title: Divergent Effects of Nitrogen Addition on Soil Respiration in a Semiarid Grassland.
abstract: Nitrogen (N) deposition has been steadily increasing for decades, with consequences for soil respiration. However, we have a limited understanding of how soil respiration responds to N availability. Here, we investigated the soil respiration responses to low and high levels of N addition (0.4 mol N m(-2) yr(-1) vs 1.6 mol N m(-2) yr(-1)) over a two-year period in a semiarid Leymus chinensis grassland in Inner Mongolia, China. Our results show that low-level N addition increased soil respiration, plant belowground biomass and soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), while high-level N additions decreased them. Soil respiration was positively correlated with plant belowground biomass, MBC, soil temperature and soil moisture. Together plant belowground biomass and MBC explained 99.4% of variation in mean soil respiration, with plant belowground biomass explaining 63.4% of the variation and soil MBC explaining the remaining 36%. Finally, the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration was not influenced by N additions. Overall, our results suggest that low levels of N deposition may stimulate soil respiration, but large increases in N availability may decrease soil respiration, and that these responses are driven by the dissimilar responses of both plant belowground biomass and soil MBC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China.|Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Yiping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Department of Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Honghui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: La Pierre
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Science and Technology, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China.
authors.forename: Zewei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.|Department of Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu