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Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to extreme desiccation and rewetting.

ABSTRACT: The microbial response to summer desiccation reflects adaptation strategies, setting the stage for a large rainfall-induced soil CO2 pulse upon rewetting, an important component of the ecosystem carbon budget. In three California annual grasslands, the present (DNA-based) and potentially active (RNA-based) soil bacterial and fungal communities were tracked over a summer season and in response to controlled rewetting of intact soil cores. Phylogenetic marker genes for bacterial (16S) and fungal (28S) RNA and DNA were sequenced, and the abundances of these genes and transcripts were measured. Although bacterial community composition differed among sites, all sites shared a similar response pattern of the present and potentially active bacterial community to dry-down and wet-up. In contrast, the fungal community was not detectably different among sites, and was largely unaffected by dry-down, showing marked resistance to dessication. The potentially active bacterial community changed significantly as summer dry-down progressed, then returned to pre-dry-down composition within several hours of rewetting, displaying spectacular resilience. Upon rewetting, transcript copies of bacterial rpoB genes increased consistently, reflecting rapid activity resumption. Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria were the most abundant phyla present and potentially active, and showed the largest changes in relative abundance. The relative increase (Actinobacteria) and decrease (Acidobacteria) with dry-down, and the reverse responses to rewetting reflected a differential response, which was conserved at the phylum level and consistent across sites. These contrasting desiccation-related bacterial life-strategies suggest that predicted changes in precipitation patterns may affect soil nutrient and carbon cycling by differentially impacting activity patterns of microbial communities.

SUBMITTER: Barnard RL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3806258 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to extreme desiccation and rewetting.

Barnard Romain L RL Osborne Catherine A CA Firestone Mary K MK

The ISME journal 20130704 11

The microbial response to summer desiccation reflects adaptation strategies, setting the stage for a large rainfall-induced soil CO2 pulse upon rewetting, an important component of the ecosystem carbon budget. In three California annual grasslands, the present (DNA-based) and potentially active (RNA-based) soil bacterial and fungal communities were tracked over a summer season and in response to controlled rewetting of intact soil cores. Phylogenetic marker genes for bacterial (16S) and fungal ( ...[more]

PMID: 23823489

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Project description:BackgroundCultivars of bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Flüggé) are widely used for pasture in the Southeastern USA. Soil microbial communities are unexplored in bahiagrass and they may be cultivar-dependent, as previously proven for other grass species. Understanding the influence of cultivar selection on soil microbial communities is crucial as microbiome taxa have repeatedly been shown to be directly linked to plant performance.ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine whether different bahiagrass cultivars interactively influence soil bacterial and fungal communities.MethodsSix bahiagrass cultivars ('Argentine', 'Pensacola', 'Sand Mountain', 'Tifton 9', 'TifQuik', and 'UF-Riata') were grown in a randomized complete block design with four replicate plots of 4.6 × 1.8 m per cultivar in a Rhodic Kandiudults soil in Northwest Florida, USA. Three soil subsamples per replicate plot were randomly collected. Soil DNA was extracted and bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA and fungal ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 genes were amplified and sequenced with one Illumina Miseq Nano.ResultsThe soil bacterial and fungal community across bahiagrass cultivars showed similarities with communities recovered from other grassland ecosystems. Few differences in community composition and diversity of soil bacteria among cultivars were detected; none were detected for soil fungi. The relative abundance of sequences assigned to nitrite-oxidizing Nitrospira was greater under 'Sand Mountain' than 'UF-Riata'. Indicator species analysis revealed that several bacterial and fungal indicators associated with either a single cultivar or a combination of cultivars are likely to be plant pathogens or antagonists.ConclusionsOur results suggest a low impact of plant cultivar choice on the soil bacterial community composition, whereas the soil fungal community was unaffected. Shifts in the relative abundance of Nitrospira members in response to cultivar choice may have implications for soil N dynamics. The cultivars associated with presumptive plant pathogens or antagonists indicates that the ability of bahiagrass to control plant pathogens may be cultivar-dependent, however, physiological studies on plant-microbe interactions are required to confirm this presumption. We therefore suggest that future studies should explore the potential of different bahiagrass cultivars on plant pathogen control, particularly in sod-based crop rotation.

Project description:IntroductionContinuous nitrogen deposition increases the nitrogen content of terrestrial ecosystem and affects the geochemical cycle of soil nitrogen. Forest-grassland ecotone is the interface area of forest and grassland and is sensitive to global climate change. However, the structure composition and diversity of soil microbial communities and their relationship with soil environmental factors at increasing nitrogen deposition have not been sufficiently studied in forest-grassland ecotone.MethodsIn this study, experiments were carried out with four nitrogen addition treatments (0 kgN·hm-2·a-1, 10 kgN·hm-2·a-1, 20 kgN·hm-2·a-1 and 40 kgN·hm-2·a-1) to simulate nitrogen deposition in a forest-grassland ecotone in northwest Liaoning Province, China. High-throughput sequencing and qPCR technologies were used to analyze the composition, structure, and diversity characteristics of the soil microbial communities under different levels of nitrogen addition.Results and discussionThe results showed that soil pH decreased significantly at increasing nitrogen concentrations, and the total nitrogen and ammonium nitrogen contents first increased and then decreased, which were significantly higher in the N10 treatment than in other treatments (N:0.32 ~ 0.48 g/kg; NH4+-N: 11.54 ~ 13 mg/kg). With the increase in nitrogen concentration, the net nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, and ammoniation rates decreased. The addition of nitrogen had no significant effect on the diversity and structure of the fungal community, while the diversity of the bacterial community decreased significantly at increasing nitrogen concentrations. Ascomycetes and Actinomycetes were the dominant fungal and bacterial phyla, respectively. The relative abundance of Ascomycetes was negatively correlated with total nitrogen content, while that of Actinomycetes was positively correlated with soil pH. The fungal community diversity was significantly negatively correlated with nitrate nitrogen, while the diversity of the bacterial community was significantly positively correlated with soil pH. No significant differences in the abundance of functional genes related to soil nitrogen transformations under the different treatments were observed. Overall, the distribution pattern and driving factors were different in soil microbial communities in a forest-grassland ecotone in northwest Liaoning. Our study enriches research content related to factors that affect the forest-grassland ecotone.

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Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to extreme desiccation and rewetting.

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Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to extreme desiccation and rewetting.

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