Response of the soil microbial community to changes in precipitation in a semiarid ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities regulate many belowground carbon cycling processes; thus, the impact of climate change on the structure and function of soil microbial communities could, in turn, impact the release or storage of carbon in soils. Here we used a large-scale precipitation manipulation (+18%, -50%, or ambient) in a piñon-juniper woodland (Pinus edulis-Juniperus monosperma) to investigate how changes in precipitation amounts altered soil microbial communities as well as what role seasonal variation in rainfall and plant composition played in the microbial community response. Seasonal variability in precipitation had a larger role in determining the composition of soil microbial communities in 2008 than the direct effect of the experimental precipitation treatments. Bacterial and fungal co

SUBMITTER: Cregger MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3502934 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature