Simulated warming enhances the responses of microbial N transformations to reactive N input in a Tibetan alpine meadow

Abstract

Alpine ecosystems worldwide are characterized with high soil organic carbon (C) and low mineral nitrogen (N). Climate warming has been predicted to stimulate microbial decomposition and N mineralization in these systems. However, experimental results are highly variable, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We examined the effects of warming, N input, and their combination on soil N pools and N-cycling microbes in a field manipulation experiment. Special attention was directed to the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea, and their mediated N-cycling processes (transformation rates and N₂O emissions) in the third plant growing season after the treatments were initiated. Nitrogen input (12 g m^-2 y^-1) alone significantly increased soil mineral N pools and plant N uptake, and stimulated the growth of AOB and N₂O emissions in the late growing season. While warming (by 1.4 °C air temperature) alone did not have significant effects on most parameters, it amplified the effects of N input on soil N concentrations and AOB abundance, eliciting a chain reaction that increased nitrification potential (+83%), soil NO₃^--N (+200%), and N₂O emissions (+412%) across the whole season. Also, N input reduced AOB diversity but increased the dominance of genus Nitrosospira within the AOB community, corresponding to the increased N₂O emissions. These results showed that a small temperature increase in soil may significantly enhance N losses through NO₃^- leaching and N₂O emissions when mineral N becomes available. These findings suggest that interactions among global change factors may predominantly affect ammonia-oxidizing microbes and their mediated N-cycling processes in alpine ecosystems under future climate change scenarios.

Keywords: Alpine meadow; Ammonia-oxidizing archaea; Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria; Climate warming; N(2)O emission; Nitrogen addition.