土壤有机物添加对温带半干旱草地地下生物过程的影响

大气CO2 浓度和降水量增加有可能大幅提高中国北方部分草地生态系统净初级生产力，进而导致向土壤中输送的有机物相应增加。本研究以位于内蒙古自治区东乌珠穆沁旗内的半干旱草地生态系统为研究对象，通过向10−20 cm 土层添加不同质量和数量的植物凋枯物碎屑模拟有机物输入增加和喷灌模拟降水量提升，同时测定土壤微生物群落动态和植物生长指标，探讨在增加有机物输入和土壤水分的情况下土壤生物过程的变化及其对土壤碳排放和贮存的反馈作用。 研究结果表明，有机物添加可促进植物地上部分及根系的生长，并显著提高土壤中可溶性有机碳（能量）和氮（养分）的含量。土壤能量和养分水平的提高促进了土壤微生物的生长：在底物可利用性水平较高时，r−对策微生物（指具有生长迅速、C/N 值较低的微生物群组）在群落中占优势地位；随着底物水平的降低，土壤中K-对策微生物（指具有生长缓慢、C/N 值较高的微生物群组）在群落中逐渐占据优势地位。土壤微生物群落组成的改变进一步导致了微生物功能群代谢活性和特征的变化，具体表现为提高了有机物添加处理中土壤细菌群落的代谢潜能，并使细菌在群落水平上的生理剖面特征明显区别于未添加有机物的处理。 研究样地内土壤微生物主要受到底物中的能量（碳）限制，土壤活性有机质库作为可利用性较高的能量和养分的重要来源，对土壤微生物活性和土壤碳周转起着比水分因子更加重要的作用。土壤水分主要影响植物生长和根系活性，并增加了土壤微生物对底物响应的复杂性，但它对地下生物过程的作用程度以底物中能量和养分水平为前提。 利用稳定性13C 同位素示踪技术测量后发现，添加C4-植物凋枯物会加速C3 底物中碳的分解速度。结合有机物添加后土壤有机质库的变化，可以推测植物凋枯物（即能量物质）输入增加会导致土壤原生有机碳的正向激发效应。在此过程中，土壤微生物群落组成及功能群代谢活性的变化起着至关重要的作用。 不同光合途径（C3 和C4）的植物和同一植物不同器官组织（地上部分和根系）的凋枯物添加对地下生物过程，特别是土壤微生物群落代谢功能的影响是不同的。在添加C3-草本凋枯物的处理中，土壤细菌群落主要利用的碳源为氨基酸类化合物；而在添加C4-植物凋枯物的处理中，土壤细菌群落主要利用的碳源为羧酸类化合物。 本研究在野外自然条件下证明了在能量缺乏的中国北方草地生态系统中，土壤有机物输入增加不但不会提高土壤有机碳库的大小，而且可能导致土壤原生有机碳的激发效应。在利用土壤呼吸与环境因子（如温度）的关系进行模拟预测土壤碳排放时，需要考虑不同生态系统底物中的能量和养分水平，以及土壤微生物和植物根系等地下生物过程对底物水平的适应性。

Benthic foraminifera and bottom water evolution in the middle-southern Okinawa Trough during the last 18 ka

A piston sediment core E017 from the middle-southern Okinawa Trough was investigated. A preliminary study of the deep-water evolution since 18 cal. ka BP was performed based on the quantitative census data of benthic foraminiferal fauna, together with planktonic foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotope, AMS(14)C dating, and the previous results achieved in the southern Okinawa Trough. The result shows that the benthic fauna was dominated by Bulimina aculeata (d'Orbigny), Uvigerina peregrina (Cushman), Hispid Uvigerina and Uvigerina dirupta (Todd) during the glaciation-deglaciation before 9.2 cal. ka BP, while Epistominella exigua (Brady), Pullenia bulloides (d'Orbigny), Cibicidoides hyalina (Hofker), Sphaeroidina bulloides (d'Orbigny) and Globocassidulina subglobosa (Brady) predominated the fauna in the post-glacial period after 9.2 cal. ka BP. The benthic foraminifera accumulation rate (BFAR), paleoproductivity estimates and benthic foraminiferal assemblage conformably indicate that surface water paleoproductivity and organic matter flux during the glaciation-deglaciation were higher than those of the post-glacial period in the middle-southern Okinawa Trough, and gradually enhanced from the southern to the central Okinawa Trough during the glaciation-deglaciation, which could be caused by the discrepancy of the terrigenous nutrients supply. High abundances of E exigua, an indicator of pulsed organic matter input, after 9.2 cal. ka. BP may indicate that the intensity of seasonally riverine pulsed flux during the post-glacial period was stronger than that of the glaciation-deglaciation period, and the seasonal influx in the central trough might be stronger than in the south. The temporal distributions of the typical species indicating bottom water oxygen content and ventilation condition show that the ventilation of the bottom water during the post-glacial period is more active than the glaciation-deglaciation, which reflects that the evolution of the intermediate and deep waters of the northwestern Pacific during the last glaciation has no evident influence on the deep-water of the middle-southern Okinawa Trough. Additionally, the variations in agglutinated benthic foraminiferal abundance and other carbonate dissolution proxies indicate that carbonate dissolution gradually increased since the last 18 ka in the Okinawa Trough and rapidly enhanced at 9.2 cal. ka BP. The modern shallow carbonate lysocline could form at 3 cal. ka BP.

Coastal metabolism and the oceanic organic carbon balance

Net organic metabolism (that is, the difference between primary production and respiration of organic matter) in the coastal ocean may be a significant term in the oceanic carbon budget. Historical change in the rate of this net metabolism determines the importance of the coastal ocean relative to anthropogenic perturbations of the global carbon cycle. Consideration of long-term rates of river loading of organic carbon, organic burial, chemical reactivity of land-derived organic matter, and rates of community metabolism in the coastal zone leads us to estimate that the coastal zone oxidizes about 7 × 1012 moles C/yr. The open ocean is apparently also a site of net organic oxidation (∼16 × 1012 moles C/yr). Thus organic metabolism in the ocean appears to be a source of CO2 release to the atmosphere rather than being a sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide. The small area of the coastal ocean accounts for about 30% of the net oceanic oxidation. Oxidation in the coastal zone (especially in bays and estuaries) takes on particular importance, because the input rate is likely to have been altered substantially by human activities on land.

Relationship between organic carbon concentration and potential pond bottom soil respiration

There was a positive correlation between the concentration of organic carbon and potential respiration as measured by carbon dioxide evolution (R-2 = 0.923) and oxygen consumption (R-2 = 0.986) in soil samples collected from the bottoms of drained ponds. This finding supports the frequent use of organic carbon analysis as an indicator of sediment respiration rate under optimal conditions in commercial aquaculture facilities. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.