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Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has caused concern due to its effects on litter decomposition in subtropical regions where N-fixing tree species are widespread. However, the effect of N deposition on litter decomposition in N-fixing plantations remains unclear. We investigated the effects of a 2...

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Autores principales: Zhou, Guixiang, Zhang, Jiabao, Qiu, Xiuwen, Wei, Feng, Xu, Xiaofeng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6113256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30154487
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30666-5
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author Zhou, Guixiang
Zhang, Jiabao
Qiu, Xiuwen
Wei, Feng
Xu, Xiaofeng
author_facet Zhou, Guixiang
Zhang, Jiabao
Qiu, Xiuwen
Wei, Feng
Xu, Xiaofeng
author_sort Zhou, Guixiang
collection PubMed
description Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has caused concern due to its effects on litter decomposition in subtropical regions where N-fixing tree species are widespread. However, the effect of N deposition on litter decomposition in N-fixing plantations remains unclear. We investigated the effects of a 2-year N deposition treatment on litter decomposition, microbial activity, and nutrient release in two subtropical forests containing Alnus cremastogyne (AC, N-fixing) and Liquidambar formosana (LF, non-N-fixing). The decomposition rate in AC was faster than in LF when there was no experimental N deposition. In AC, the initial decomposition rate was faster when additional N was applied and was strongly linked to higher cellulose-degrading enzyme activities during the early decomposition stage. However, N deposition reduced litter decomposition and inhibited lignin-degrading enzyme activities during the later decomposition stage. Nitrogen deposition enhanced carbohydrate and alcohol utilization, but suppressed amino acid and carboxylic acid uptake in the AC plantation. However, it did not significantly affect litter decomposition and microbial activity in the LF plantation. In conclusion, N deposition could inhibit litter decomposition by changing microbial enzyme and metabolic activities during the decomposition process and would increase carbon accumulation and nitrogen retention in subtropical forests with N-fixing tree species.
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spelling pubmed-61132562018-08-30 Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species Zhou, Guixiang Zhang, Jiabao Qiu, Xiuwen Wei, Feng Xu, Xiaofeng Sci Rep Article Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has caused concern due to its effects on litter decomposition in subtropical regions where N-fixing tree species are widespread. However, the effect of N deposition on litter decomposition in N-fixing plantations remains unclear. We investigated the effects of a 2-year N deposition treatment on litter decomposition, microbial activity, and nutrient release in two subtropical forests containing Alnus cremastogyne (AC, N-fixing) and Liquidambar formosana (LF, non-N-fixing). The decomposition rate in AC was faster than in LF when there was no experimental N deposition. In AC, the initial decomposition rate was faster when additional N was applied and was strongly linked to higher cellulose-degrading enzyme activities during the early decomposition stage. However, N deposition reduced litter decomposition and inhibited lignin-degrading enzyme activities during the later decomposition stage. Nitrogen deposition enhanced carbohydrate and alcohol utilization, but suppressed amino acid and carboxylic acid uptake in the AC plantation. However, it did not significantly affect litter decomposition and microbial activity in the LF plantation. In conclusion, N deposition could inhibit litter decomposition by changing microbial enzyme and metabolic activities during the decomposition process and would increase carbon accumulation and nitrogen retention in subtropical forests with N-fixing tree species. Nature Publishing Group UK 2018-08-28 /pmc/articles/PMC6113256/ /pubmed/30154487 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30666-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2018 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Zhou, Guixiang
Zhang, Jiabao
Qiu, Xiuwen
Wei, Feng
Xu, Xiaofeng
Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
title Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
title_full Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
title_fullStr Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
title_full_unstemmed Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
title_short Decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
title_sort decomposing litter and associated microbial activity responses to nitrogen deposition in two subtropical forests containing nitrogen-fixing or non-nitrogen-fixing tree species
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6113256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30154487
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30666-5
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