Dataset Information

Plant, fungal, bacterial, and nitrogen interactions in the litter layer of a native Patagonian forest.

ABSTRACT: Plant-microbial interactions in the litter layer represent one of the most relevant interactions for biogeochemical cycling as litter decomposition is a key first step in carbon and nitrogen turnover. However, our understanding of these interactions in the litter layer remains elusive. In an old-growth mixed Nothofagus forest in Patagonia, we studied the effects of single tree species identity and the mixture of three tree species on the fungal and bacterial composition in the litter layer. We also evaluated the effects of nitrogen (N) addition on these plant-microbial interactions. In addition, we compared the magnitude of stimulation of litter decomposition due to home field advantage (HFA, decomposition occurs more rapidly when litter is placed beneath the plant species from which it had been derived than beneath a different plant species) and N addition that we previously demonstrated in this same forest, and used microbial information to interpret these results. Tree species identity had a strong and significant effect on the composition of fungal communities but not on the bacterial community of the litter layer. The microbial composition of the litter layer under the tree species mixture show an averaged contribution of each single tree species. N addition did not erase the plant species footprint on the fungal community, and neither altered the bacterial community. N addition stimulated litter decomposition as much as HFA for certain tree species, but the mechanisms behind N and HFA stimulation may have differed. Our results suggest that stimulation of decomposition from N addition might have occurred due to increased microbial activity without large changes in microbial community composition, while HFA may have resulted principally from plant species' effects on the litter fungal community. Together, our results suggest that plant-microbial interactions can be an unconsidered driver of litter decomposition in temperate forests.

SUBMITTER: Vivanco L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5951145 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Plant, fungal, bacterial, and nitrogen interactions in the litter layer of a native Patagonian forest.

Vivanco Lucía L Rascovan Nicolás N Austin Amy T AT

PeerJ 20180511

Plant-microbial interactions in the litter layer represent one of the most relevant interactions for biogeochemical cycling as litter decomposition is a key first step in carbon and nitrogen turnover. However, our understanding of these interactions in the litter layer remains elusive. In an old-growth mixed <i>Nothofagus</i> forest in Patagonia, we studied the effects of single tree species identity and the mixture of three tree species on the fungal and bacterial composition in the litter laye ...[more]

PMID: 29770275

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Project description:Discovering widespread microbial processes that drive unexpected variation in carbon cycling may improve modeling and management of soil carbon (Prescott, 2010; Wieder et al., 2015a, 2018). A first step is to identify community features linked to carbon cycle variation. We addressed this challenge using an epidemiological approach with 206 soil communities decomposing Ponderosa pine litter in 618 microcosms. Carbon flow from litter decomposition was measured over a 6-week incubation. Cumulative CO2 from microbial respiration varied two-fold among microcosms and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from litter decomposition varied five-fold, demonstrating large functional variation despite constant environmental conditions where strong selection is expected. To investigate microbial features driving DOC concentration, two microbial community cohorts were delineated as "high" and "low" DOC. For each cohort, communities from the original soils and from the final microcosm communities after the 6-week incubation with litter were taxonomically profiled. A logistic model including total biomass, fungal richness, and bacterial richness measured in the original soils or in the final microcosm communities predicted the DOC cohort with 72 (P < 0.05) and 80 (P < 0.001) percent accuracy, respectively. The strongest predictors of the DOC cohort were biomass and either fungal richness (in the original soils) or bacterial richness (in the final microcosm communities). Successful forecasting of functional patterns after lengthy community succession in a new environment reveals strong historical contingencies. Forecasting future community function is a key advance beyond correlation of functional variance with end-state community features. The importance of taxon richness-the same feature linked to carbon fate in gut microbiome studies-underscores the need for increased understanding of biotic mechanisms that can shape richness in microbial communities independent of physicochemical conditions.

Project description:BackgroundPhyllosphere microbes play important roles in host plant performance and fitness. Recent studies have suggested that tropical and temperate forests harbor diverse phyllosphere bacterial and fungal communities and their assembly is driven by host species identity and plant traits. However, no study has yet examined how seasonality (e.g. dry vs. wet seasons) influences phyllosphere microbial community assembly in natural forests. In addition, in subtropical forests characterized as the transitional zonal vegetation type from tropical to temperate forests, how tree phyllosphere microbial communities are assembled remains unknown. In this study, we quantified bacterial and fungal community structure and diversity on the leaves of 45 tree species with varying phylogenetic identities and importance values within a 20-ha lower subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest plot in dry and wet seasons. We explored if and how the microbial community assembly varies with host species identity, plant traits and seasonality.ResultsPhyllosphere microbial communities in the subtropical forest are more abundant and diverse than those in tropical and temperate forests, and the tree species share a "core microbiome" in either bacteria or fungi. Variations in phyllosphere bacterial and fungal community assembly are explained more by host species identity than by seasonality. There is a strong clustering of the phyllosphere microbial assemblage amongst trees by seasonality, and the seasonality effects are more pronounced on bacterial than fungal community assembly. Host traits have different effects on community compositions and diversities of both bacteria and fungi, and among them calcium concentration and importance value are the most powerful explaining variables for bacteria and fungi, respectively. There are significant evolutionary associations between host species and phyllosphere microbiome.ConclusionsOur results suggest that subtropical tree phyllosphere microbial communities vary with host species identity, plant traits and seasonality. Host species identity, compared to seasonality, has greater effects on phyllosphere microbial community assembly, and such effects differ between bacterial and fungal communities. These findings advance our understanding of the patterns and drivers of phyllosphere microbial community assembly in zonal forests at a global scale.

Dataset Information

Plant, fungal, bacterial, and nitrogen interactions in the litter layer of a native Patagonian forest.

Publications

Plant, fungal, bacterial, and nitrogen interactions in the litter layer of a native Patagonian forest.

Similar Datasets

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