Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 660, Issue -, Pages 260-268Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.040
Keywords
(semi-)Natural vegetation; Climate change; Hydrolytic enzymes; FACE; Soil aggregates
Categories
Funding
- European Commission [663830-BU-048]
- Welsh Government
- Higher Education Funding Council for Wales through the Ser Cymru National Research Network for LowCarbon, Energy and Environment
- NERC [ceh020015] Funding Source: UKRI
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Reduced belowground carbon (C) allocation by plants exposed to ozone may change properties and activities of the microbial community in soils. To investigate how soil microbial biomass and extracellular enzyme activities respond to elevated ozone, we collected soils from a temperate grassland after four years of ozone exposure under fully open-air field conditions. We measured soil microbial biomass, the metabolism of low molecular weight C substrates and hydrolytic extracellular enzyme activities in both bulk soil and isolated aggregates to assess changes in microbial activity and community function. After four years of elevated ozone treatment, soil total organic C was reduced by an average of 20% compared with ambient condition. Elevated ozone resulted in a small but insignificant reduction (4-10%) in microbial biomass in both bulk soil and isolated aggregates. Activities of extracellular enzymes were generally not affected by elevated ozone, except beta-glucosidase, whose activity in bulk soil was significantly lower under elevated ozone than ambient condition. Activities of beta-glucosidase, leucine aminopeptidase and acid phosphatase were higher in microaggregates (<0.25 mm) as compared to macro-aggregates (>0.25 mm). Elevated ozone had no effects on mineralization rates of low molecular weight C substrates in both bulk soil and isolated aggregates. We therefore conclude that the size and activity rather than function of the soil microbial community in this semi-natural grassland are altered by elevated ozone. (c) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available