Abstract
As a global pollution, acid rain can significantly alter soil physicochemical and biochemical processes, but our knowledge of how acid rain affects soil enzyme activity is still limited. To quantify the overall magnitude and direction of the response of soil enzyme activity to acid rain, we conducted a linear mixed model–based meta-analysis of 40 articles. Our analysis revealed that acid rain decreased enzyme activity by an average of 4.87%. Soil dehydrogenase and protease activities were particularly sensitive to acid rain, with significant inhibitions observed. The effect of acid rain was moderated by acid rain intensity (i.e., H+ addition rate, total H+ added, and acid rain pH) and soil fraction (i.e., rhizosphere and bulk soil). Structural equation modelling further revealed that acid rain suppressed soil microbial biomass by acidifying the soil and that the reduction in microbial biomass directly led to the inhibition of enzyme activity in bulk soil. However, the enzyme activity in the rhizosphere soil was not affected by acid rain due to the rhizosphere effect, which was also not impacted by the decreased soil pH induced by acid rain in rhizosphere. Our study gives an insight into how bulk soil enzyme activity is impacted by acid rain and highlights the need to incorporate rhizosphere processes into acid rain-terrestrial ecosystem models.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all the researchers whose studies were included in this meta-analysis.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers U1701236, 32071641), the Joint Project of Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agriculture (grant number NT2021010). Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province of China (grant number 2019B030301007), and Special Funds for the Cultivation of Guangdong College Students’ Scientific and Technological Innovation (grant number pdjh 2020b0092).
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Shi, Z., Zhang, J., Zhang, H. et al. Response and driving factors of soil enzyme activity related to acid rain: a meta-analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 105072–105083 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29585-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-29585-4