Dataset Information

Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity loss has become a global concern as evidence accumulates that it will negatively affect ecosystem services on which society depends. So far, most studies have focused on the ecological consequences of above-ground biodiversity loss; yet a large part of Earth's biodiversity is literally hidden below ground. Whether reductions of biodiversity in soil communities below ground have consequences for the overall performance of an ecosystem remains unresolved. It is important to investigate this in view of recent observations that soil biodiversity is declining and that soil communities are changing upon land use intensification. We established soil communities differing in composition and diversity and tested their impact on eight ecosystem functions in model grassland communities. We show that soil biodiversity loss and simplification of soil community composition impair multiple ecosystem functions, including plant diversity, decomposition, nutrient retention, and nutrient cycling. The average response of all measured ecosystem functions (ecosystem multifunctionality) exhibited a strong positive linear relationship to indicators of soil biodiversity, suggesting that soil community composition is a key factor in regulating ecosystem functioning. Our results indicate that changes in soil communities and the loss of soil biodiversity threaten ecosystem multifunctionality and sustainability.

SUBMITTER: Wagg C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3986181 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality.

Wagg Cameron C Bender S Franz SF Widmer Franco F van der Heijden Marcel G A MG

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20140317 14

Biodiversity loss has become a global concern as evidence accumulates that it will negatively affect ecosystem services on which society depends. So far, most studies have focused on the ecological consequences of above-ground biodiversity loss; yet a large part of Earth's biodiversity is literally hidden below ground. Whether reductions of biodiversity in soil communities below ground have consequences for the overall performance of an ecosystem remains unresolved. It is important to investigat ...[more]

PMID: 24639507

Similar Datasets

Project description:Microorganisms are critical in mediating carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling processes in soils. Yet, it has long been debated whether the processes underlying biogeochemical cycles are affected by the composition and diversity of the soil microbial community or not. The composition and diversity of soil microbial communities can be influenced by various environmental factors, which in turn are known to impact biogeochemical processes. The objectives of this study were to test effects of multiple edaphic drivers individually and represented as the multivariate soil environment interacting with microbial community composition and diversity, and concomitantly on multiple soil functions (i.e. soil enzyme activities, soil C and N processes). We employed high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq) to analyze bacterial/archaeal and fungal community composition by targeting the 16S rRNA gene and the ITS1 region of soils collected from three land uses (cropland, grassland and forest) deriving from two bedrock forms (silicate and limestone). Based on this data set we explored single and combined effects of edaphic variables on soil microbial community structure and diversity, as well as on soil enzyme activities and several soil C and N processes. We found that both bacterial/archaeal and fungal communities were shaped by the same edaphic factors, with most single edaphic variables and the combined soil environment representation exerting stronger effects on bacterial/archaeal communities than on fungal communities, as demonstrated by (partial) Mantel tests. We also found similar edaphic controls on the bacterial/archaeal/fungal richness and diversity. Soil C processes were only directly affected by the soil environment but not affected by microbial community composition. In contrast, soil N processes were significantly related to bacterial/archaeal community composition and bacterial/archaeal/fungal richness/diversity but not directly affected by the soil environment. This indicates direct control of the soil environment on soil C processes and indirect control of the soil environment on soil N processes by structuring the microbial communities. The study further highlights the importance of edaphic drivers and microbial communities (i.e. composition and diversity) on important soil C and N processes.

Project description:Continuous cropping of the same crop leads to soil degradation and a decline in crop production, and these impacts could be mitigated through rotation cropping. Although crop rotation enhances soil fertility, microbial community diversity, and potato yield, its effects on the soil ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF) remain unclear. In the present research, we comparatively examined the effects of potato continuous cropping (PP) and rotation cropping [potato-oat rotation (PO) and potato-forage maize rotation (PFM)] on the soil EMF as well as the roles of keystone taxa, microbes abundance, and chemical properties in EMF improvement. It was demonstrated that soil EMF is increased in rotation cropping (PO and PFM) than PP. Soil pH was higher in rotation cropping (PO and PFM) than in PP, while total phosphorus (TP) and available phosphorus (AP) were significantly decreased than that in PP. Rotation cropping (PO and PFM) markedly changed the bacterial and fungal community compositions, and improved the potential plant-beneficial fungi, e.g., Schizothecium and Chaetomium, while reducing the abundances of the potentially phytopathogenic fungi, e.g., Alternaria, Fusarium, Verticillium dahiae, Gibberella, Plectosphaerella, Colletotrichum, Phoma, and Lectera in comparison with PP. Also, co-occurrence patterns for bacteria and fungi were impacted by crop rotation, and keystone taxa, e.g., Nitrospira.1, Lysinibacillus, Microlunatus.1, Sphingomonas.3, Bryobacter.1, Micromonospora, and Schizothecium, were enriched in PO and PFM than PP. The structural equation model (SEM) further demonstrated that cropping systems increased soil ecosystem multifunctionality through regulating SOM and keystone taxa (Schizothecium1), and keystone taxa were mediated by soil pH. This study suggested that rotation cropping might contribute to the improvement of soil ecosystem multifunctionality as well as the development of disease-suppressive soils in comparison with potato continuous cropping.

Dataset Information

Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality.

Publications

Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets