Open AccessUnaltered soil microbial community composition, but decreased metabolic activity in a semiarid grassland after two years of passive experimental warming
Author(s) -
Fang Chao,
Ke Wenbin,
Campioli Matteo,
Pei Jiuying,
Yuan Ziqiang,
Song Xin,
Ye JianSheng,
Li Fengmin,
Janssens Ivan A.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.6862
Subject(s) - microbial population biology , environmental science , biomass (ecology) , grassland , soil respiration , global warming , soil carbon , ecology , soil water , agronomy , climate change , water content , ecosystem , soil science , biology , bacteria , genetics , geotechnical engineering , engineering
Soil microbial communities regulate soil carbon feedbacks to climate warming through microbial respiration (i.e., metabolic rate). A thorough understanding of the responses of composition, biomass, and metabolic rate of soil microbial community to warming is crucial to predict soil carbon stocks in a future warmer climate. Therefore, we conducted a field manipulative experiment in a semiarid grassland on the Loess Plateau of China to evaluate the responses of the soil microbial community to increased temperature from April 2015 to December 2017. Soil temperature was 2.0°C higher relative to the ambient when open‐top chambers (OTCs) were used. Warming did not affect microbial biomass or the composition of microbial functional groups. However, warming significantly decreased microbial respiration, directly resulting from soil pH decrease driven by the comediation of aboveground biomass increase, inorganic nitrogen increase, and moisture decrease. These findings highlight that the soil microbial community structure of semiarid grasslands resisted the short‐term warming by 2°C, although its metabolic rate declined.