Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Importance of feedback loops between soil inorganic nitrogen and microbial communities in the heterotrophic soil respiration response to global warming

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 9, page 222 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

In their recent article (Microorganisms and climate change: terrestrial feedbacks and mitigation options. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 8, 779–790 (2010))1, Singh et al. pointed out that the mechanistic basis for predicting the greenhouse gas fluxes under climatic change lies in a detailed understanding of how abiotic and biotic factors affect microbial community dynamics and functions. They highlight that, owing to the vast unexplored diversity of microbiota and the large uncertainty regarding microbial community responses to global change, there are currently no earth system models that have incorporated microbial community dynamics.

Many factors can affect the feedback loop between nitrogen dynamics and microbial communities, including climate, vegetation, carbon quality, permafrost (for arctic regions), nitrogen deposition and fixation, and denitrification (Fig. 1). Therefore, to accurately predict soil carbon storage under global warming, we need integrated dynamic ecosystem models of plants, microorganisms and soils, along with a detailed representation of the nitrogen cycle. Although we currently have a good understanding of how nitrogen affects the structure and activity of a microbial community5,8,9, further interdisciplinary studies are needed to better understand the feedback loop between inorganic nitrogen dynamics and microbial communities and to better represent the complex plant–microorganism–soil system in global earth system models.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Feedback loop between inorganic nitrogen dynamics and microbial communities, and related factors in the heterotrophic soil respiration response to global warming in high-latitude ecosystems.

References

  1. Singh, B. K., Bardgett, R. D., Smith, P. & Reay, D. S. Microorganisms and climate change: terrestrial feedbacks and mitigation options. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 8, 779–790 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Weintraub, M. N. & Schimel, J. P. Nitrogen cycling and the spread of shrubs control changes in the carbon balance of arctic tundra ecosystems. Bioscience 55, 408–415 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Mack, M. C., Schuur, E. A. G., Bret-Harte, M. S., Shaver, G. R. & Chapin, F. S. Ecosystem carbon storage in arctic tundra reduced by long-term nutrient fertilization. Nature 431, 440–443 (2004).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Carreiro, M. M., Sinsabaugh, R. L., Repert, D. A. & Parkhurst, D. F. Microbial enzyme shifts explain litter decay responses to simulated nitrogen deposition. Ecology 81, 2359–2365 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ramirez, K. S., Lauber, C. L., Knight, R., Bradford, M. A. & Fierer, N. Consistent effects of nitrogen fertilization on soil bacterial communities in contrasting systems. Ecology 91, 3463–3470 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Fierer, N., Bradford, M. A. & Jackson, R. B. Toward an ecological classification of soil bacteria. Ecology 88, 1354–1364 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Miki, T., Ushio, M., Fukui, S. & Kondoh, M. Functional diversity of microbial decomposers facilitates plant coexistence in a plant-microbe-soil feedback model. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 107, 14251–14256 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Waldrop, M. P., Zak, D. R. & Sinsabaugh, R. L. Microbial community response to nitrogen deposition in northern forest ecosystems. Soil Biol. Biochem. 36, 1443–1451 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Janssens, I. A. et al. Reduction of forest soil respiration in response to nitrogen deposition. Nature Geosci. 3, 315–322 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is funded by the US Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) Program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cathy Wilson and Nathan McDowell are at the Division of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Chonggang Xu, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 187545, USA.,

    Chonggang Xu, Cathy Wilson & Nathan McDowell

  2. Chao Liang is at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1525 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.,

    Chao Liang

  3. Stan Wullschleger is at the Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.,

    Stan Wullschleger

Authors
  1. Chonggang Xu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chao Liang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stan Wullschleger
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cathy Wilson
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Nathan McDowell
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chonggang Xu.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xu, C., Liang, C., Wullschleger, S. et al. Importance of feedback loops between soil inorganic nitrogen and microbial communities in the heterotrophic soil respiration response to global warming. Nat Rev Microbiol 9, 222 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2439-c1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2439-c1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Microbiology

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Microbiology