Experimental nitrogen deposition alters the quantity and quality of soil dissolved organic carbon in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

• N dose rather than N form significantly changed quantity and quality of soil DOC.
• The responses of soil DOC amount and composition to N addition depend on soil layer.
• Changes in microbial decomposition and humification processes dominate DOC dynamics.
• Increasing atmospheric N deposition could decrease soil C storage in the alpine meadow.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays a central role in driving biogeochemical processes in soils, but little information is available on the relation of soil DOM dynamics to microbial activity. The effects of NO3− and NH4+ deposition in grasslands on the amount and composition of soil DOM also remain largely unclear. In this study, a multi-form, low-dose N addition experiment was conducted in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau in 2007. Three N fertilizers, NH4Cl, (NH4)2SO4 and KNO3, were applied at four rates: 0, 10, 20 and 40 kg N ha−1 yr−1. Soil samples from surface (0–10 cm) and subsurface layers (10–20 cm) were collected in 2011. Excitation/emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (EEM) was used to assess the composition and stability of soil DOM. Community-level physiological profile (CLPP, basing on the BIOLOG Ecoplate technique) was measured to evaluate the relationship between soil DOC dynamics and microbial utilization of C resources. Nitrogen (N) dose rather than N form significantly increased soil DOC contents in surface layer by 23.5%–35.1%, whereas it significantly decreased soil DOC contents in subsurface layer by 10.4%–23.8%. Continuous five-year N addition significantly increased the labile components and decreased recalcitrant components of soil DOM in surface layer, while an opposite pattern was observed in subsurface layer; however, the humification indices (HIX) of soil DOM was unaltered by various N treatments. Furthermore, N addition changed the amount and biodegradability of soil DOM through stimulating microbial metabolic activity and preferentially utilizing organic acids. These results suggest that microbial metabolic processes dominate the dynamics of soil DOC, and increasing atmospheric N deposition could be adverse to the accumulation of soil organic carbon pool in the alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.