Objective This study aims to reveal the characteristics of soil nutrients, microbial biomass, enzyme activities, soil microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE), and their seasonal variations in Pinus armandii forests in central Yunnan under nitrogen deposition, as well as to explore the key influencing factors of CUE. Methods Taking the soil of Pinus armandii forests in central Yunnan as the research object, six nitrogen deposition treatments were set up: control CK [0 g/(m²·a)], N5 [5 g/(m²·a)], N10 [10 g/(m²·a)], N15 [15 g/(m²·a)], N20 [20 g/(m²·a)], and N25 [25 g/(m²·a)]. The effects of soil nutrients, microbial biomass, enzyme activities, and their ecological stoichiometric characteristics on microbial CUE were determined and analyzed. Combined with partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) analysis, the response mechanism of soil microbial CUE to nitrogen deposition was clarified. Results Under different seasons, soil nitrate nitrogen (NO-N), soil organic carbon (SOC), microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (MBC, MBN, MBP), β-glucosidase (BG), β-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG), cellulase (CL), EEAC:P ((BG+CL)/ACP), EEAC:N ((BG+CL)/NAG), and soil microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) all showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the increase of nitrogen deposition concentration. Among them, under the N10 treatment, NO-N, MBC, MBP, and CUE were significantly higher than those in CK, increasing by 204.77%, 35.00%, 22.85%, and 68.68%, respectively. Soil nutrients, microbial biomass, stoichiometric ratios, and CUE were generally higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. Mantel analysis showed that CUE was significantly positively correlated with MBC, MBN, CL, NAG, and EEAN:P (NAG/ACP) in both dry and rainy seasons. Random forest analysis revealed that MBP, NAG, CL, ammonium nitrogen (NH-N), and EEAN:P contributed more to CUE. PLS-PM path model identifies nitrogen deposition as a key factor affecting CUE. Nitrogen deposition indirectly promotes CUE by altering nutrient availability and microbial biomass. Conclusion The research findings can provide a theoretical basis for exploring the response mechanisms of CUE to nitrogen deposition across different seasons in the region.
土壤pH采用电极电位法以2.5∶1的水土比分析(pHS-3C,上海仪电科学仪器股份有限公司);硝态氮(NO-N)、铵态氮(NH-N)采用分光光度法测定(紫外可见分光光度计,T6新世纪,北京普析通用仪器有限责任公司);有机碳(SOC)采用重铬酸钾容量法(外加热法)测定;全氮(TN)消解后使用全自动定氮仪(Kjeltec 8400,丹麦富斯公司)测定;全磷(TP)、全钾(TK)采用ICP-OES测定(等离子体发射光谱仪,710 ICP-OES,美国安捷伦科技);微生物量碳(MBC)、氮(MBN)、磷(MBP)采用氯仿熏蒸法进行测定;β-葡萄糖苷酶(BG)、纤维素水解酶(CL)、β-N-乙酰氨基酸葡糖苷酶(NAG)、酸性磷酸单酯酶(ACP)采用试剂盒-酶标仪测定(酶标仪,SpectraMax Plus 384,美国),试剂盒均由北京盒子生工科技有限公司提供。
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