Effects of anthropogenic nitrogen additions and elevated CO2 on microbial community, carbon and nitrogen content in a replicated wetland

Anthropogenic deposition of nitrogen (N) and elevated CO₂ (ₑₐCO₂) are expected to increase continuously and rapidly in the near future and influence global carbon cycling. These parameters affect the ecosystem by regulating the microbial community and contribute to soil organic matter decomposition. The study was performed to understand the effects of N additions (4 and 6mgl⁻¹) and ₑₐCO₂ (700 ppm) on carbon (C)/nitrogen (N) content in the soil, microbial community, and plant biomass (Alternanthera philoxeroides species). The results showed that when the atmospheric CO₂ concentration was raised, the total organic carbon (TOC) in the soil statistically increased (P < 0.05) by 4% and 3% under low and high N additions respectively, while the inorganic carbon content also increased by 1% and 3% (P > 0.05) under the same conditions. The increase in the soil TOC content was a result of the movement of carbon from water to the soil due to the presence of vascular tissues of plants in the water. The redundancy analysis (RDA) results revealed that the presence of plant species was responsible for the carbon content increment in the soil. The plant biomass content increased by 30.96% (P = 0.081) and 31.36%, (P = 0.002) under low and high N addition respectively due to the increment in atmospheric CO₂. The nitrogen content in the plant species decreased (p > 0.05) by 8.62% and 6.25% at low and high N addition respectively when atmospheric CO₂ was raised. This suggests that soil microbes competed with the plants for inorganic nitrogen in the soil and the microbes used up the inorganic nitrogen before it got to the plants. The gram-positive bacteria and fungi population decreased under high N addition and ₑₐCO₂ while gram-negative bacteria increased, suggesting that N additions and ₑₐCO₂ affected the microbial function and correlated with the nitrogen reduction in the soil. The results from this study serve as a guide to researchers and stakeholders in making policies with regard to the constant increasing CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere.