apline tree line soil microbe. Alpine tree line soil microbial study

The experiment was set up in the transition zone between the Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin which was predicted to be a sensitive region in global warming scenarios. Soil sampling was within the alpine forest treeline ecotone of Mt. Mengbi (31.51°N, 102.35°E), Sichuan province, China. The mountain is located at the east edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and it also connected with the north section of Qionglai Mountains and Daxue Mountains (Figure. 1). Mt. Mengbi has a mountainous monsoon climate with a cool-rainy summer and cold-dry winter. Surface soil (0~40 cm) within our sampling region is frozen from October to the next May (Table 1).