Dataset Information

Rapid Microbial Community Changes During Initial Stages of Pine Litter Decomposition.

ABSTRACT: Plant litter decomposition is a process enabling biogeochemical cycles closing in ecosystems, and decomposition in forests constitutes the largest part of this process taking place in terrestrial biomes. Microbial communities during litter decomposition were studied mainly with low-throughput techniques not allowing detailed insight, particularly into coniferous litter, as it is more difficult to obtain high quality DNA required for analyses. Motivated by these problems, we analyzed archaeal, bacterial, and eukaryotic communities at three decomposition stages: fresh, 3- and 8-month-old litter by 16/18S rDNA pyrosequencing, aiming at detailed insight into early stages of pine litter decomposition. Archaea were absent from our libraries. Bacterial and eukaryotic diversity was greatest in 8-month-old litter and the same applied to bacterial and fungal rDNA content. Community structure was different at various stages of decomposition, and phyllospheric organisms (bacteria: Acetobacteraceae and Pseudomonadaceae members, fungi: Lophodermium, Phoma) were replaced by communities with metabolic capabilities adapted to the particular stage of decomposition. Sphingomonadaceae and Xanthomonadaceae and fungal genera Sistotrema, Ceuthospora, and Athelia were characteristic for 3-month-old samples, while 8-month-old ones were characterized by Bradyrhizobiaceae and nematodes (Plectus). We suggest that bacterial and eukaryotic decomposer communities change at different stages of pine litter decomposition in a way similar to that in broadleaf litter. Interactions between bacteria and eukaryotes appear to be one of the key drivers of microbial community structure.

SUBMITTER: Golebiewski M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6318262 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rapid Microbial Community Changes During Initial Stages of Pine Litter Decomposition.

Gołębiewski Marcin M Tarasek Agata A Sikora Marcin M Deja-Sikora Edyta E Tretyn Andrzej A Niklińska Maria M

Microbial ecology 20180530 1

Plant litter decomposition is a process enabling biogeochemical cycles closing in ecosystems, and decomposition in forests constitutes the largest part of this process taking place in terrestrial biomes. Microbial communities during litter decomposition were studied mainly with low-throughput techniques not allowing detailed insight, particularly into coniferous litter, as it is more difficult to obtain high quality DNA required for analyses. Motivated by these problems, we analyzed archaeal, ba ...[more]

PMID: 29850933

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Project description:Mixing plant litters of multiple species can alter litter decomposition, a key driver of carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Changes in microbial decomposer communities is proposed as one of the mechanisms explaining this litter-mixture effect, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. In a microcosm litterbag experiment, we found that, at the early stage of decomposition, litter mixing promoted tomato root litter decomposition, thus generating a synergistic nonadditive litter-mixture effect. The transplanting decomposer community experiment showed that changes in microbial decomposer communities contributed to the nonadditive litter-mixture effect on tomato root litter decomposition. Moreover, litter mixing altered the abundance and diversity of bacterial and fungal communities on tomato root litter. Litter mixing also stimulated several putative keystone operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the microbial correlation network, such as Fusarium sp. fOTU761 and Microbacterium sp. bOTU6632. Then, we isolated and cultured representative isolates of these two taxa, named Fusarium sp. F13 and Microbacterium sp. B26. Subsequent in vitro tests found that F13, but not B26, had strong decomposing ability; moreover, these two isolates developed synergistic interaction, thus promoted litter decomposition in coculture. Addition of F13 or B26 both promoted the decomposing activity of the resident decomposer community on tomato root litter, confirming their importance for litter decomposition. Overall, litter mixing promoted tomato root litter decomposition through altering microbial decomposers, especially through stimulating certain putative keystone taxa. IMPORTANCE Microbial decomposer community plays a key role in litter decomposition, which is an important regulator of soil carbon and nutrient cycling. Though changes in decomposer communities has been proposed as one of the potential underlying mechanisms driving the litter-mixture effects, direct evidence is still lacking. Here, we demonstrated that litter mixing stimulated litter decomposition through altering microbial decomposers at the early stage of decomposition. Moreover, certain putative keystone taxa stimulated by litter mixing contributed to the nonadditive litter-mixture effect. In vitro culturing validated the role of these taxa in litter decomposition. This study also highlights the possibility of regulating litter decomposition through manipulating certain microbial taxa.

Project description:What is the effect of phyllosphere microorganisms on litter decomposition in the absence of colonization by soil microorganisms? Here, we simulated the litter standing decomposition stage in the field to study the differences in the composition and structure of the phyllosphere microbial community after the mixed decomposition of Populus × canadensis and Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica litter. After 15 months of mixed decomposition, we discovered that litters that were not in contact with soil had an antagonistic effect (the actual decomposition rate was 18.18%, which is lower than the expected decomposition rate) and the difference between the litters themselves resulted in a negative response to litter decomposition. In addition, there was no significant difference in bacterial and fungal community diversity after litter decomposition. The litter bacterial community was negatively responsive to litter properties and positively responsive to the fungal community. Importantly, we found that bacterial communities had a greater impact on litter decomposition than fungi. This study has enriched our understanding of the decomposition of litter itself and provided a theoretical basis for further exploring the "additive and non-additive effects" of litter decomposition and the mechanism of microbial drive.ImportanceThe study of litter decomposition mechanism plays an important role in the material circulation of the global ecosystem. However, previous studies have often looked at contact with soil as the starting point for decomposition. But actually, standing litter is very common in forest ecosystems. Therefore, we used field simulation experiments to simulate the decomposition of litters without contact with soil for 15 months, to explore the combined and non-added benefits of the decomposition of mixed litters, and to study the influence of microbial community composition on the decomposition rate while comparing the differences of microbial communities.

Dataset Information

Rapid Microbial Community Changes During Initial Stages of Pine Litter Decomposition.

Publications

Rapid Microbial Community Changes During Initial Stages of Pine Litter Decomposition.

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