SynthesisNature communications2022
Microbial functional changes mark irreversible course of Tibetan grassland degradation.
Synthesis in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Microbial network and its relationship with plants reflect the restoration of grasslands during a five-year period.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Linkages between soil-specific enzyme activity and microbial necromass carbon: implications for ecological restoration.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Biodiversity in mountain soils above the treeline.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Soil Microbial Adaptation and Biogeochemical Feedback in Degraded Alpine Meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Soil organic matter composition affects ecosystem multifunctionality by mediating the composition of microbial communities in long-term restored meadows.Environmental microbiome · 2025Article
- Simulated litter input drives shifts in carbon allocation strategies within alpine meadows of the three rivers source region.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Effects of simulated litter inputs on plant-microbe carbon pool trade-offs in degraded alpine meadows.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- Vegetation degradation dominates over elevation in structuring fungal communities in alpine meadows.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Alpine steppe degradation weakens ecosystem multifunctionality through the decline in climax dominant species on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.Frontiers in plant science · 2025Article
- New microbial tools to boost restoration and soil organic matter.Microbial biotechnology · 2023Article
- Unexpected no significant soil carbon losses in the Tibetan grasslands due to rodent bioturbation.PNAS nexus · 2023Article
- The chromosome-scale genome of Kobresia myosuroides sheds light on karyotype evolution and recent diversification of a dominant herb group on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.DNA research : an international journal for rapid publication of reports on genes and genomes · 2023Article
- Greening or browning? The macro variation and drivers of different vegetation types on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau from 2000 to 2021.Frontiers in plant science · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Tibetan Plateau's Kobresia pastures store 2.5% of the world's soil organic carbon (SOC). Climate change and overgrazing render their topsoils vulnerable to degradation, with SOC stocks declining by 42% and nitrogen (N) by 33% at severely degraded sites. We resolved these losses into erosion accounting for two-thirds, and decreased carbon (C) input and increased SOC mineralization accounting for the other third, and confirmed these results by comparison with a meta-analysis of 594 observations. The microbial community responded to the degradation through altered taxonomic composition and enzymatic activities. Hydrolytic enzyme activities were reduced, while degradation of the remaining recalcitrant soil organic matter by oxidative enzymes was accelerated, demonstrating a severe shift in microbial functioning. This may irreversibly alter the world´s largest alpine pastoral ecosystem by diminishing its C sink function and nutrient cycling dynamics, negatively impacting local food security, regional water quality and climate.
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