Soil properties and methane cycling gene abundances in the foreland soil on the Tibetan Plateau

Glacier foreland soil flooded by melt water annually during the melting season, altering soil water content or other soil properties. We collected soil samples in the Longxiazailongba Glacier foreland on the Tibetan Plateau in August 2017. Measuring the soil pH, moisture, Ammonium nitrogen (NH4+), Nitrate nitrogen (NO3-), Total Nitrogen (TN), Organic matter (OM), Available phosphorus (AP). Soils were neutral to slight alkaline, and pH of hollows were significantly higher than those in hummock soils. In contrast, available phosphorous was significantly higher in hummock soils than in hollow soils. Besides, we also quanified mcrA and pmoA gene abundances. With measuring methane fluxes in June (pre-melting season) and August (melting season) 2020, we also measured the soil moisture and pH. The results indicate that soil moisture was significantly higher in melting season (August) than in pre-melting season (June).

本研究的对象为冰川前缘土壤：此类土壤在每年消融季会被融水淹没，进而改变土壤含水量及其他土壤理化性质。2017年8月，我们于青藏高原龙下扎隆巴（Longxiazailongba）冰川前缘采集土壤样品，测定了土壤pH值、含水量、铵态氮（NH4+）、硝态氮（NO3-）、总氮（TN）、有机质（OM）及有效磷（AP）。供试土壤呈中性至弱碱性，冰蚀洼地土壤的pH值显著高于丘状土壤；与之相反，丘状土壤的有效磷含量显著高于冰蚀洼地土壤。此外，本研究还定量测定了mcrA与pmoA基因的丰度。我们于2020年6月（消融季前期）和8月（消融季）测定了甲烷通量，同时测定了土壤含水量与pH值。结果表明，消融季（8月）的土壤含水量显著高于消融季前期（6月）。