Comparison of Seasonal Soil Microbial Process in Snow-Covered Temperate Ecosystems of Northern China

• Published in: PLoS ONE
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xinyue, Wang, Wei, Chen, Weile, Zhang, Naili, Zeng, Hui
• Other Authors: Wang, W (reprint author), Peking Univ, Minist Educ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Dept Ecol, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Minist Educ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Dept Ecol, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Minist Educ, Key Lab Earth Surface Proc, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China., Peking Univ, Shenzhen Grad Sch, Sch Urban Planning & Design, Key Lab Cycl Econ, Shenzhen, Peoples R China., Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Bot, State Key Lab Vegetat & Environm Change, Beijing, Peoples R China.
• Format: Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: plos one 2014
• Subjects: ARCTIC TUNDRA SOILS; FATTY-ACID PROFILES; FOREST SOIL; COMMUNITY COMPOSITION; NITROGEN DYNAMICS; EXTRACTION METHOD; DECIDUOUS FOREST; GLOBAL PATTERNS; CLIMATE-CHANGE; ELEVATED CO2; Arctic; Climate change; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11897/160555; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092985

More than half of the earth's terrestrial surface currently experiences seasonal snow cover and soil frost. Winter compositional and functional investigations in soil microbial community are frequently conducted in alpine tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, little information on winter microbial biogeochemistry is known from seasonally snow-covered temperate ecosystems. As decomposer microbes may differ in their ability/strategy to efficiently use soil organic carbon (SOC) within different phases of the year, understanding seasonal microbial process will increase our knowledge of biogeochemical cycling from the aspect of decomposition rates and corresponding nutrient dynamics. In this study, we measured soil microbial biomass, community composition and potential SOC mineralization rates in winter and summer, from six temperate ecosystems in northern China. Our results showed a clear pattern of increased microbial biomass C to nitrogen (N) ratio in most winter soils. Concurrently, a shift in soil microbial community composition occurred with higher fungal to bacterial biomass ratio and gram negative (G-) to gram positive (G+) bacterial biomass ratio in winter than in summer. Furthermore, potential SOC mineralization rate was higher in winter than in summer. Our study demonstrated a distinct transition of microbial community structure and function from winter to summer in temperate snow-covered ecosystems. Microbial N immobilization in winter may not be the major contributor for plant growth in the following spring. Multidisciplinary Sciences SCI(E) PubMed 0 ARTICLE [e-mail] 3 e92985 9