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Tree Species and Epiphyte Taxa Determine the "Metabolomic niche" of Canopy Suspended Soils in a Species-Rich Lowland Tropical Rainforest.

ABSTRACT: Tropical forests are biodiversity hotspots, but it is not well understood how this diversity is structured and maintained. One hypothesis rests on the generation of a range of metabolic niches, with varied composition, supporting a high species diversity. Characterizing soil metabolomes can reveal fine-scale differences in composition and potentially help explain variation across these habitats. In particular, little is known about canopy soils, which are unique habitats that are likely to be sources of additional biodiversity and biogeochemical cycling in tropical forests. We studied the effects of diverse tree species and epiphytes on soil metabolomic profiles of forest floor and canopy suspended soils in a French Guianese rainforest. We found that the metabolomic profiles of canopy suspended soils were distinct from those of forest floor soils, differing between epiphyte-associated and non-epiphyte suspended soils, and the metabolomic profiles of suspended soils varied with host tree species, regardless of association with epiphyte. Thus, tree species is a key driver of rainforest suspended soil metabolomics. We found greater abundance of metabolites in suspended soils, particularly in groups associated with plants, such as phenolic compounds, and with metabolic pathways related to amino acids, nucleotides, and energy metabolism, due to the greater relative proportion of tree and epiphyte organic material derived from litter and root exudates, indicating a strong legacy of parent biological material. Our study provides evidence for the role of tree and epiphyte species in canopy soil metabolomic composition and in maintaining the high levels of soil metabolome diversity in this tropical rainforest. It is likely that a wide array of canopy microsite-level environmental conditions, which reflect interactions between trees and epiphytes, increase the microscale diversity in suspended soil metabolomes.

SUBMITTER: Gargallo-Garriga A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8621298 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The impact of anthropogenic habitat alteration on amphibians was investigated, employing an investigative focus on leaf-litter and semi-aquatic species across different habitat alteration types. The habitat alteration types which include primary forest, selectively logged primary forest, secondary forest, abandoned farm areas and pasture (this represents a gradient of habitat alteration ranging from least altered to most altered, respectively) also encompass two habitat types: stream and terrestrial. Species assemblage was compared between habitat alteration types and habitat types, where a total 360 leaf-litter and semi-aquatic amphibians were observed (15 species, 6 families). It was found that amphibian abundance was significantly higher in both forest and stream habitat, and species richness did not differ with respect to habitat alteration type. It was determined, however, that species richness was highly dependent on habitat type (significantly higher in stream habitat). Meanwhile, diversity (Shannon-Wiener) was significantly higher in both forest and stream habitat, and species composition differed markedly between habitat alteration types for stream strip plots. Forest habitat exhibited domination by forest specialist species, while altered habitat (abandoned farm areas and pasture) exhibited domination by open-habitat specialist species. Additionally, strong relationships were found between species composition and abundance, as well as richness and diversity (within the measured habitat structures and observed microclimatic conditions). Analyses determined that the higher abundance of leaf-litter and semi-aquatic amphibians was best explained by higher DBH (1.3 m from the ground) and lower temperature and the higher species richness was best explained by higher understorey density. Additionally, higher diversity was associated with increasing understorey density, tree density and temperature. In general, the assemblage of leaf-litter and semi-aquatic amphibians in the lowland tropical rainforest in northeastern Leyte was affected by habitat alteration, highlighting the on-going importance of conservation efforts.

Project description:BackgroundFull floristic data, tree demography, and biomass estimates incorporating non-tree lifeforms are seldom collected and reported for forest plots in the tropics. Established research stations serve as important repositories of such biodiversity and ecological data. With a canopy crane setup within a tropical lowland rainforest estate, the 42-ha Daintree Rainforest Observatory (DRO) in Cape Tribulation, northern Australia is a research facility of international significance. We obtained an estimate of the vascular plant species richness for the site, by surveying all vascular plant species from various mature-phase, remnant and open vegetation patches within the site. We also integrate and report the demography and basal areas of trees ? 10 cm diameter at breast height (dbh) in a new 1-ha core plot, an extension to the pre-existing forest 1-ha plot under the canopy crane. In addition, we report for the canopy crane plot new demography and basal areas for smaller-size shrubs and treelets subsampled from nine 20 m(2) quadrats, and liana basal area and abundance from the whole plot. The DRO site has an estimated total vascular plant species richness of 441 species, of which 172 species (39%) are endemic to Australia, and 4 species are endemics to the Daintree region. The 2 x 1-ha plots contains a total of 262 vascular plant species of which 116 (1531 individuals) are tree species ? 10 cm dbh. We estimate a stem basal area of 34.9 m(2) ha(-1), of which small stems (tree saplings and shrubs <10cm dbh) and lianas collectively contribute c.4.2%. Comparing the stem density-diversity patterns of the DRO forest with other tropical rainforests globally, our meta-analysis shows that DRO forests has a comparatively high stem density and moderate species diversity, due to the influence of cyclones. These data will provide an important foundation for ecological and conservation studies in lowland tropical forest.New informationWe present a floristic checklist, a lifeform breakdown, and demography data from two 1-ha rainforest plots from a lowland tropical rainforest study site. We also present a meta-analysis of stem densities and species diversity from comparable-sized plots across the tropics.

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Tree Species and Epiphyte Taxa Determine the "Metabolomic niche" of Canopy Suspended Soils in a Species-Rich Lowland Tropical Rainforest.

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