TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking plant litter microbial diversity to microhabitat conditions, environmental gradients and litter mass loss: Insights from a European study using standard litter bags
AU - Domene Casadesús, Xavier
N1 - Funding Information:
This study is part of a pan-European multisite project supported by the ALTER-Net consortium, Europe's Ecosystem Research Network ; it is co-financed within their multisite experiment programme. JMS acknowledges (a) the Strategic theme Sustainability of Utrecht University , sub-theme Water, Climate, and Ecosystems and (b) the Swedish research council (VR) for funding. We warmly acknowledge Corrado Leone, Rebecca Magnusson, Pascal Courtois and Johannes Tiwari, at SITES (VR) and Matthias Cuntz, Joost Keuskamp, Bernat Claramunt Lopez, Joan Pino, Heide Spiegel for their contribution in the field activities. Finally, we thank Luca Agea and Carlotta Mazzone of the high school Rainerum in Bolzano, and Michele Fiorese and Martina Verdone from the high school Galileo Galilei in Bolzano for practical help in the nucleic acid extractions within the school-work didactic alternation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/5/1
Y1 - 2020/5/1
N2 - Plant litter decomposition is a key process for carbon dynamics and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The interaction between litter properties, climatic conditions and soil attributes, influences the activity of microorganisms responsible for litter mineralization. So far, studies using standardized litters to investigate the response of bacterial and fungal communities under different environmental conditions are scarce, especially along wide geographic ranges. We used a standardized protocol to investigate the diversity of bacteria and fungi in plant litter with the aim of: (i) comparing the microbial communities of native and exotic litters with the community of local soil along a European transect from northern Finland to southern Italy, (ii) defining whether and to what extent, litter types with different traits represent selective substrates for microbial communities, (iii) disentangling the abiotic drivers of microbial diversity, and (iv) correlating the microbial diversity and species co-occurrences patterns with litter mass loss. We buried native litter and three exotic standardized litters (Deschampsia cespitosa, rooibos tea and green tea) at 12 European study sites. We determined litter mass loss after 94 days. We used an automated molecular DNA-based fingerprinting (ARISA) to profile the bacterial and fungal communities of each litter type and soil (180 samples in total). Microbial communities in native and exotic litters differed from local soil assemblages. Green tea and D. cespitosa litter represented more selective substrates compared to native litter and rooibos. Soil moisture and soil temperature were the major drivers of microbial community structure at larger scales, though with varying patterns according to litter type. Soil attributes (i.e. moisture and C/N ratios) better explained the differences in microbial abundances than litter type. Green tea degraded faster than all other litter types and accounted for the largest number of positive co-occurrences among microbial taxa. Litter mass loss was positively correlated with fungal evenness and with the percentage of positive co-occurrences between fungi. Our findings suggest that the microbial community at larger scales reflects the complex interplay between litter type and soil attributes, with the latter exerting a major influence. Mass loss patterns are in part determined by inter- and intra-kingdom interactions and fungal diversity.
AB - Plant litter decomposition is a key process for carbon dynamics and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The interaction between litter properties, climatic conditions and soil attributes, influences the activity of microorganisms responsible for litter mineralization. So far, studies using standardized litters to investigate the response of bacterial and fungal communities under different environmental conditions are scarce, especially along wide geographic ranges. We used a standardized protocol to investigate the diversity of bacteria and fungi in plant litter with the aim of: (i) comparing the microbial communities of native and exotic litters with the community of local soil along a European transect from northern Finland to southern Italy, (ii) defining whether and to what extent, litter types with different traits represent selective substrates for microbial communities, (iii) disentangling the abiotic drivers of microbial diversity, and (iv) correlating the microbial diversity and species co-occurrences patterns with litter mass loss. We buried native litter and three exotic standardized litters (Deschampsia cespitosa, rooibos tea and green tea) at 12 European study sites. We determined litter mass loss after 94 days. We used an automated molecular DNA-based fingerprinting (ARISA) to profile the bacterial and fungal communities of each litter type and soil (180 samples in total). Microbial communities in native and exotic litters differed from local soil assemblages. Green tea and D. cespitosa litter represented more selective substrates compared to native litter and rooibos. Soil moisture and soil temperature were the major drivers of microbial community structure at larger scales, though with varying patterns according to litter type. Soil attributes (i.e. moisture and C/N ratios) better explained the differences in microbial abundances than litter type. Green tea degraded faster than all other litter types and accounted for the largest number of positive co-occurrences among microbial taxa. Litter mass loss was positively correlated with fungal evenness and with the percentage of positive co-occurrences between fungi. Our findings suggest that the microbial community at larger scales reflects the complex interplay between litter type and soil attributes, with the latter exerting a major influence. Mass loss patterns are in part determined by inter- and intra-kingdom interactions and fungal diversity.
KW - Abiotic drivers
KW - Litter decomposition
KW - Microbial co-occurrences
KW - Microbial communities' diversity
KW - Molecular fingerprinting
KW - Pan-European study
KW - BIODIVERSITY
KW - CARBON
KW - DECOMPOSITION
KW - BACTERIAL
KW - LEAF-LITTER
KW - COMMUNITY STRUCTURE
KW - FUNGAL DIVERSITY
KW - GROWTH
KW - DYNAMICS
KW - SOIL
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107778
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081022662&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/247da50d-1bb2-3c1d-b5f3-1ba8ca6f8afb/
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107778
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107778
M3 - Artículo
VL - 144
M1 - 107778
ER -