Understanding microbial community dynamics in high-altitude soils of the Tibetan Plateau
The project will assess aspects of global change on the overall microbial community in general and the nitrifier community in particular in high-altitude soils on the Tibetan plateau. Long-term experiments run by the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, at the field stations near Nagchu will serve as a basis. Impacts of plant species removal and nitrogen deposition on the soil bacterial communities will be analyzed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Impacts of plant community changes due to global warming (decline of Kobresia pygmea (C.B. Clarke)) and increase in N fertilization will be assessed in respect to changes in the overall microbial community and the nitrifier community in particular. Changes in the microbial and nitrifier community composition will be assessed by next-generation amplicon sequencing of selected target genes (16S rRNA gene, amoA genes).