Distribution of exogenous nitrogen fractions and their fate in moss-dominated biological soil crusts

doi:10.13287/j.1001-9332.202008.024

Abstract

Abstract: Nitrogen (N) labeled with ¹⁵N was evenly added into plots of moss-dominated biological soil crusts (BSCs) and bare soil on the Chinese Loess Plateau. After that, the surface BSCs and bare soil samples were continuously collected within 1-30 days. The ¹⁵N content of each N fraction in soil, microorganisms, and mosses was measured for each sample. The effects of BSCs on soil N fate and cycling was determined through analyzing the differences in the distribution of ¹⁵N fractions between the BSCs and bare soil. Our results showed that: 1) The ¹⁵N content of total N (TN), microbial biomass N (MBN), and dissolved organic N (DON) in the BSCs was 2.9, 17.5, and 9.0 times higher than that in the bare soil, respectively. The ¹⁵N content of moss plants in the BSCs was 4.73 mg kg^-1. 2) The residual rate of ¹⁵N in the BSCs and bare soil was 13.0% and 3.3%, respectively, indicating that the N fixing and holding ability of BSCs was four times higher than that of bare soil. The percentage of each ¹⁵N fraction in T¹⁵N in the BSCs was in the order of MBN (54.3%)>moss plant N (22.5%)>DON (6.2%), while that in the bare soil was in the order of MBN (11.5%)>DON (2.6%). Over all, microorganisms and mosses in the BSCs had 65.3% higher capacity of N fixation as compared with the bare soil. 3) The transferred amount and storage capacity of MB¹⁵N in the BSCs were 17.2 and 20.5 times higher than that in the bare soil, respectively. Accordingly, the turnover rate of MB¹⁵N in the BSCs and bare soil was 5.8 and 7.2 times per month, respectively, with the turnover time of MB¹⁵N in the BSCs being 1.2 times longer than that in bare soil. In conclusion, BSCs fix and hold more N than bare soil and change the distribution of each N fraction, implying that BSCs play a critical role in N cycling in dryland ecosystems.

Key words: biological soil crusts, stable isotope tracer, total nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen, dissolved organic nitrogen, nitrogen turnover rate

YAO Xiao-meng, XIAO Bo, WANG Guo-peng, LI Sheng-long, TIAN Le-le, SUN Fu-hai. Distribution of exogenous nitrogen fractions and their fate in moss-dominated biological soil crusts[J]. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 2020, 31(8): 2653-2662.

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