Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation

Andreas Breidenbach; Per-Marten Schleuss; Shibin Liu; Dominik Schneider; Michaela A. Dippold; Tilman de la Haye; Georg Miehe; Felix Heitkamp; Elke Seeber; K.E. Mason-Jones; Xingliang Xu; Yang Huanming; Jianchu Xu; Tsechoe Dorij; Matthias Gube; Helge Norf; Jutta Meier; Georg Guggenberger; Yakov Kuzyakov; Sandra Spielvogel

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7

Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation

Andreas Breidenbach, Per-Marten Schleuss, Shibin Liu, Dominik Schneider, Michaela A. Dippold, Tilman de la Haye, Georg Miehe, Felix Heitkamp, Elke Seeber, K.E. Mason-Jones, Xingliang Xu, Yang Huanming, Jianchu Xu, Tsechoe Dorij, Matthias Gube, Helge Norf, Jutta Meier, Georg Guggenberger, Yakov Kuzyakov, Sandra Spielvogel^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

NIOO - Terrestrial Ecology (TE)

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau’s Kobresia pastures store 2.5% of the world’s soil organic carbon (SOC). Climate change and overgrazing render their topsoils vulnerable to degradation, with SOC stocks declining by 42% and nitrogen (N) by 33% at severely degraded sites. We resolved these losses into erosion accounting for two-thirds, and decreased carbon (C) input and increased SOC mineralization accounting for the other third, and confirmed these results by comparison with a meta-analysis of 594 observations. The microbial community responded to the degradation through altered taxonomic composition and enzymatic activities. Hydrolytic enzyme activities were reduced, while degradation of the remaining recalcitrant soil organic matter by oxidative enzymes was accelerated, demonstrating a severe shift in microbial functioning. This may irreversibly alter the world´s largest alpine pastoral ecosystem by diminishing its C sink function and nutrient cycling dynamics, negatively impacting local food security, regional water quality and climate.

Original language	English
Article number	2681
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	13
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7
Publication status	Published - 2022

Keywords

microbiome
soil
degradation
carbon

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Breidenbach, A., Schleuss, P-M., Liu, S., Schneider, D., Dippold, M. A., de la Haye, T., Miehe, G., Heitkamp, F., Seeber, E., Mason-Jones, K. E., Xu, X., Huanming, Y., Xu, J., Dorij, T., Gube, M., Norf, H., Meier, J., Guggenberger, G., Kuzyakov, Y., & Spielvogel, S. (2022). Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation. Nature Communications, 13, [2681]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7

Breidenbach, Andreas ; Schleuss, Per-Marten ; Liu, Shibin ; Schneider, Dominik ; Dippold, Michaela A. ; de la Haye, Tilman ; Miehe, Georg ; Heitkamp, Felix ; Seeber, Elke ; Mason-Jones, K.E. ; Xu, Xingliang ; Huanming, Yang ; Xu, Jianchu ; Dorij, Tsechoe ; Gube, Matthias ; Norf, Helge ; Meier, Jutta ; Guggenberger, Georg ; Kuzyakov, Yakov ; Spielvogel, Sandra. / Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation. In: Nature Communications. 2022 ; Vol. 13.

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title = "Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation",

abstract = "The Tibetan Plateau{\textquoteright}s Kobresia pastures store 2.5% of the world{\textquoteright}s soil organic carbon (SOC). Climate change and overgrazing render their topsoils vulnerable to degradation, with SOC stocks declining by 42% and nitrogen (N) by 33% at severely degraded sites. We resolved these losses into erosion accounting for two-thirds, and decreased carbon (C) input and increased SOC mineralization accounting for the other third, and confirmed these results by comparison with a meta-analysis of 594 observations. The microbial community responded to the degradation through altered taxonomic composition and enzymatic activities. Hydrolytic enzyme activities were reduced, while degradation of the remaining recalcitrant soil organic matter by oxidative enzymes was accelerated, demonstrating a severe shift in microbial functioning. This may irreversibly alter the world´s largest alpine pastoral ecosystem by diminishing its C sink function and nutrient cycling dynamics, negatively impacting local food security, regional water quality and climate.",

keywords = "microbiome, soil, degradation, carbon",

author = "Andreas Breidenbach and Per-Marten Schleuss and Shibin Liu and Dominik Schneider and Dippold, {Michaela A.} and {de la Haye}, Tilman and Georg Miehe and Felix Heitkamp and Elke Seeber and K.E. Mason-Jones and Xingliang Xu and Yang Huanming and Jianchu Xu and Tsechoe Dorij and Matthias Gube and Helge Norf and Jutta Meier and Georg Guggenberger and Yakov Kuzyakov and Sandra Spielvogel",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

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Breidenbach, A, Schleuss, P-M, Liu, S, Schneider, D, Dippold, MA, de la Haye, T, Miehe, G, Heitkamp, F, Seeber, E, Mason-Jones, KE, Xu, X, Huanming, Y, Xu, J, Dorij, T, Gube, M, Norf, H, Meier, J, Guggenberger, G, Kuzyakov, Y & Spielvogel, S 2022, 'Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation', Nature Communications, vol. 13, 2681. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7

Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation. / Breidenbach, Andreas; Schleuss, Per-Marten; Liu, Shibin; Schneider, Dominik; Dippold, Michaela A.; de la Haye, Tilman; Miehe, Georg; Heitkamp, Felix; Seeber, Elke; Mason-Jones, K.E.; Xu, Xingliang; Huanming, Yang; Xu, Jianchu; Dorij, Tsechoe; Gube, Matthias; Norf, Helge; Meier, Jutta; Guggenberger, Georg; Kuzyakov, Yakov; Spielvogel, Sandra.

In: Nature Communications, Vol. 13, 2681, 2022.

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation

AU - Breidenbach, Andreas

AU - Schleuss, Per-Marten

AU - Liu, Shibin

AU - Schneider, Dominik

AU - Dippold, Michaela A.

AU - de la Haye, Tilman

AU - Miehe, Georg

AU - Heitkamp, Felix

AU - Seeber, Elke

AU - Mason-Jones, K.E.

AU - Xu, Xingliang

AU - Huanming, Yang

AU - Xu, Jianchu

AU - Dorij, Tsechoe

AU - Gube, Matthias

AU - Norf, Helge

AU - Meier, Jutta

AU - Guggenberger, Georg

AU - Kuzyakov, Yakov

AU - Spielvogel, Sandra

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The Tibetan Plateau’s Kobresia pastures store 2.5% of the world’s soil organic carbon (SOC). Climate change and overgrazing render their topsoils vulnerable to degradation, with SOC stocks declining by 42% and nitrogen (N) by 33% at severely degraded sites. We resolved these losses into erosion accounting for two-thirds, and decreased carbon (C) input and increased SOC mineralization accounting for the other third, and confirmed these results by comparison with a meta-analysis of 594 observations. The microbial community responded to the degradation through altered taxonomic composition and enzymatic activities. Hydrolytic enzyme activities were reduced, while degradation of the remaining recalcitrant soil organic matter by oxidative enzymes was accelerated, demonstrating a severe shift in microbial functioning. This may irreversibly alter the world´s largest alpine pastoral ecosystem by diminishing its C sink function and nutrient cycling dynamics, negatively impacting local food security, regional water quality and climate.

AB - The Tibetan Plateau’s Kobresia pastures store 2.5% of the world’s soil organic carbon (SOC). Climate change and overgrazing render their topsoils vulnerable to degradation, with SOC stocks declining by 42% and nitrogen (N) by 33% at severely degraded sites. We resolved these losses into erosion accounting for two-thirds, and decreased carbon (C) input and increased SOC mineralization accounting for the other third, and confirmed these results by comparison with a meta-analysis of 594 observations. The microbial community responded to the degradation through altered taxonomic composition and enzymatic activities. Hydrolytic enzyme activities were reduced, while degradation of the remaining recalcitrant soil organic matter by oxidative enzymes was accelerated, demonstrating a severe shift in microbial functioning. This may irreversibly alter the world´s largest alpine pastoral ecosystem by diminishing its C sink function and nutrient cycling dynamics, negatively impacting local food security, regional water quality and climate.

KW - microbiome

KW - soil

KW - degradation

KW - carbon

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7

DO - 10.1038/s41467-022-30047-7

M3 - Article

VL - 13

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

M1 - 2681

ER -

Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation

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Keywords

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