Dataset Information

Soil Bacterial Diversity Is Positively Correlated with Decomposition Rates during Early Phases of Maize Litter Decomposition.

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to investigate the effects of different levels of soil- and plant-associated bacterial diversity on the rates of litter decomposition, and bacterial community dynamics during its early phases. We performed an incubation experiment where soil bacterial diversity (but not abundance) was manipulated by autoclaving and reinoculation. Natural or autoclaved maize leaves were applied to the soils and incubated for 6 weeks. Bacterial diversity was assessed before and during litter decomposition using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. We found a positive correlation between litter decomposition rates and soil bacterial diversity. The soil with the highest bacterial diversity was dominated by oligotrophic bacteria including Acidobacteria, Nitrospiraceae, and Gaiellaceae, and its community composition did not change during the incubation. In the less diverse soils, those taxa were absent but were replaced by copiotrophic bacteria, such as Caulobacteraceae and Beijerinckiaceae, until the end of the incubation period. SourceTracker analysis revealed that litter-associated bacteria, such as Beijerinckiaceae, only became part of the bacterial communities in the less diverse soils. This suggests a pivotal role of oligotrophic bacteria during the early phases of litter decomposition and the predominance of copiotrophic bacteria at low diversity.

SUBMITTER: Chiba A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7916959 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Soil Bacterial Diversity Is Positively Correlated with Decomposition Rates during Early Phases of Maize Litter Decomposition.

Chiba Akane A Uchida Yoshitaka Y Kublik Susanne S Vestergaard Gisle G Buegger Franz F Schloter Michael M Schulz Stefanie S

Microorganisms 20210211 2

This study aimed to investigate the effects of different levels of soil- and plant-associated bacterial diversity on the rates of litter decomposition, and bacterial community dynamics during its early phases. We performed an incubation experiment where soil bacterial diversity (but not abundance) was manipulated by autoclaving and reinoculation. Natural or autoclaved maize leaves were applied to the soils and incubated for 6 weeks. Bacterial diversity was assessed before and during litter decom ...[more]

PMID: 33670245

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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:Biodiversity is a major driver of numerous ecosystem functions. However, consequences of changes in forest biodiversity remain difficult to predict because of limited knowledge about how tree diversity influences ecosystem functions. Litter decomposition is a key process affecting nutrient cycling, productivity, and carbon storage and can be influenced by plant biodiversity. Leaf litter species composition, environmental conditions, and the detritivore community are main components of the decomposition process, but their complex interactions are poorly understood. In this study, we tested the effect of tree functional diversity (FD) on litter decomposition in a field experiment manipulating tree diversity and partitioned the effects of litter physiochemical diversity and the detritivore community. We used litterbags with different mesh sizes to separate the effects of microorganisms and microfauna, mesofauna, and macrofauna and monitored soil fauna using pitfall traps and earthworm extractions. We hypothesized that higher tree litter FD accelerates litter decomposition due to the availability of complementary food components and higher activity of detritivores. Although we did not find direct effects of tree FD on litter decomposition, we identified key litter traits and macrodetritivores that explained part of the process. Litter mass loss was found to decrease with an increase in leaf litter carbon:nitrogen ratio. Moreover, litter mass loss increased with an increasing density of epigeic earthworms, with most pronounced effects in litterbags with a smaller mesh size, indicating indirect effects. Higher litter FD and litter nutrient content were found to increase the density of surface-dwelling macrofauna and epigeic earthworm biomass. Based on structural equation modeling, we conclude that tree FD has a weak positive effect on soil surface litter decomposition by increasing the density of epigeic earthworms and that litter nitrogen-related traits play a central role in tree composition effects on soil fauna and decomposition.

Dataset Information

Soil Bacterial Diversity Is Positively Correlated with Decomposition Rates during Early Phases of Maize Litter Decomposition.

Publications

Soil Bacterial Diversity Is Positively Correlated with Decomposition Rates during Early Phases of Maize Litter Decomposition.

Similar Datasets

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