Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2681 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 13 May 2022 |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |
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.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry(all)
- General Chemistry
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- General Physics and Astronomy
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Nature Communications, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2681, 2022.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation
AU - Breidenbach, Andreas
AU - Schleuss, Per Marten
AU - Liu, Shibin
AU - Schneider, Dominik
AU - Dippold, Michaela A.
AU - de la Haye, Tilman
AU - Miehe, Georg
AU - Heitkamp, Felix
AU - Seeber, Elke
AU - Mason-Jones, Kyle
AU - Xu, Xingliang
AU - Huanming, Yang
AU - Xu, Jianchu
AU - Dorji, Tsechoe
AU - Gube, Matthias
AU - Norf, Helge
AU - Meier, Jutta
AU - Guggenberger, Georg
AU - Kuzyakov, Yakov
AU - Spielvogel, Sandra
N1 - Funding Information: We thank our colleagues T. Biermann, W. Babel, U. Bange, L. Becker, C. Blaser, H. Coners, I. Hoeft, P. Jannack, K. Krüger, K. Schützenmeister, L. Steingräber, Y. Sun, and S. Willinghöfer for helping in the field and the laboratory. The German Research Council (Priority Program 1372) and the Centre for Stable Isotope Research and Analysis (KOSI) of Göttingen supported this project. This research was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the frame of the Priority Program SPP 1372 “Tibetan Plateau: Formation—Climate—Ecosystems”, DFG. 2009–2015; KU 1184/14-2, GU 406/22-2. We acknowledge financial support by DFG within the funding programme Open Access-Publikationskosten.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130061380&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7
DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 35562338
AN - SCOPUS:85130061380
VL - 13
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
SN - 2041-1723
IS - 1
M1 - 2681
ER -