Responses of soil microbial communities to experimental warming in alpine grasslands on the qinghai-tibet plateau.

ABSTRACT: Global surface temperature is predicted to increase by at least 1.5°C by the end of this century. However, the response of soil microbial communities to global warming is still poorly understood, especially in high-elevation grasslands. We therefore conducted an experiment on three types of alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to study the effect of experimental warming on abundance and composition of soil microbial communities at 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths. Plots were passively warmed for 3 years using open-top chambers and compared to adjacent control plots at ambient temperature. Soil microbial communities were assessed using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. We found that 3 years of experimental warming consistently and significantly increased microbial biomass at the 0-

SUBMITTER: Zhang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4118913 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature