Arid Ecosystem Vegetation Canopy-Gap Dichotomy: Influence on Soil Microbial Composition and Nutrient Cycling Functional Potential.

ABSTRACT: Increasing temperatures and drought in desert ecosystems are predicted to cause decreased vegetation density combined with barren ground expansion. It remains unclear how nutrient availability, microbial diversity, and the associated functional capacity vary between vegetated-canopy and gap soils. The specific aim of this study was to characterize canopy vs gap microsite effect on soil microbial diversity, the capacity of gap soils to serve as a canopy-soil microbial reservoir, nitrogen (N)-mineralization genetic potential (ureC gene abundance) and urease enzyme activity, and microbial-nutrient pool associations in four arid-hyperarid geolocations of the western Sonoran Desert, Arizona (USA). Microsite combined with geolocation explained 57% and 45.8% of the observed variation in ba

SUBMITTER: Kushwaha P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8090872 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature