SCIENCE@home

Denitrification is the main microbial N loss pathway on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau above an elevation of 5000 m.

Shanyun Wang,Weiyue Liu,Siyan Zhao,Cheng Wang,Linjie Zhuang,Lu Liu,Weidong Wang,Yonglong Lu,Fangbai Li,G. Zhu

Published 2019 in Science of the Total Environment

ABSTRACT

Soil nitrogen (N) deficiency is the major factor contributing to low primary productivity on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. However, most of our understanding of N cycling is still based on human disturbed environments, and the microbial mechanisms governing N loss in low primary productivity environment remain unclear. This study explores three microbial N loss pathways in eight wetland and dryland soil profiles from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, at an elevation of above 5000 m with little human activity, using 15N isotopic tracing slurry technology, quantitative PCR, and high-throughput sequencing. No denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation was detected. Anammox occurred in two of the wetland (n = 4) and dryland (n = 4) soil profiles, while denitrification widely occurred and was the dominant N loss pathway in all samples. Where denitrification and anammox co-occurred, both abundance and activity were higher in wetland than in dryland soils and higher in surface than in subsurface soils. In comparison with non-anammox sites, nitrate levels initiate anammox-related N cycling. High-throughput sequencing and network analysis of nirK, nirS, nosZ, and hzsB gene communities showed that Bradyrhizobiaceae (a family of rhizobia) may play a dominant role in N loss pathways in this region. Given the geological evolution and relatively undisturbed habitat, these findings strongly suggest that denitrification is the dominant N loss pathway in terrestrial habitats of the Qing-Tibet Plateau with minimal anthropogenic activity.

PUBLICATION RECORD

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-86 of 86 references · Page 1 of 1

CITED BY

Showing 1-26 of 26 citing papers · Page 1 of 1