Relationships between denitrification gene expression, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium and nitrous oxide and dinitrogen production in montane grassland soils

摘要

The montane grassland soils of Europe store significant amounts of nitrogen (N), and climate change might drive their volatilization due to the stimulation of gaseous nitrous oxide (N2O) and dinitrogen (N-2) losses. Hence, a thorough, mechanistic understanding of the processes responsible for N loss and retention such as denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) in these soils is urgently needed. Here we aimed to explore the relationships between denitrifier gene abundance and expression with N-2 and N2O production and the importance of DNRA versus denitrification in nitrate consumption and N2O production for typical montane grassland soils of Southern Germany. In a laboratory incubation experiment with glucose and nitrate addition, we combined direct measurements of N2O and N-2 production with a molecular analysis of the denitrifier communities involved in nitrite, nitric oxide (NO) and N2O reduction and with the quantification of DNRA. The soils originated from a space-for-time climate change experiment, where intact plant-soil mesocosms were exposed for three years either to ambient conditions at a high elevation site ("HE" control treatment) or to predicted climate change conditions (warming, reduced summer precipitation and reduced winter snow cover) by translocation to lower elevation ("LE" climate change treatment).