Effects of snow absence on available N pools and enzyme activities within soil aggregates in a spruce forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau

doi:10.1007/s42832-021-0117-z

Soil Ecology Letters

2022, Vol. 4

Issue (4) : 376-382 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-021-0117-z

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of snow absence on available N pools and enzyme activities within soil aggregates in a spruce forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Zhijie Li^1,², Rüdiger Reichel², Zimin Li³, Kaijun Yang⁴, Li Zhang¹, Bo Tan¹, Rui Yin⁵, Kerui Zhao², Zhenfeng Xu¹(

)

¹. Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province & National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Institute of Ecology and Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
². Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute of Bio- and Geosciences, Agrosphere (IBG-3), 52425 Jülich, Germany
³. Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), Earth and Life Institute, Soil Science, Louvain-La-Neuve 1348, Belgium
⁴. Global Ecology Unit CREAF-CSIC-UAB, CSIC, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
⁵. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany

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Abstract

• Snow absence increased soil N availabilities within soil aggregates.

• Snow absence did not change net N mineralization rate within soil aggregates.

• Soil enzyme activities affected by snow were different within soil aggregates.

Winter climate change has great potential to affect the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. In particular, increased soil frost associated with reduced insulating snow cover may impact the soil nitrogen (N) dynamics in cold ecosystems, but little is known about the variability of these effects among the soil aggregates. A snow manipulation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of snow absence on N cycling within soil aggregates in a spruce forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau of China. The extractable soil available N (ammonium and nitrate), net N mineralization rate, and N cycling-related enzyme activities (urease, nitrate reductase, and nitrite reductase) were measured in large macroaggregate (>2 mm), small macroaggregate (0.25–2 mm), and microaggregate (<0.25 mm) during the early thawing period in the years of 2016 and 2017. Snow absence increased soil N availabilities and nitrite reductase activity in microaggregate, but did not affect net N mineralization rate, urease or nitrate reductase activities in any of the aggregate fractions. Regardless of snow manipulations, both soil inorganic N and nitrate reductase were higher in small macroaggregate than in the other two fractions. The effect of aggregate size and sampling year was significant on soil mineral N, net N mineralization rate, and nitrite reductase activity. Our results indicated that snow cover change exerts the largest impact on soil N cycling within microaggregate, and its effect is dependent on winter conditions (e.g., snow cover and temperature). Such findings have important implications for soil N cycling in snow-covered subalpine forests experiencing pronounced winter climate change.

Keywords Ammonium Climate change Forest N mineralization Nitrate Snow absence

Corresponding Author(s): Zhenfeng Xu

About author:

Tongcan Cui and Yizhe Hou contributed equally to this work.

Online First Date: 14 September 2021 Issue Date: 25 October 2022

Cite this article:

Zhijie Li,Rüdiger Reichel,Zimin Li, et al. Effects of snow absence on available N pools and enzyme activities within soil aggregates in a spruce forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau[J]. Soil Ecology Letters, 2022, 4(4): 376-382.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/sel/EN/10.1007/s42832-021-0117-z
https://academic.hep.com.cn/sel/EN/Y2022/V4/I4/376

Fig.1 Soil NH₄⁺-N (a), NO₃⁻-N (b), and extractable inorganic N (c) concentrations in snow absence and control plots. The significant difference between snow absence and control in the same soil aggregate and sampling date is indicated by asterisks (P<0.05) or n (P>0.05). Different lowercase letters denote significant difference between soil aggregate sizes within the same treatment (control or snow absence) in the same sampling date (P<0.05). Different uppercase letters denote significant difference between 2016 and 2017 in the same aggregate sizes and treatment (P<0.05).

Fig.2 Net N mineralization rate in snow absence and control plots. The significant difference between snow absence and control in the same soil aggregate and sampling date is indicated by asterisks (P<0.05) or n (P>0.05). Different lowercase letters denote significant difference between soil aggregate sizes within the same treatment (control or snow absence) in the same sampling date (P<0.05). Different uppercase letters denote significant difference between 2016 and 2017 in the same aggregate sizes and treatment (P<0.05).

Tab.1 Summered results regarding the effects of snow absence, aggregate size, sampling date and their interaction of soil N pools, mineralization, and enzyme activities under the repeated measure ANOVA.

Fig.3 Soil urease (a), nitrate reductase (b) and nitrite reductase (c) activities in snow absence and control plots. The significant difference between snow absence and control in the same soil aggregate and sampling date is indicated by asterisks (P<0.05) or n (P>0.05). Different lowercase letters denote significant difference between soil aggregate sizes within the same treatment (control or snow absence) in the same sampling date (P<0.05). Different uppercase letters denote significant difference between 2016 and 2017 in the same aggregate sizes and treatment (P<0.05).

Fig.4 The Pearson correlation coefficient between soil N pools, net N mineralization rate, and enzyme activities in snow absence (a), and control (b) plots. Abbreviations: EIN: extractable inorganic nitrogen; URA: urease activity; NARA: nitrate reductase activity; NIRA: nitrite reductase activity.

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