Anthropogenic nitrogen enrichment enhances soil carbon accumulation by impacting saprotrophs rather than ectomycorrhizal fungal activity

Maaroufi, Nadia I.; Nordin, Annika; Palmqvist, Kristin; Hasselquist, Niles J.; Forsmark, Benjamin; Rosenstock, Nicholas P.; Wallander, Håkan; Gundale, Michael J. (2019). Anthropogenic nitrogen enrichment enhances soil carbon accumulation by impacting saprotrophs rather than ectomycorrhizal fungal activity. Global change biology, 25(9), pp. 2900-2914. Wiley 10.1111/gcb.14722

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There is evidence that anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition enhances carbon (C) sequestration in boreal forest soils. However, it is unclear how free‐living saprotrophs (bacteria and fungi, SAP) and ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi responses to N addition impact soil C dynamics. Our aim was to investigate how SAP and EM communities are impacted by N enrichment and to estimate whether these changes influence decay of litter and humus. We conducted a long‐term experiment in northern Sweden, maintained since 2004, consisting of ambient, low N additions (0, 3, 6, and 12 kg N ha−1 year−1) simulating current N deposition rates in the boreal region, as well as a high N addition (50 kg N ha−1 year−1). Our data showed that long‐term N enrichment impeded mass loss of litter, but not of humus, and only in response to the highest N addition treatment. Furthermore, our data showed that EM fungi reduced the mass of N and P in both substrates during the incubation period compared to when only SAP organisms were present. Low N additions had no effect on microbial community structure, while the high N addition decreased fungal and bacterial biomasses and altered EM fungi and SAP community composition. Actinomycetes were the only bacterial SAP to show increased biomass in response to the highest N addition. These results provide a mechanistic understanding of how anthropogenic N enrichment can influence soil C accumulation rates and suggest that current N deposition rates in the boreal region (≤12 kg N ha−1 year−1) are likely to have a minor impact on the soil microbial community and the decomposition of humus and litter.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS)
08 Faculty of Science > Department of Biology > Institute of Plant Sciences (IPS) > Biodiversity

UniBE Contributor:

Maaroufi, Nadia

Subjects:

500 Science > 580 Plants (Botany)

ISSN:

1354-1013

Publisher:

Wiley

Language:

English

Submitter:

Peter Alfred von Ballmoos-Haas

Date Deposited:

26 Aug 2019 16:06

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:30

Publisher DOI:

10.1111/gcb.14722

Uncontrolled Keywords:

carbon sequestration; ecological stoichiometry; Gadgil effect; high‐throughput sequencing; ingrowth mesh bags; ITS amplicons; litter decomposition; root exclosure; soil organic matter

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.132568

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/132568

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