Natural^(15)N abundance in soils and plants in relation to N cycling in a rangeland in Inner Mongolia

Aims Natural 15N abundance provides integrated information about nitrogen(N)input,transformation and output,indirectly reflecting N cycling traits within terrestrial ecosystems.However,relationships between natural 15N abundance and N cycling processes are poorly understood in China.Here,our primary objectives were to(i)examine the effects of grazing at varying levels of intensity on d15N of soils and plants in a semi-arid grassland;(ii)detect the relationships between d15N of soils and four major N cycling processes(i.e.mineralization,nitrification,denitrification and ammonia volatilization);and(iii)determine whether d15N of soils can be used as an indicator of N cycling in this semi-arid grassland.Methods The field experiment was conducted within the long-term(17-year)grazing enclosures in a semi-arid grassland in Inner Mongolia.Five grazing intensities(0.00,1.33,2.67,4.00 and 5.33 sheep ha
1)were designed.d15N values of topsoils(0–10 cm),surface soils(0–2 cm)and plants were measured in 2006.Differences in d15N of soils and plants between the five grazing intensities were examined.Rates of four soil N cycling processes were measured periodically during the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons.The d15N values of topsoils were linked to the four N cycling processes to investigate their relationships.Important Findings The d15N values of topsoils(5.20–5.96&)were substantially higher than the d15N values of plants(2.51–2.93&)and surface soils(1.44–2.92&)regardless of grazing intensities.The 15N-depleted N losses during microbial decomposition of organic matter in concert with the downward movement of residual substrate over time are the possible causes of higher d15N values in topsoils than in surface soils.In addition,the d15N values of topsoils were positively correlated with the d15N values of both plants and surface soils.Grazing,especially the high-intensity grazing(5.33 sheep ha
1),resulted in a significant decrease in d15N of surface soils.However,no statistically significant variations in d15N of topsoils and plants were found in response to grazing.The d15N values of topsoils exhibited significant dependence on the cumulative rates of NH3 volatilization,net nitrification and denitrification in 2005 but not in 2006.

Priming effect and its regulating factors for fast and slow soil organic carbon pools: A meta-analysis

The priming effect (PE) plays a critical role in the control of soil carbon (C) cycling and influences the alteration of soil organic C (SOC) decomposition by fresh C input.However,drivers of PE for the fast and slow SOC pools remain unclear because of the varying results from individual studies.Using meta-analysis in combination with boosted regression tree (BRT) analysis,we evaluated the relative contribution of multiple drivers of PE with substrate and their patterns across each driver gradient.The results showed that the variability of PE was larger for the fast SOC pool than for the slow SOC pool.Based on the BRT analysis,67%and 34%of the variation in PE were explained for the fast and slow SOC pools,respectively.There were seven determinants of PE for the fast SOC pool,with soil total nitrogen (N) content being the most important,followed by,in a descending order,substrate C:N ratio,soil moisture,soil clay content,soil pH,substrate addition rate,and SOC content.The directions of PE were negative when soil total N content and substrate C:N ratio were below 2 g kg~(-1)and 20,respectively,but the directions changed from negative to positive with increasing levels of this two factors.Soils with optimal water content (50%–70%of the water-holding capacity) or moderately low pH (5–6) were prone to producing a greater PE.For the slow SOC pool,soil p H and soil total N content substantially explained the variation in PE.The magnitude of PE was likely to decrease with increasing soil pH for the slow SOC pool.In addition,the magnitude of PE slightly fluctuated with soil N content for the slow SOC pool.Overall,this meta-analysis provided new insights into the distinctive PEs for different SOC pools and indicated knowledge gaps between PE and its regulating factors for the slow SOC pool.

Drying-rewetting rather than sieving stimulates soil respiration

Dear Editor,Soils contain the largest carbon(C) pool in terrestrial ecosystems.Even a small change in soil C pool may significantly influence atmospheric carbon dioxide(CO_(2)) concentration.Thus,it is critical to accurately assess the response of soil C pool to global change.Soil incubation is a frequently used method to assess soil C decomposition rate because it allows environmental variables to be under control(Unger et al.,2010;Shi and Marschner,2014).However,pre-treatments during soil sampling and processing,such as sieving and drying-rewetting,inevitably bring physical disturbances which may affect soil respiration rate(Franzluebbers,1999;Thomson et al.,2010;Curtin et al.,2014).