Dataset Information

Microbial mediation of biogeochemical cycles revealed by simulation of global changes with soil transplant and cropping.

ABSTRACT: Despite microbes' key roles in driving biogeochemical cycles, the mechanism of microbe-mediated feedbacks to global changes remains elusive. Recently, soil transplant has been successfully established as a proxy to simulate climate changes, as the current trend of global warming coherently causes range shifts toward higher latitudes. Four years after southward soil transplant over large transects in China, we found that microbial functional diversity was increased, in addition to concurrent changes in microbial biomass, soil nutrient content and functional processes involved in the nitrogen cycle. However, soil transplant effects could be overridden by maize cropping, which was attributed to a negative interaction. Strikingly, abundances of nitrogen and carbon cycle genes were increased by these field experiments simulating global change, coinciding with higher soil nitrification potential and carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux. Further investigation revealed strong correlations between carbon cycle genes and CO2 efflux in bare soil but not cropped soil, and between nitrogen cycle genes and nitrification. These findings suggest that changes of soil carbon and nitrogen cycles by soil transplant and cropping were predictable by measuring microbial functional potentials, contributing to a better mechanistic understanding of these soil functional processes and suggesting a potential to incorporate microbial communities in greenhouse gas emission modeling.

SUBMITTER: Zhao M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4184012 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Microbial mediation of biogeochemical cycles revealed by simulation of global changes with soil transplant and cropping.

Zhao Mengxin M Xue Kai K Wang Feng F Liu Shanshan S Bai Shijie S Sun Bo B Zhou Jizhong J Yang Yunfeng Y

The ISME journal 20140403 10

Despite microbes' key roles in driving biogeochemical cycles, the mechanism of microbe-mediated feedbacks to global changes remains elusive. Recently, soil transplant has been successfully established as a proxy to simulate climate changes, as the current trend of global warming coherently causes range shifts toward higher latitudes. Four years after southward soil transplant over large transects in China, we found that microbial functional diversity was increased, in addition to concurrent chan ...[more]

PMID: 24694714

Similar Datasets

Project description:Soil types heavily influence ecological dynamics. It remains controversial to what extent soil types shape microbial responses to land management changes, largely due to lack of in-depth comparison across various soil types. Here, we collected samples from three major zonal soil types spanning from cold temperate to subtropical climate zones. We examined bacterial and fungal community structures, as well as microbial functional genes. Different soil types had distinct microbial biomass levels and community compositions. Five years of maize cropping (growing corn or maize) changed the bacterial community composition of the Ultisol soil type and the fungal composition of the Mollisol soil type but had little effect on the microbial composition of the Inceptisol soil type. Meanwhile, 5 years of fertilization resulted in soil acidification. Microbial compositions of the Mollisol and Ultisol, but not the Inceptisol, were changed and correlated (P < 0.05) with soil pH. These results demonstrated the critical role of soil type in determining microbial responses to land management changes. We also found that soil nitrification potentials correlated with the total abundance of nitrifiers and that soil heterotrophic respiration correlated with the total abundance of carbon degradation genes, suggesting that changes in microbial community structure had altered ecosystem processes. IMPORTANCE Microbial communities are essential drivers of soil functional processes such as nitrification and heterotrophic respiration. Although there is initial evidence revealing the importance of soil type in shaping microbial communities, there has been no in-depth, comprehensive survey to robustly establish it as a major determinant of microbial community composition, functional gene structure, or ecosystem functioning. We examined bacterial and fungal community structures using Illumina sequencing, microbial functional genes using GeoChip, microbial biomass using phospholipid fatty acid analysis, as well as functional processes of soil nitrification potential and CO2 efflux. We demonstrated the critical role of soil type in determining microbial responses to land use changes at the continental level. Our findings underscore the inherent difficulty in generalizing ecosystem responses across landscapes and suggest that assessments of community feedback must take soil types into consideration. Author Video: An author video summary of this article is available.

Project description:The effect of different cropping systems on CO2 fixation by soil microorganisms was studied by comparing soils from three exemplary cropping systems after 10 years of agricultural practice. Studied cropping systems included: continuous cropping of paddy rice (rice-rice), rotation of paddy rice and rapeseed (rice-rapeseed), and rotated cropping of rapeseed and corn (rapeseed-corn). Soils from different cropping systems were incubated with continuous (14)C-CO2 labeling for 110 days. The CO2-fixing bacterial communities were investigated by analyzing the cbbL gene encoding ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase (RubisCO). Abundance, diversity and activity of cbbL-carrying bacteria were analyzed by quantitative PCR, cbbL clone libraries and enzyme assays. After 110 days incubation, substantial amounts of (14)C-CO2 were incorporated into soil organic carbon ((14)C-SOC) and microbial biomass carbon ((14)C-MBC). Rice-rice rotated soil showed stronger incorporation rates when looking at (14)C-SOC and (14)C-MBC contents. These differences in incorporation rates were also reflected by determined RubisCO activities. (14)C-MBC, cbbL gene abundances and RubisCO activity were found to correlate significantly with (14)C-SOC, indicating cbbL-carrying bacteria to be key players for CO2 fixation in these soils. The analysis of clone libraries revealed distinct cbbL-carrying bacterial communities for the individual soils analyzed. Most of the identified operational taxonomic units (OTU) were related to Nitrobacter hamburgensis, Methylibium petroleiphilum, Rhodoblastus acidophilus, Bradyrhizobium, Cupriavidus metallidurans, Rubrivivax, Burkholderia, Stappia, and Thiobacillus thiophilus. OTUs related to Rubrivivax gelatinosus were specific for rice-rice soil. OTUs linked to Methylibium petroleiphilum were exclusively found in rice-rapeseed soil. Observed differences could be linked to differences in soil parameters such as SOC. We conclude that the long-term application of cropping systems alters underlying soil parameters, which in turn selects for distinct autotrophic communities.

Project description:Rational cropping maintains high soil fertility and a healthy ecosystem. Soil microorganism is the controller of soil fertility. Meanwhile, soil microbial communities also respond to different cropping patterns. The mechanisms by which biotic and abiotic factors were affected by different cropping sequences remain unclear in the major grain-producing regions of northeastern China. To evaluate the effects of different cropping sequences under conventional fertilization practices on soil properties, microbial communities, and crop yield, six types of plant cropping systems were performed, including soybean monoculture, wheat-soybean rotation, wheat-maize-soybean rotation, soybean-maize-maize rotation, maize-soybean-soybean rotation and maize monoculture. Our results showed that compared with the single cropping system, soybean and maize crop rotation in different combinations or sequences can increase soil total organic carbon and nutrients, and promote soybean and maize yield, especially using soybean-maize-maize and maize-soybean-soybean planting system. The 16S rRNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) amplicon sequencing showed that different cropping systems had different effects on bacterial and fungal communities. The bacterial and fungal communities of soybean monoculture were less diverse when compared to the other crop rotation planting system. Among the different cropping sequences, the number of observed bacterial species was greater in soybean-maize-maize planting setup and fungal species in maize-soybean-soybean planting setup. Some dominant and functional bacterial and fungal taxa in the rotation soils were observed. Network-based analysis suggests that bacterial phyla Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria while fungal phylum Ascomycota showed a positive correlation with other microbial communities. The phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) result showed the presence of various metabolic pathways. Besides, the soybean-maize-maize significantly increased the proportion of some beneficial microorganisms in the soil and reduced the soil-borne animal and plant pathogens. These results warrant further investigation into the mechanisms driving responses of beneficial microbial communities and their capacity on improving soil fertility during legume cropping. The present study extends our understanding of how different crop rotations effect soil parameters, microbial diversity, and metabolic functions, and reveals the importance of crop rotation sequences. These findings could be used to guide decision-making from the microbial perspective for annual crop planting and soil management approaches.

Dataset Information

Microbial mediation of biogeochemical cycles revealed by simulation of global changes with soil transplant and cropping.

Publications

Microbial mediation of biogeochemical cycles revealed by simulation of global changes with soil transplant and cropping.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets