Climate change alters temporal dynamics of alpine soil microbial functioning and biogeochemical cycling via earlier snowmelt

Abstract

Soil microbial communities regulate global biogeochemical cycles and respond rapidly to changing environmental conditions. However, understanding how soil microbial communities respond to climate change, and how this influences biogeochemical cycles, remains a major challenge. This is especially pertinent in alpine regions where climate change is taking place at double the rate of the global average, with large reductions in snow cover and earlier spring snowmelt expected as a consequence. Here, we show that spring snowmelt triggers an abrupt transition in the composition of soil microbial communities of alpine grassland that is closely linked to shifts in soil microbial functioning and biogeochemical pools and fluxes. Further, by experimentally manipulating snow cover we show that this abrupt seasonal transition in wideranging microbial and biogeochemical soil properties is advanced by earlier snowmelt. Preceding winter conditions did not change the processes that take place during snowmelt. Our findings emphasise the importance of seasonal dynamics for soil microbial communities and the biogeochemical cycles that they regulate. Moreover, our findings suggest that earlier spring snowmelt due to climate change will have far reaching consequences for microbial communities and nutrient cycling in these globally widespread alpine ecosystems.

Seasonal Variations Affect The Ecosystem Functioning And Microbial Assembly Processes In Plantation Forests

“…Our results suggest that different afforested plantations changed ecosystem functioning seasonally, consistent with previous nding [60]. We found a positive relationship between microbial diversity and composition and multifunctionality in plantation forests seasonally, corroborating the positive biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships.…”

“…A similar nding showed that oxidative activities were more variable than hydrolytic activities and increased with soil pH [59]. In addition, as mentioned previously, microbes typically invest more in enzymes, especially lignin-degrading enzymes, in summer [60]. In contrast, potential enzyme activities were potentially expected to be high in winter.…”

Glacier forelands reveal fundamental plant and microbial controls on short‐term ecosystem nitrogen retention

“…Root N is subsequently translocated to aboveground biomass (De Vries, Bloem, et al., 2012; Harrison et al., 2007), and eventually transferred to soil organic matter pools via shoot, root, and microbial turnover (Zogg et al., 2000). However, N turnover and uptake dynamics in mountain ecosystems vary strongly over the growing season (Broadbent et al., 2021), with plant and microbial uptake and competition increasing towards peak biomass (Bardgett et al., 2002). Thus, our findings from the late growing season may not reflect ecosystem N uptake and retention in the early growing season.…”

Microbial Nitrogen Transformation Potential in Sediments of Two Contrasting Lakes Is Spatially Structured but Seasonally Stable

“…We listed Betaproteobacteria here separately, as Kaiju assign them separately and does not have the SILVA132 database assignment. In the paper, Beta - and Gammaproteobacteria are summed ( 92 , 93 ). Download .…”