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Interactions of plant species mediated plant competition for inorganic nitrogen with soil microorganisms in an alpine meadow

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Abstract

Sources of competition for limited soil resources, such as nitrogen, include competitive interactions among different plant species and between plants and soil microbes. We hypothesized that plant interactions intensified plant competition for inorganic nitrogen with soil microorganisms. To test these competitive interactions, one dominant species (Kobresia humilis Serg) and one less abundant gramineous herb (Elymus nutans Griseb) in an alpine ecosystem were selected as target species to grow under interactions with their neighboring plants and without interaction treatments in field plots. 15N-labeled ammonium and nitrate were used to quantify their partition between plants and soil microorganisms for 48 h after tracer additions. Responses of K. humilis to interactions from their surrounding plants were negative, while those of E. nutans were positive. Species identity, inorganic nitrogen forms, and plant interactions significantly affected the total amount of nitrogen utilization by soil microorganisms and plants. Although plant interactions have negative effects on nitrogen uptake of K. humilis, there is an increase in microbial immobilization of nitrogen under presence of its neighbors. For E. nutans, facilitation from surrounding plants is in favor of their nitrogen uptake. Compared with K. humilis, competition for \( ^{{15}} {\text{N}} - {\text{NO}}^{ - }_{3} \) and \( ^{{15}} {\text{N}} - {\text{NH}}^{ + }_{4} \) was less intensive between E. nutans and microorganisms. \( ^{{15}} {\text{N}} - {\text{NH}}^{ + }_{4} \) recovery by soil microorganisms and plants were not more than or much lower than their utilization of \( ^{{15}} {\text{N}} - {\text{NO}}^{ - }_{3} \) under different interaction treatments. These results suggested that the partitioning of inorganic nitrogen between plants and soil microorganisms is mediated by plant–plant interactions and interactions between plants and soil microorganisms.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate Dr. Martin Werth, from Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, University of Hohenheim, Germany, for his meticulous work in improving the language usage of our manuscript. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (30600070), and the National Basic Research program of China (Grant no.2005CB422005), and the Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX3-SW-339-04). Our experiments were performed in accordance with the current laws of our country.

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  1. Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road A 11, Beijing, Chaoyang District, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Minghua Song, Xingliang Xu, Qiwu Hu, Yuqiang Tian, Hua Ouyang & Caiping Zhou

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  1. Minghua Song
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Correspondence to Minghua Song.

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Song, M., Xu, X., Hu, Q. et al. Interactions of plant species mediated plant competition for inorganic nitrogen with soil microorganisms in an alpine meadow. Plant Soil 297, 127–137 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9326-1

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