Microbial mechanisms regulate soil organic carbon mineralization under carbon with varying levels of nitrogen addition in the above-treeline ecosystem.

Climate change is leading to the upward migration of treelines in mountainous regions, resulting in changes to the carbon and nitrogen inputs in soils. The impact of these alterations on the microbial mineralization of the existing soil organic carbon (SOC) pool remains uncertain, making it challenging to anticipate their effects on the carbon balance. To enhance our prediction and understanding of native SOC mineralization in Himalayan regions resulting from treeline shifts, a study was conducted to quantify soil priming effects (PEs) at high elevations above the treeline ecosystem.

An improved microelectrode method reveals significant emission of nitrous oxide from the rhizosphere of a long-term fertilized soil in the North China Plain.

Microsensors are able to accurately quantify nitrous oxide (NO) emissions in microenvironments at high spatio-temporal resolution; yet, limited studies have been conducted on agricultural soils due to the inability to obtain electrical signal under conditions of low soil moisture. This study improved the calibration of a microelectrode for measuring NO emissions from agricultural soil. The microelectrode was applied to evaluate the effect of long-term fertilization with mineral fertilizer (NPK), complemented with pig manure (MNPK), straw (SNPK), or without fertilizer (CK), all with and without urea addition, on NO emissions from the soil, with explicit separation of the rhizosphere and the bulk soil compartments.