Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Carbon and nitrogen limitations of soil microbial biomass in desert ecosystems

  • Published:
Biogeochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Microbial biomass nitrogen was measured in unamended (dry) and wetted soils in ten shrubland and grassland communities of the Chihuahuan desert, southern New Mexico, by the fumigation-extraction method. Microbial biomass-N in dry soils was undetectable. Average microbial biomass-N in wetted soils among all plant communities was 15.3 μg g-1 soil. Highest values were found in the communities with the lowest topographic positions, and the minimum values were detected in the spaces between shrubs. Microbial biomass was positively and significantly correlated to soil organic carbon and extractable nitrogen (NH4 + + NO3 -). In a stepwise multiple regression, organic carbon and extractable nitrogen accounted for 40.9 and 5.6%, respectively, of the variance in microbial biomass-N among all the samples. Among communities, the soil microbial biomass was affected by the ratio of carbon to extractable nitrogen. Our results suggest a succession in the control of microbial biomass from nitrogen to carbon when the ratio of carbon to nitrogen decreases during desertification.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bamforth SS (1984) Microbial distributions in Arizona deserts and woodlands. Soil Biol. Biochem. 16: 133–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonde TA, Schnurer J & Rosswall T (1988) Microbial biomass as a fraction of potentially mineralizable nitrogen in soils from long-term field experiments. Soil Biol. Biochem. 20: 447–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bottner P (1985) Response of microbial biomass to alternate moist and dry conditions in a soil incubated with14C and15N-labelled plant material. Soil Biol. Biochem. 19: 83–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Bran & Luebbe (1986) Nitrate, Industrial Method 782–86T. Bran & Luebbe Analyzing Technologies, Elmsford

    Google Scholar 

  • Breman H & de Wit CT (1983) Rangeland productivity and exploitation in the Sahel. Science 221: 1341–1347

    Google Scholar 

  • Brookes PC, Landman A, Pruden G & Jenkinson DS (1985) Chloroform fumigation and the release of soil nitrogen; a rapid direct extraction method to measure microbial biomass nitrogen in soil. Soil Biol. Biochem. 17:837–842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buffington LC & Herbel CH (1965) Vegetational changes on a semidesert grassland range from 1858 to 1963. Ecol. Monog. 35: 139–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke IC, Reiners WA & Schimel DS (1989) Organic matter turnover in a sagebrush steppe landscape. Biogeochemistry 7: 11–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calder EA (1957) Features of nitrate accumulation in Uganda soil. J. Soil Sci. 8: 60–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D'Elia CF, Steudler PA & Corwin N (1977) Determination of total nitrogen in aqueous samples using persulfate digestion. Limnol. Oceanogr. 22: 760–764

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher FM, Zak JC, Cunningham GL & Whitford WG (1988) Water and nitrogen effects on growth and allocation patterns of creosotebush in the northern Chihuahuan Desert. J. Range Manag. 41: 387–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher FM, Parker LW, Anderson JP & Whitford WG (1987) Nitrogen mineralization in a desert soil: interacting effects of soil moisture and nitrogen fertilizer. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 51: 1033–1041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallardo A & Schlesinger WH (1990) Estimating microbial biomass nitrogen using the fumigation-incubation and fumigation-extraction methods in a warm-temperate forest soil. Soil Biol. Biochem. 22: 927–932

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gregorich EG, Voroney RP & Kachanoski RG (1991) Turnover of carbon through the microbial biomass in soils with different textures. Soil Biol. Biochem. 23: 799–805

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harris RF (1981) Effect of water potential on microbial growth and activity. In: Parr JF, Gardner WR & Elliot LF (Eds) Water Potential Relation in Soil Microbiology (pp 23–95).Soil Science Society of America,Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Hook PB, Burke IC & Lauenroth WK (1991) Heterogeneity of soil and plant N and C associated with individual plants and openings in North American shortgrass steppe. Plant Soil 138: 247–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Insam H, Parkinson D & Domsch KH (1989) Influence of macroclimate on soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol. Biochem. 21: 211–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Insam H (1990) Are the soil microbial biomass and basal respiration governed by the climatic regime? Soil Biol. Biochem. 22: 525–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson LE, Schimel JP & Firestone MK (1989) Short-term partitioning of ammonium and nitrate between plants and microbes in an annual grassland. Soil Biol. Biochem. 21: 409–415

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkinson DS & Ladd JN (1981) Microbial biomass in soil: Measurement and turnover. In: Paul EA & Ladd JN (Eds) Soil Biochemistry, vol. 5 (pp 415–471). Marcel Dekker, New York

  • Kieft TL, Soroker E & Firestone MK (1987) Microbial biomass response to a rapid increase in water potential when dry soil is rewetted. Soil Biol. Biochem. 19: 119–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lajtha K & Schlesinger WH (1986) Plant response to variations in nitrogen availability in a desert shrubland ecosystem. Biogeochemistry 2: 29–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lajtha K & Schlesinger WH (1988) The biogeochemistry of phosphorus and phosphorus availability along a desert soil chronosequence. Ecology 69: 24–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Livingston G, Vitousek PM & Matson PA (1988) Nitrous oxide fluxes and nitrogen transformation across a landscape gradient in Amazonia. J. Geophys. Res. 93: 1593–1599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marumoto T, Anderson JPE & Domsch KH (1982) Mineralization of nutrients from soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol. Biochem. 14: 469–475

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzarino MJ, Oliva L, Abril A & Acosta M (1991) Factors affecting nitrogen dynamics in a semiarid woodland (Dry Chaco, Argentina). Plant Soil 138: 85–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterjohn WT (1990) Nitrogen Loss from Desert Ecosystems in the Southwestern United States. PhD Dissertation, Department of Botany, Duke University

  • Ross DJ (1987) Soil microbial biomass estimated by the fumigation-incubation procedure: seasonal fluctuations and influence of soil moisture content. Soil Biol. Biochem. 19: 397–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rostagno CM (1989) Infiltration and sediment production as affected by soil surface conditions in a shrubland of Patagonia, Argentina. J. Range Manag. 42: 382–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheu S (1990) Changes in microbial nutrient status during secondary succession and its modification by earthworms. Oecologia 84: 351–358

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger WH, Reynolds JF, Cunningham GL, Huenneke LF, Jarrell WM, Virginia RA & Whitford WG (1990) Biological feedbacks in global desertification. Science 247: 1043–1048

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnurer J, Clarholm M, Bostrom S & Rosswall T (1986) Effects of moisture on soil microorganisms and nematodes: a field experiment. Microb. Ecol. 12: 217–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharifi MR, Meinzer FC, Nilsen ET, Rundel PW, Virginia RA, Jarrell WM, Herman DJ & Clark PC (1988) Effect of manipulation of water and nitrogen supplies on the quantitative phenology ofLarrea tridentata (creosote bush) in the Sonoran desert of California. Am. J. Bot. 75: 1163–1174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh JS, Raghubanshi AS, Singh RS & Srivastava SC (1989) Microbial biomass acts as a source of plant nutrients in dry tropical forest and savanna. Nature 338: 499–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Statistical Graphics System (1991) Statgraphics. Version 5.0. Statistical Graphics Corporation, Rockville

  • Stevenson FJ (1986) Cycles of the Soil. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Tiessen H, Stewart JWB & Bettany JR (1982) Cultivation effects on the amounts and concentration of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in grassland soils. Agron. J. 74: 831–835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Veen JA, Ladd JN & Frissel MJ (1984) Modelling C and N turnover through the microbial biomass in soil. Plant Soil 76: 257–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virginia RA & Jarrell WM (1983) Soil properties in a mesquite-dominated Sonoran Desert ecosystem. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 47: 138–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM & Matson PA (1984) Mechanisms of nitrogen retention in forest ecosystems: a field experiment. Science 225: 51–52

    Google Scholar 

  • Voroney RP & Paul EA (1984) Determination of kc and kn in situ for calibration of the chloroform fumigation-incubation method. Soil Biol. Biochem. 16: 9–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle DA & Parkinson D (1990) Interactions between microclimatic variables and the soil microbial biomass. Biol. & Fert. Soils 9: 273–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wierenga PJ, Hendricx JMH, Nash MH, Ludwig J & Daugherty LA (1987) Variation of soil and vegetation with distance along a transect in the Chihuahuan desert. J. Arid Environ. 13: 53–63

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Antonio Gallardo

    Present address: Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27706, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidad of Sevilla, Apdo. 1095, 41080, Sevilla, Spain

    Antonio Gallardo

  2. Departments of Botany and Geology, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27706, USA

    William H. Schlesinger

Authors
  1. Antonio Gallardo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. William H. Schlesinger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gallardo, A., Schlesinger, W.H. Carbon and nitrogen limitations of soil microbial biomass in desert ecosystems. Biogeochemistry 18, 1–17 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00000423

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00000423

Key words

Search

Navigation