Dataset Information

Depth dependence of climatic controls on soil microbial community activity and composition.

ABSTRACT: Subsoil microbiomes play important roles in soil carbon and nutrient cycling, yet our understanding of the controls on subsoil microbial communities is limited. Here, we investigated the direct (mean annual temperature and precipitation) and indirect (soil chemistry) effects of climate on microbiome composition and extracellular enzyme activity throughout the soil profile across two elevation-bioclimatic gradients in central California, USA. We found that microbiome composition changes and activity decreases with depth. Across these sites, the direct influence of climate on microbiome composition and activity was relatively lower at depth. Furthermore, we found that certain microbial taxa change in relative abundance over large temperature and precipitation gradients only in specific soil horizons, highlighting the depth dependence of the climatic controls on microbiome composition. Our finding that the direct impacts of climate are muted at depth suggests that deep soil microbiomes may lag in their acclimation to new temperatures with a changing climate.

SUBMITTER: Dove NC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9723684 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Depth dependence of climatic controls on soil microbial community activity and composition.

Dove Nicholas C NC Barnes Morgan E ME Moreland Kimber K Graham Robert C RC Berhe Asmeret Asefaw AA Hart Stephen C SC

ISME communications 20211215 1

Subsoil microbiomes play important roles in soil carbon and nutrient cycling, yet our understanding of the controls on subsoil microbial communities is limited. Here, we investigated the direct (mean annual temperature and precipitation) and indirect (soil chemistry) effects of climate on microbiome composition and extracellular enzyme activity throughout the soil profile across two elevation-bioclimatic gradients in central California, USA. We found that microbiome composition changes and activ ...[more]

PMID: 37938290

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Project description:BackgroundCrop rotation is an important agricultural practice that often affects the metabolic processes of soil microorganisms through the composition and combination of crops, thereby altering nutrient cycling and supply to the soil. Although the benefits of crop rotation have been extensively discussed, the effects and mechanisms of different crop combinations on the soil microbial community structure in specific environments still need to be analyzed in detail.Materials and methodsIn this study, six crop rotation systems were selected, for which the spring crops were mainly tobacco or gramineous crops: AT (asparagus lettuce and tobacco rotation), BT (broad bean and tobacco rotation), OT (oilseed rape and tobacco rotation), AM (asparagus lettuce and maize rotation), BM (broad bean and maize rotation), and OR (oilseed rape and rice rotation). All crops had been cultivated for > 10 years. Soil samples were collected when the rotation was completed in spring, after which the soil properties, composition, and functions of bacterial and fungal communities were analyzed.ResultsThe results indicate that spring cultivated crops play a more dominant role in the crop rotation systems than do autumn cultivated crops. Crop rotation systems with the same spring crops have similar soil properties and microbial community compositions. pH and AK are the most important factors driving microbial community changes, and bacteria are more sensitive to environmental responses than fungi. Rotation using tobacco systems led to soil acidification and a decrease in microbial diversity, while the number of biomarkers and taxonomic indicator species differed between rotation patterns. Symbiotic network analysis revealed that the network complexity of OT and BM was the highest, and that the network density of tobacco systems was lower than that of gramineous systems.ConclusionsDifferent crop rotation combinations influence both soil microbial communities and soil nutrient conditions. The spring crops in the crop rotation systems had stronger dominating effects, and the soil bacteria were more sensitive than the fungi were to environmental changes. The tobacco rotation system can cause soil acidification and thereby affect soil sustainability, while the complexity of soil microbial networks is lower than that of gramineous systems. These results provide a reference for future sustainable applications of rotation crop systems.

Project description:Along a long-term ecosystem development gradient, soil nutrient contents and mineralogical properties change, therefore probably altering soil microbial communities. However, knowledge about the dynamics of soil microbial communities during long-term ecosystem development including progressive and retrogressive stages is limited, especially in mineral soils. Therefore, microbial abundances (quantitative PCR) and community composition (pyrosequencing) as well as their controlling soil properties were investigated in soil depth profiles along the 120,000 years old Franz Josef chronosequence (New Zealand). Additionally, in a microcosm incubation experiment the effects of particular soil properties, i.e., soil age, soil organic matter fraction (mineral-associated vs. particulate), O2 status, and carbon and phosphorus additions, on microbial abundances (quantitative PCR) and community patterns (T-RFLP) were analyzed. The archaeal to bacterial abundance ratio not only increased with soil depth but also with soil age along the chronosequence, coinciding with mineralogical changes and increasing phosphorus limitation. Results of the incubation experiment indicated that archaeal abundances were less impacted by the tested soil parameters compared to Bacteria suggesting that Archaea may better cope with mineral-induced substrate restrictions in subsoils and older soils. Instead, archaeal communities showed a soil age-related compositional shift with the Bathyarchaeota, that were frequently detected in nutrient-poor, low-energy environments, being dominant at the oldest site. However, bacterial communities remained stable with ongoing soil development. In contrast to the abundances, the archaeal compositional shift was associated with the mineralogical gradient. Our study revealed, that archaeal and bacterial communities in whole soil profiles are differently affected by long-term soil development with archaeal communities probably being better adapted to subsoil conditions, especially in nutrient-depleted old soils.

Dataset Information

Depth dependence of climatic controls on soil microbial community activity and composition.

Publications

Depth dependence of climatic controls on soil microbial community activity and composition.

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