ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1627840
Ecosystem carbon storage and carbon metabolizing microorganisms in three types of grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Provisionally accepted
Qian Liu1
Wenquan Yang1
Jiancun Kou1*
Qinyao Li1
Yangcan Zhang1Xilai Lai2Jing Zhang2Zhiting Hao1
Lu Chi1Yuze Ning1- 1Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
- 2Qinghai University, Xining, China
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The response of soil microorganisms to environmental changes can affect the storage and stability of carbon pools in ecosystems. However, the intrinsic link between the structure of soil carbon-metabolizing microbial communities and their roles in different types of alpine grasslands remains unclear.Methods: This study explores how carbon storage varies among alpine meadow (AM), alpine wetland (AW), and alpine desert (AD) on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and assesses the influence of a wide range of soil microbial and vegetation factors, so as to identify microbial predictors of ecosystem carbon storage. The study revealed four types of carbon metabolizing microbial communities responded to changes in vegetation types and their impact on the storage and stability of carbon pools.The carbon storage of three grassland types followed the relativity of AW > AM > AD.Soil water content (SWC) was identified as the major factor affecting the carbon storage of grassland ecosystems by increasing vegetation belowground biomass and soil total carbon content, directly or indirectly influencing the diversity of four types of soil microorganisms through its effects on soil physicochemical properties. The community structure of these four types of carbon metabolizing microorganisms in AW significantly differed from that of AM and AD. The diversity of carbon-fixing microorganisms significantly reduced ecosystem carbon storage to a great extent. The relative abundance of carbon-fixing microorganisms Thiobacillus, Mesorhizobium, Azospirillum, and Methylibium significantly increased grassland carbon storage, while the relative abundance of chitinase-producing microorganisms Cellulomonas and Stenotrophomonas significantly decreased it.
Keywords: Soil carbon functional microbial, Carbon Storage, Alpine grassland, tibetan plateau, soil water content
Received: 13 May 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Yang, Kou, Li, Zhang, Lai, Zhang, Hao, Chi and Ning. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jiancun Kou, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
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