[Effects of simulated warming on soil enzyme activities in two subalpine coniferous forests in west Sichuan]

With open top chamber (OTC), this paper studied the effects of simulated warming on the activities of soil invertase, urease, catalase, polyphenol oxidase in two contrasting subalpine coniferous forests (a dragon spruce plantation and a natural conifer forest) in west Sichuan. The dynamic changes of soil temperature and soil moisture were monitored synchronously. In the whole growth season, simulated warming enhanced the daily mean temperature at soil depth 5 cm by 0.61 degrees C in the plantation, and by 0.55 degrees C in the natural forest. Conversely, the volumetric moisture at soil depth 10 cm was declined by 4.10% and 2.55%, respectively. Simulated warming also increased soil invertase, urease, catalase, and polyphenol oxidase activities. The interactive effect of warming and forest type was significant on soil urease and catalase, but not significant on soil invertase and polyphenol oxidase. The warming effect on soil catalase depended, to some extent, on season change. In all treatments, the soil enzyme activities in the natural forest were significantly higher than those in the plantation. The seasonal changes of test soil enzyme activities were highly correlated with soil temperature, but less correlated with soil moisture. This study indicated that warming could enhance soil enzyme activities, and the effect had definite correlations with forest type, enzyme category, and season change. The soil enzyme activities in the subalpine coniferous forests were mainly controlled by soil temperature rather than soil moisture.