our results demonstrated that the combined effects of warming and N fertilization could change the C, N, P cycling by affecting soil and SMB C:N:P ratios significantly and differently. At the same time, our results suggested SMB might have weak homeostasis in Sonnen Grassland and warming and N addition would ease N-limitation but aggravate P-limitation in northeastern China. Furthermore, these results further the current demonstration of the relationships between the soil and SMB C:N:P stoichiometry in response to global change in temperate grassland ecosystems.

Keywords: warming; N addition; soil C:N:P stoichiometry; soil microbial biomass C:N:P stoichiometry; Meadow steppe (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/15/2705/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/15/2705/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:15:p:2705-:d:252766

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().