Microbial Functional Responses Explain Alpine Soil Carbon Fluxes under Future Climate Scenarios
Qi Qi, Haowei Yue, Zhenhua Zhang, Joy D. Van Nostrand, Linwei Wu, Xue Guo, Jiajie Feng, Mengmeng Wang, Sihang Yang, Jianshu Zhao, Qun Gao, Qiuting Zhang, Mengxin Zhao, Chang-Yi Xie, Zhiyuan Ma, Jin He, Haiyan Chu, Yi Huang, Jizhong Zhou, Yunfeng Yang
Abstract
The warming pace in the Tibetan Plateau, which is predominantly occupied by grassland ecosystems, has been 0.2°C per decade in recent years, dwarfing the rate of global warming by a factor of 2. Many Earth system models project substantial carbon sequestration in Tibet, which has been observed. Here, we analyzed microbial communities under projected climate changes by 2100. As the soil "carbon pump," the growth and activity of microorganisms can largely influence soil carbon dynamics. However, microbial gene response to future climate scenarios is still obscure. We showed that the abundances of microbial functional genes, but not microbial taxonomy, were correlated with carbon fluxes and ecosystem multifunctionality. By identifying microbial traits linking to ecosystem functioning, our results can guide the assessment of future soil carbon fluxes in alpine grasslands, a critical step toward mitigating climate changes.