Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation

Andreas Breidenbach, Per-Marten Schleuss, Shibin Liu, Dominik Schneider, Michaela A. Dippold, Tilman Haye, Georg Miehe, Felix Heitkamp, Elke Seeber, Kyle Mason-Jones, Xingliang Xu, Yang Huanming, Jianchu Xu, Tsechoe Dorji, Matthias Gube, Helge Norf, Jutta Meier, Georg Guggenberger, Yakov Kuzyakov and Sandra Spielvogel ()
Additional contact information
Andreas Breidenbach: University of Goettingen
Per-Marten Schleuss: University of Bayreuth
Shibin Liu: Chengdu University of Technology
Dominik Schneider: University of Goettingen
Michaela A. Dippold: University of Goettingen
Tilman Haye: University of Kiel
Georg Miehe: University of Marburg
Felix Heitkamp: Northwest German Forest Research Institute
Elke Seeber: Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Goerlitz
Kyle Mason-Jones: Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Department of Terrestrial Ecology
Xingliang Xu: Chinese Academy of Science
Yang Huanming: Beijing Genomics Institute
Jianchu Xu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tsechoe Dorji: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Matthias Gube: University of Goettingen
Helge Norf: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH UFZ
Jutta Meier: University of Koblenz-Landau
Georg Guggenberger: Leibniz Universität Hannover
Yakov Kuzyakov: University of Goettingen
Sandra Spielvogel: University of Kiel

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The Tibetan Plateau’s Kobresia pastures store 2.5% of the world’s soil organic carbon (SOC). Climate change and overgrazing render their topsoils vulnerable to degradation, with SOC stocks declining by 42% and nitrogen (N) by 33% at severely degraded sites. We resolved these losses into erosion accounting for two-thirds, and decreased carbon (C) input and increased SOC mineralization accounting for the other third, and confirmed these results by comparison with a meta-analysis of 594 observations. The microbial community responded to the degradation through altered taxonomic composition and enzymatic activities. Hydrolytic enzyme activities were reduced, while degradation of the remaining recalcitrant soil organic matter by oxidative enzymes was accelerated, demonstrating a severe shift in microbial functioning. This may irreversibly alter the world´s largest alpine pastoral ecosystem by diminishing its C sink function and nutrient cycling dynamics, negatively impacting local food security, regional water quality and climate.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7

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