Authors: Youchao Chen Jian Sun Fangting Xie Xiaodan Wang Genwei Cheng Xuyang Lu
Publish Date: 2015/06/05
Volume: 51, Issue: 7, Pages: 791-800
Abstract
Plant litter can influence many fundamental ecosystem functions during decomposition However the mechanism of litter diversity effects on belowground ecological processes remains unclear especially with regard to soil C and the N cycle in alpine ecosystems In this study we incubated the litter of four alpine steppe species SP Stipa purpurea CM Carex moorcroftii LP Leontopodium pusillum AN Artemisia nanschanica alone or in mixture with soil The littermixing experiment was conducted to determine the effects of litter diversity on soil C and N dynamics in an alpine steppe in Northern Tibet Litter treatments significantly enhanced CO2 and N2O emissions and decreased CH4 immobilization in general soil organic C total N water soluble organic C water soluble organic N microbial biomass C microbial biomass N and urease activity were also enhanced while soil total inorganic N was decreased by litter treatments Plant species richness poorly affected soil C and N dynamics while litter chemical structure such as C N linginN phenolN cellulose and celluloseN significantly affected soil C and N dynamics Nonadditive effects of litter mixture were predominant on soil C and N dynamics while antagonistic effects were more frequent than synergistic effects These results indicated that litter addition can significantly impact soil C and N dynamics through nonadditive effects of litter mixture and litter chemical structure is more important than species richness in affecting soil C and N dynamics of the alpine steppe in Northern Tibet
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