A decade of air pollution nitrogen made soils healthier, not worse
Fan Y, Tao Y, Hua B, Kardol P, Kuzyakov Y
Soil Health
The soil under your garden beds and the park trails you walk are absorbing decades of atmospheric nitrogen, and this study suggests that slow, real-world exposure builds richer microbial life instead of the damage short lab experiments predicted.
Researchers dug up soil samples from the same 38 spots across eastern China in 2009 and again in 2019 to see what a decade of nitrogen pollution from the air had actually done to the tiny organisms living in the dirt. They found more types of microbes than before, more of the helpful genes that cycle nutrients and break down carbon, and fewer disease-causing germs and antibiotic-resistance genes. That's the opposite of what many quick lab experiments have predicted, suggesting real-world change plays out differently than sped-up simulations.
Key Findings
Soil microbial diversity increased by 17% over the decade across 38 forest and grassland sites
Nitrogen deposition (~19 kg N per hectare per year) was the strongest predictor of change in 7 of 12 microbial community metrics
Higher nitrogen deposition tracked with more nitrogen-cycling and carbon-degradation genes, and fewer pathogens, antibiotic resistance genes, and DNA viruses
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists resampled soils across 38 forests and grasslands in eastern China after a decade and found microbial diversity rose 17%, with rising nitrogen pollution from the air the biggest driver of healthier, more diverse soil life.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Decadal Resampling Reveals Widespread Increases in Soil Microbial Diversity Associated With Nitrogen Deposition.
Simulated manipulation experiments, such as nitrogen addition to mimic atmospheric nitrogen deposition, are widely used in global change research. However, experimental manipulations may differ fro...
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