Functional diversity of soil microbial community carbon metabolism with the degradation and restoration of alpine wetlands and meadows

Qinghai-Tibetan plateau being the third pole of the earth,has global ecological significance and plays aconsiderable role as a watershed of major rivers of the region. Approximately 85% of the plateau comprises alpine grasslands,thus acting as a major pool for livestock grazing and providing many other ecosystem services. Over the past few decades,grassland deterioration has been the consequence of overgrazing and some other additional factors. Grassland degradation triggers adverse changes in the physical and chemical properties of the soil,which ultimately influence soil microbes. Soil microbes play a significant role in nutrition and other bio-geochemical cycling of the soil. This paper aims to explore the correlation between grassland degradation,soil microbes,and the key factors affecting the diversity of soil microbial carbon metabolism. The BIOLOG Eco microplate method was applied to analyze the community level physiological profile( CLPP) of soil microbes. In this study,we investigated the soil microb