Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Hao Chen, Chang Yin, Xiaoping Fan, Mujun Ye, Yongchao Liang
Summary: The study found that adding straw can cause positive PE through microbial co-metabolism, and long-term addition of phosphorus fertilizer significantly increased PE, mainly mediated by fungal families Chaetomiaceae and Myrmecridiaceae, accompanied by enhanced microbial biomass carbon, extracellular enzyme activities, and bacterial gene abundance.
APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Wenkuan Qin, Jiguang Feng, Qiufang Zhang, Xia Yuan, Huakun Zhou, Biao Zhu
Summary: Nitrogen and phosphorus addition can significantly alter the direction and intensity of priming effect, which affects carbon turnover in grasslands. In alpine meadows, nitrogen addition increases the intensity of priming effect, while phosphorus addition decreases it. This discrepancy may be related to the decrease in nitrogen availability and stronger microbial C/N imbalance induced by phosphorus. No significant effect of NP addition on priming effect intensity was observed. These findings support the stoichiometric decomposition hypothesis.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2024)
Article
Soil Science
Jiguang Feng, Biao Zhu
Summary: Nutrient additions, particularly nitrogen and nitrogen plus phosphorus, have significant impacts on priming effect in soil organic matter decomposition, typically reducing the effect, while phosphorus addition has minimal effect. The response varies with ecosystem, experiment type, and carbon substrate category.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Jiguang Feng, Biao Zhu
Summary: Priming effect is critical in soil organic matter decomposition and carbon cycling, influenced by nutrient availability. Studies show that nutrient addition impacts PE, but calculations for these effects vary. Inconsistencies in calculating PEnutrient may affect the interpretation of how nutrient addition affects PE.
Article
Soil Science
Xiaohong Wang, Jiayu Lu, Xiuwei Zhang, Peng Wang
Summary: The study found that the effect of nitrogen addition on soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition depends on temperature, indicating the possible existence of two mechanisms: microbial nitrogen mining hypothesis and microbial nitrogen demand hypothesis.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Ying Shen, Dashuan Tian, Jihua Hou, Jinsong Wang, Ruiyang Zhang, Zhaolei Li, Xinli Chen, Xuehong Wei, XinYu Zhang, Yicheng He, Shuli Niu
Summary: This study found that acid addition consistently reduced litter decomposition rate, regardless of nutrient addition or litter types. Soil acidification in temperate forests was shown to decelerate litter decomposition independently of soil nutrient availability and litter types. In the future, intensifying soil acidification due to continuous nitrogen deposition may lead to a reduction in litter nutrient return to soil, potentially causing multiple soil nutrient limitations.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Songyu Yang, Gerrit Angst, Katerina Jandova, Jaroslav Kukla, Travis B. Meador, Eric Paterson, Veronika Jilkova
Summary: The effects of root litter on soil organic carbon turnover in temperate coniferous forests are not well understood. This study found that different sources and chemical compositions of root litter have different controlling effects on soil organic carbon turnover: soluble fractions mainly influence the early stage, while insoluble fractions mainly influence the later stage. Additionally, the decomposition rate of the deep carbon pool in the soil was found to be controlled by belowground root inputs.
Review
Agronomy
Deepranjan Sarkar, Amitava Rakshit, Ahmad Al-Turki, R. Z. Sayyed, Rahul Datta
Summary: The increasing demand for qualitative and varietal foods poses a challenge in energy production and utilization, requiring alternative strategies for improving resource use efficiency in agriculture. Microbial intervention shows potential for enhancing nutrient use efficiency in crops and the shift towards consortium approaches is crucial for efficient rhizosphere engineering in sustainable agriculture.
Article
Ecology
Michael Opoku Adomako, Wei Xue, Dao-Lin Du, Fei-Hai Yu
Summary: The presence of soil microbes can significantly increase plant biomass under different N:P ratios and nutrient levels. The effect of soil microbes on plant performance in response to N:P ratios depends on nutrient availability, suggesting that soil microbes play a role in modulating ecosystem functions by modulating nutrient imbalances caused by varying N:P ratios.
Review
Agronomy
Ruzhen Wang, Jiayu Lu, Yong Jiang, Feike A. Dijkstra
Summary: In this study, the authors expanded the conceptual framework of carbon allocation for nutrient acquisition in plants by introducing a new parameter called carbon efficiency for nutrient acquisition (CENA). They found that CENA increases with higher nutrient availability, but reaches a plateau when the availability of one nutrient increases at the expense of another. The relationship between CENA and mycorrhizal plants may differ from non-mycorrhizal plants, with CENA potentially being higher in mycorrhizal plants under low nutrient availability. Additionally, the CENA of nitrogen-fixing plants is independent of soil nitrogen availability but increases with soil phosphorus availability. The researchers conclude that these updated frameworks provide a better understanding of how plants optimize belowground carbon allocation for nutrient acquisition under varying nutrient availability conditions.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hongliang Wu, Andong Cai, Wenxu Dong, Tingting Xing, Minggang Xu, Changai Lu
Summary: The combined addition of straw and N, P, and S improved Net-C by alleviating microbial nutrient limitation and improving CUE. The acquisition enzyme of P, P availability, and soil properties (pH or clay content) played a key role in this process.
JOURNAL OF SOILS AND SEDIMENTS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Tingting Sun, Yugang Wang, Yifei Guo, Xin Jing, Wenting Feng
Summary: Understanding soil microbial resource limitation is important for belowground nutrient cycling, and climate plays a primary role in regulating microbial resource limitation. In this study, the elevational patterns of microbial carbon (C) and nutrient (P:N) limitations were examined in the Tianshan Mountain. It was found that microbial C limitation decreased and microbial P:N limitation increased with increasing elevation, contrary to the latitudinal patterns. Soil microclimate and resource were identified as important factors in regulating microbial C and P:N limitation along the elevational gradient.
Article
Soil Science
Futao Zhang, Xi Chen, Qianqian Wang, Yueling Zhang, Shuihong Yao, Bin Zhang
Summary: Fresh organic inputs can stimulate the decomposition of soil organic matter and the release of soil mineral N. However, the impact of soil mineral N change on this process is still uncertain. This study investigated the changes in microbial biomass, enzyme activities, and soil mineral N after glucose addition, and found complex responses in the soil.
BIOLOGY AND FERTILITY OF SOILS
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Blessing Mhlanga, Elisa Pellegrino, Christian Thierfelder, Laura Ercoli
Summary: Conservation agriculture can increase crop productivity sustainably, but the implementation of its three main components is challenging in Southern Africa. Research analyzing component omission experiments revealed the significant impact of soil chemical properties and crop nutrient uptake on maize yield, suggesting a holistic approach to cropping system assessment.
FIELD CROPS RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Yaowen Xu, Runxia Huang, Benzhi Zhou, Xiaogai Ge
Summary: Plant fine-root decomposition is a key process for nutrient reentry into the soil. Previous studies have focused on major elements, with limited attention given to trace elements. This study investigated the decomposition dynamics of 10 mineral elements during fine-root decomposition in moso bamboo. Results showed that root diameter and decomposition time significantly affected the remaining percentages of certain elements.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Qiufang Zhang, Jiguang Feng, Jian Li, Ching-Yu Huang, Yawen Shen, Weixin Cheng, Biao Zhu
Summary: This study combines two experiments and a meta-analysis to investigate the priming effect (PE) of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its relationship with SOC stability. The results show that the PE increases with the prolongation of soil preincubation, indicating that stable SOC is more vulnerable to PE compared to labile SOC. The meta-analysis supports this finding and reveals that soil C availability plays a crucial role in regulating the difference in PE between labile and stable SOC. These findings highlight the importance of considering the vulnerability of stable SOC to priming in future studies on SOC cycling and global change.
Article
Ecology
Lijuan Sun, Yuki Tsujii, Tianle Xu, Mengguang Han, Rui Li, Yunfeng Han, Dayong Gan, Biao Zhu
Summary: Tree roots have both positive and negative effects on microbial decomposition and nutrient availability in the surrounding soils. These effects vary among species and depend on the specific nutrient cycling in the bulk soils. The understanding of these rhizosphere effects is important for understanding plant adaptation and coexistence with other species.
Article
Soil Science
Ying Chen, Mengguang Han, Xia Yuan, Huakun Zhou, Xinquan Zhao, Joshua P. Schimel, Biao Zhu
Summary: Soils in alpine ecosystems store a large amount of carbon. Long-term warming has been found to lead to significant loss of surface soil carbon (mostly in the mineral-associated heavy fraction) in an alpine shrubland. This loss is likely due to the suppression of the microbial (particularly fungal) pathway to soil carbon formation and/or stimulating the utilization of stable soil carbon (i.e. heavy fraction) by microbes.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Soil Science
Jungang Chen, Biao Zhu, Yunhai Zhang
Summary: The overuse of antibiotics has caused serious concerns worldwide as it may lead to significant changes in soil microbial communities, thereby threatening soil ecosystems. However, the effects of antibiotics on soil microbial biomass and community structure on a global scale are still unclear. Using 66 paired observations, we conducted one of the first global meta-analyses to evaluate the effects of various antibiotics on soil microbial communities and explore the underlying mechanisms. Our findings show that antibiotics suppressed soil microbial biomass, bacterial biomass, and fungal biomass, with the ratio of bacteria to fungi biomass decreasing for all antibiotic types. The negative effects of antibiotics on soil microbial community and bacteria biomass diminished over time, and the response of bacteria biomass to antibiotics varied with latitude, regulated by temperature, precipitation, soil pH, and total nitrogen.
APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Peng Tian, Shengen Liu, Biao Zhu, Qingkui Wang
Summary: By conducting a laboratory experiment and a meta-analysis, this study investigated the priming effect (PE) of soil organic matter mineralization and its response to nitrogen (N) amendment in temperate forests in China and across global forests. The study found weak dependence of PE on latitude and mean annual temperature in Chinese temperate forests, but significant dependence of PE on mean annual temperature across global forests. Soil pH was shown to control the geographic patterns of PE. The study also revealed the inhibitory effect of N addition on PE in both the laboratory experiment and the meta-analysis, with a negative correlation between N inhibition effect and mean annual temperature in the laboratory experiment.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yongxing Cui, Shushi Peng, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Matthias C. Rillig, Cesar Terrer, Biao Zhu, Xin Jing, Ji Chen, Jinquan Li, Jiao Feng, Yue He, Linchuan Fang, Daryl L. Moorhead, Robert L. Sinsabaugh, Josep Penuelas
Summary: This study provides the first global estimates of soil microbial carbon limitation, challenging the conventional hypothesis of ubiquitous C limitation. It also highlights the importance of plant litter as a dominant carbon source for microbial acquisition and the significant influence of latitudinal patterns on predicted carbon limitation.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Xiaohong Wang, Shiyining Li, Biao Zhu, Peter M. Homyak, Guangshui Chen, Xiaodong Yao, Dongmei Wu, Zhijie Yang, Maokui Lyu, Yusheng Yang
Summary: The effects of nitrogen deposition on the soil priming effect in tropical forests are dependent on the availability of phosphorus. Nitrogen deposition enhances phosphorus limitation, inhibiting the soil priming effect. However, the addition of phosphorus can partially reverse this inhibition, especially for cellulose.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jiguang Feng, Yanjun Song, Biao Zhu
Summary: Phosphorus deposition can stimulate plant carbon inputs and microbial carbon outputs. The effects of P enrichment on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. A meta-analysis of 642 SOC observations from 213 P addition experiments worldwide revealed that P addition increased SOC by 4.0%, mainly in forest and cropland. The response of SOC was correlated with aboveground plant biomass rather than belowground biomass, and factors such as plant N fixation status and mean annual temperature were important predictors for SOC responses to P addition.
Article
Agronomy
Tianle Xu, Yawen Shen, Zongju Ding, Biao Zhu
Summary: Microbial communities play a crucial role in regulating soil carbon and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. Understanding the seasonal variations of microbial diversity and composition in rhizosphere and bulk soils is important for further understanding the carbon and nutrient cycling in temperate forest ecosystems.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Rui Yin, Wenkuan Qin, Xudong Wang, Hongyang Zhao, Zhenhua Zhang, Biao Zhu
Summary: This study examined the effects of temperature and invertebrate fauna on litter carbon and nutrient turnover in alpine meadows. The results showed that warming increased litter cellulose degradation and the presence of invertebrate fauna led to higher loss of nitrogen and lignin from litter. The release rates of all litter chemical components were faster in the warm season. These findings highlight the importance of considering the role of invertebrate fauna in litter decay patterns and the potential impacts on carbon and nutrient cycling in alpine ecosystems under ongoing warming.
Article
Soil Science
Yongxiang Yu, Juan Wang, Xinhui Liu, Danni Wang, Tida Ge, Yaying Li, Biao Zhu, Huaiying Yao
Summary: Biodegradable microplastics have the potential to affect the loss of soil inorganic carbon in calcareous soils. The presence of biodegradable microplastics inhibited the release of CO2 from 13C-labeled carbonate, and showed correlations with soil pH and certain microbial functional genes.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Qiufang Zhang, Wenkuan Qin, Jiguang Feng, Xiaojie Li, Zhenhua Zhang, Jin-Sheng He, Joshua P. Schimel, Biao Zhu
Summary: The paucity of investigations on carbon dynamics in soils with warming makes it difficult to evaluate the feedback of terrestrial carbon to climate change. In this study, the researchers examined microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) in an alpine grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and found that CUE decreased with soil depth, primarily controlled by soil carbon availability. However, experimental warming had limited effects on microbial CUE and soil carbon availability.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Xiaojie Li, Qiufang Zhang, Jiguang Feng, Demeng Jiang, Biao Zhu
Summary: This study reveals that forest management intervention significantly reduces soil organic carbon (SOC) content in Guangxi, Southern China, primarily through the decrease of particulate organic carbon (POC). Root input and microbial properties together regulate the dynamics of soil POC during forest management.
