title: [Effects of snow pack removal on soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and the number of soil culturable microorganisms during wintertime in alpine Abies faxoniana forest of western Sichuan, Southwest China].
abstract: To understand the effects of the lack of snow pack under global warming on the characteristics of soil microorganisms during wintertime, a snow-shading experiment was conducted in a primary fir (Abies faxoniana) forest after snow pack removal, with the soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN) and soil culturable microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) at the stages of snow forming, snow covering, and snow melting investigated. Snow pack removal had significant effects on the soil MBC and MBN and the number of soil culturable bacteria and fungi, but the responses of the culturable microorganisms differed with the stages of snow-shading. Under the condition of snow pack removal, the MBC and MBN in soil organic layer decreased significantly at the early stages of snow forming and snow melting but increased significantly at snow covering stage and at the later stage of snow melting, and the number of culturable bacteria decreased significantly from the early stage of snow forming to the stage of snow covering while that of culturable fungi had a significant increase from the early stage of snow forming to the stage of snow melting. After snow melting, the MBC and the number of culturable fungi in soil organic layer had a significant decrease, the number of cultural bacteria was in adverse, but the MBN had less change. The MBC and MBN and the number of culturable microorganisms in soil mineral layer had the similar variation trends as those in soil organic layer, but the fluctuations were smaller. It was suggested that snow pack removal changed the ratio of culturable bacteria to culturable fungi, showing positive effects on the number of soil culturable fungi during wintertime in alpine Abies faxoniana forest of western Sichuan.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ecological Forestry Engineering, Institute of Ecological Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China. yyl123150@126.com
authors.forename: Yu-Lian
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Fu-Zhong
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhen-Hua
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Zhen-Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wan-Qin
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D028202:Abies / Q000254:growth & development*; D000531:Altitude; D018533:Biomass; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D057232:Global Warming; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D012621:Seasons; D012914:Snow; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen