Nitrification Couples Microbial CO2 Fixation to Warming and Drought Responses in Alpine Grassland Soils

Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review

Contributors

  • Yirui Su - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Lianlian Fan - , CAS - Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (Author)
  • Zhengxing Chen - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Xiufeng Tang - , Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University (Author)
  • Jiayi Wang - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Uli Klümper - , Chair of Limnology (Author)
  • Guitao Shi - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Ping Han - , City University of Hong Kong (Author)

Abstract

Microbial CO2 fixation in alpine grassland soils is highly sensitive to warming and drought. Nitrogen inputs from grazing may stimulate autotrophic nitrifiers, including ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). These nitrifiers assimilate carbon through CO2 fixation, but how their activity is associated with microbial CO2 fixation under warming and drought remains unclear. Here, we investigated microbial CO2 fixation and nitrification under altered temperature and moisture using urea-amended soil microcosms with 13CO2 labeling, DNA-stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP), metagenomics, and quantitative PCR. Warming increased CO2 fixation rates to 1.48-2.58 times those at 15 °C under moist conditions, whereas drought reduced it by 59-91%. Nitrification rates were positively correlated with CO2 fixation, whereas the CO2 fixation offset only 1.3-12.1% of associated N2O emissions (measured as CO2 equivalents). DNA-SIP and metagenomics indicated that nitrifiers contributed to microbial CO2 fixation, with AOA showing more pronounced 13C-labeling under combined warming and drought. Co-occurrence network indicated that AOA occupied more highly connected positions than AOB and NOB. This study provides microbial evidence that warming and drought reshape the linkage between nitrification and microbial CO2 fixation in urea-amended alpine grassland soil microcosms, with implications for carbon-nitrogen cycling and greenhouse-gas feedbacks.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20304-20318
Number of pages15
JournalEnvironmental science & technology
Volume60
Issue number29
Early online date14 Jul 2026
Publication statusPublished - 28 Jul 2026
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

unpaywall 10.1021/acs.est.5c17815
Mendeley e6a6ad58-b883-373e-8496-00e524897b76
Scopus 105046276301

Keywords

Keywords

  • CO fixation, DNA-SIP, alpine grassland soil, nitrification, nitrous oxide