Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation

verfasst von

Andreas Breidenbach, Per Marten Schleuss, Shibin Liu, Dominik Schneider, Michaela A. Dippold, Tilman de la 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, Sandra Spielvogel

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.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Bodenkunde

Externe Organisation(en)

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Universität Bayreuth
Chengdu University of Technology
Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU)
Philipps-Universität Marburg
Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Beijing Institute of Genomics, CAS
Kunming Institute of Botany Chinese Academy of Sciences
Helmholtz Zentrum München - Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt
Universität Koblenz-Landau
Nordwestdeutsche Forstliche Versuchsanstalt

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Nature Communications

Band

13

Anzahl der Seiten

10

ISSN

2041-1723

Publikationsdatum

2022

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Chemie (insg.), Biochemie, Genetik und Molekularbiologie (insg.), Physik und Astronomie (insg.)

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 2 – Kein Hunger, SDG 13 – Klimaschutzmaßnahmen

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7 (Zugang: Offen)