Journal of Resources and Ecology ›› 2019, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (1): 69-76.DOI: 10.5814/j.issn.1674-764X.2019.01.009

• Orginal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A Meta-analysis of the Effects of Warming and Elevated CO2 on Soil Microbes

FU Gang1, ZHANG Haorui1,2, LI Shaowei1, SUN Wei1,*()   

  1. 1. Lhasa Plateau Ecosystem Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2018-06-05 Accepted:2018-09-12 Online:2019-01-28 Published:2019-01-28
  • Contact: SUN Wei
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (31600432, 41571042);The National Key Research Projects of China (2017YFA0604801);The Youth Innovation Research Team Project of Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling (LENOM2016Q0002);Chinese Academy of Science Western Light Talents Program (Response of livestock carrying capability to climatic change and grazing in the alpine meadow of Northern Tibetan Plateau) and Tibet Science and Technology Major Projects of Pratacultural Industry.

Abstract:

Soil microbes play important roles in terrestrial ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycling. Climatic warming and elevated CO2 are two aspects of climatic change. In this study, we used a meta-analysis approach to synthesise observations related to the effects of warming and elevated CO2 on soil microbial biomass and community structure. Ecosystem types were mainly grouped into forests and grasslands. Warming methods included open top chambers and infrared radiators. Experimental settings included all-day warming, daytime warming and nighttime warming. Warming increased soil actinomycetes and saprotrophic fungi, while elevated CO2 decreased soil gram-positive bacteria (G+). Mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation were negatively correlated with warming effects on gram-negative bacteria (G-) and total phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), respectively. Elevation was positively correlated with the warming effect on total PLFA, bacteria, G+ and G-. Grassland exhibited a positive response of total PLFA and actinomycetes to warming, while forest exhibited a positive response in the ratio of soil fungi to bacteria (F/B ratio) to warming. The open top chamber method increased G-, while the infrared radiator method decreased the F/B ratio. Daytime warming rather than all-day warming increased G-. Our findings indicated that the effects of warming on soil microbes differed with ecosystem types, warming methods, warming times, elevation and local climate conditions.

Key words: ecosystem types, elevated CO2, increased temperature, response ratio, warming methods