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Nonlinear decoupling of autotrophic and heterotrophic soil respiration in response to drought duration and N addition in a meadow steppe

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Abstract

Soil respiration (SRTOT) and its main components, soil heterotrophic (SRH) and autotrophic respiration (SRA), were monitored in response to within-season drought events of increasing duration and soil N enrichment in a semiarid meadow steppe. The experiment consisted of the combination of five drought periods (0 days, 15 days, 30 days, 45 days, and 60 days) and two N addition levels (0 and 10 g N m−2 year−1 applied as urea). Soil respiration decreased after 30 days of drought, with the response being driven by soil heterotrophs. Moreover, N addition increased the sensitivity of soil respiration to soil water content, which we attributed to greater plant C inputs and soil microbial C and N content in the N addition treatment. Our results highlight the role of SRH as a key regulator of C fluxes in nutrient-poor semiarid meadow steppe in response to extreme within-season drought and the role of soil N availability in modulating this response.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0500602), National Natural Science Foundation of China (31570470, 31870456), and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities (B16011). BM’s stay at UNM was supported by China Scholarship Council (CSC). R.O.-H. is financially supported by the Ramón y Cajal program from the Spanish MICIU (RYC-2017 22032) and projects (PID2019-106004RA-I00). ). S.L.C. was partially supported by NSF DEB-1856383.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Vegetation Ecology, Ministry of Education, Institute of Grassland Science, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, Jilin Province, China

    Bo Meng, Junqin Li, Yuan Yao, Xuechen Yang & Wei Sun

  2. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Bo Meng & Scott L. Collins

  3. Department of Biology, IVAGRO, University of Cádiz, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario (ceiA3), Campus del Rio San Pedro, 11510, Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain

    Raúl Ochoa-Hueso

  4. Grassland Agri-Husbandry Research Center, College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 255109, China

    Shangzhi Zhong

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  1. Bo Meng
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  2. Raúl Ochoa-Hueso
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  3. Junqin Li
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  4. Shangzhi Zhong
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  5. Yuan Yao
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  6. Xuechen Yang
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  8. Wei Sun
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Contributions

BM and WS designed the experiment. BM, JL, SZ, YY and XY performed the field and laboratory work. BM and ROH analyzed the data. BM, ROH, and WS wrote the manuscript. SLC provided valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei Sun.

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Meng, B., Ochoa-Hueso, R., Li, J. et al. Nonlinear decoupling of autotrophic and heterotrophic soil respiration in response to drought duration and N addition in a meadow steppe. Biol Fertil Soils 57, 281–291 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-020-01524-2

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