Crust cover and prior soil moisture status affect the response of soil microbial community and function to extreme rain events in an arid area

Papatheodorou, Efimia M.; Papapostolou, Anastasia; Monokrousos, Nikolaos; Jones, David W.; Scullion, John; Stamou, George P.

doi:10.1016/j.ejsobi.2020.103243

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In arid and semiarid regions, water content is the predominant factor influencing ecosystem restoration and soil microbes. Soil enzymes generated mainly by microbes and the strengthening effects of MAP and MAT on soil enzymes activities in deeper soil layer manifested the pronounce reduction of water availability and lower temperature on soil microbes in deeper soil depths of water‐limited habitats (Papatheodorou et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depth‐related response of soil enzymes to cyanobacteria‐dominated crusts along a precipitation gradient

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Land Degrad Dev

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This study aimed to elucidate the ecological role of cyanobacteria-dominated crusts on soil enzymes activities along a precipitation gradient. Results showed that proteins and polysaccharides contents of cyanobacterial-dominated crusts changed significantly among nine sample sites. Meanwhile, proteins and polysaccharides displayed a downward trend with increasing thickness and decreased with increasing mean annual temperature, while these two first increased, and then decreased with increasing chlorophyll a. The pronounced variations of polysaccharides and proteins could be explained by the shift in cyanobacteria species composition due to the discrepancy of succession stage at the regional scale. Activities of soil enzymes decreased with depth and varied significantly among sample sites. Redundancy analysis showed that soil enzymes activities in 0-2 cm were mainly explained by microbial biomass, polysaccharides, and soil organic carbon, and those in 2-5 cm were mainly influenced by microbial biomass and climate, while those in 5-10 cm were mainly affected by climate. The results highlighted the intrinsic involvement of microbes in shallower soil (0-5 cm) after the establishment of crusts and proved the effect of polysaccharides on surface soil (0-2 cm) enzymes activities. The strengthened effect of climate on soil enzymes activities in depths manifested the water availability and temperature would restrict soil microbial activity. Therefore, we concluded that the response of soil enzymes activities beneath the cyanobacteria-dominated crusts is depth related. Overall, our findings will provide a better knowledge of cyanobacteria-dominated crusts properties at the regional scale, and its effects on soil enzymes activities can replenish the understanding of cyanobacteria-dominated crusts on biogeochemical processes. K E Y W O R D Sarid and semiarid ecosystem, cyanobacteria-dominated crusts, microbial biomass, polysaccharides, soil enzymes activities | INTRODUCTIONSoil enzymes are derived from living and dead microbes, soil organisms, plant roots and residues, and pivotal in mediating and catalyzing soil functions, for example, organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling, which closely link with life processes of microorganisms in soils (Dick, 1994). Due to the widely acknowledged sensitivities to naturally or anthropogenically induced soil disturbances and the advantages of easy to be measured, soil enzymes activities have been often considered as a reliable measurement of soil performance to different vegetation, soil physicochemical properties, microbial community, and succession

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depth‐related response of soil enzymes to cyanobacteria‐dominated crusts along a precipitation gradient

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Land Degrad Dev

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“…Toward the end of a prolonged summer drought at September 2016, soil was collected from a semi-arid area in Halkidiki (Greece). A complete description of the site and experimental design has been given in a previous work (Papatheodorou et al, 2020). In brief, the shrubby vegetation was dominated by ericaceous shrubs, while the open sites between shrubs were occupied by Cladonia rangiformis biocrust.…”

Section: The Field Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Mediterranean region, BSC is the main settler in open lands. Its presence reinforces the ability of soil to retain water (Papatheodorou et al, 2020), plays a positive role in stabilizing degraded soils (Porada et al, 2014;Lenhart et al, 2015;Belnap et al, 2016), while also being the major factor shaping processes in the underlying soil layer and facilitating plant establishment (Maestre et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous work (Papatheodorou et al, 2020), the authors studied the dynamics of soil microbial biomass and the composition of microbial communities developed under experimentally created water regimes and crust cover and which were then further subjected to two episodes of heavy rainfall. That study showed that the impact of the second heavy rain on community composition was in most cases milder than that of the first one, a fact that was attributed to community acclimatization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recurring heavy rainfall resulting in degraded-upgraded phases in soil microbial networks that are reflected in soil functioning

et al. 2023

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Abstract• We assess the recovery of microbial networks underneath crust to repeated rainfall.• The network fragmentation after the second heavy rain was milder than at the first one.• Cohesive networks were related to high enzyme activity involved in C, N, and P cycles.• Loose networks were related to high Ca, K, Mg, NH4 and organic N.• The network in dry-crusted soils collapsed after the second heavy rain.Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are an important multi-trophic component of arid ecosystems in the Mediterranean region. In a mesocosm experiment, the authors investigated how the network of interactions among the members of the soil microbial communities in four types of soil sample responded when soils were exposed to two simulated extreme rain events. The four types of soil samples were: covered by Cladonia rangiformis and previously hydrated (+BSC+H), covered by C. rangiformis and dried (+BSC−H), uncovered and hydrated (−BSC+H), uncovered and dried (−BSC−H). Network analysis was based on the co-occurrence patterns of microbes; microbes were assessed by the phospholipid fatty acids analysis. The authors further explored the relations between networks’ metrics and soil functions denoted by enzymatic activity and soil chemical variables. All networks exhibited Small world properties, moderate values of clustering coefficient and eigen centrality, indicating the lack of hub nodes. The networks in −BSC−H soils appeared coherent during the pre-rain phases and they became modular after rains, while those in +BSC−H soils kept their connectivity till the second rain but this then collapsed. The network metrics that were indicative of cohesive networks tended to be related to enzyme activity while those that characterized the loose networks were related to Ca, K, Mg, NH 4 + and organic N. In all mesocosms except for +BSC−H, networks’ fragmentation after the second heavy rain was milder than after the first one, supporting the idea of community acclimatization. The response of microbial networks to heavy rains was characterized by the tendency to exhibit degradation-reconstruction phases. The network collapse in the crusted only mesocosms showed that the communities beneath crusts in arid areas were extremely vulnerable to recurring heavy rain events.

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“…Physical disturbance could lead to reverse succession and even destruction of biocrusts ( Darby et al, 2010 ; Ferrenberg et al, 2015 ). At small scales, physical disturbance destroys the structure of biocrusts and significantly reduces the ability of resisting wind ( Munkhtsetseg et al, 2017 ; Gao et al, 2020 ; Papatheodorou et al, 2020 ). It is reported that the restoration of biocrusts would take more than 10 years after physical disturbance ( Dojani et al, 2011 ), indicating that physical disturbance is an important factor restricting the development of biocrusts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical Disturbance Reduces Cyanobacterial Relative Abundance and Substrate Metabolism Potential of Biological Soil Crusts on a Gold Mine Tailing of Central China

et al. 2022

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As the critical ecological engineers, biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are considered to play essential roles in improving substrate conditions during ecological rehabilitation processes. Physical disturbance, however, often leads to the degradation of biocrusts, and it remains unclear how the physical disturbance affects biocrust microorganisms and their related metabolism. In this study, the photosynthetic biomass (indicated by chlorophyll a), nutrients, enzyme activities, and bacterial communities of biocrusts were investigated in a gold mine tailing of Central China to evaluate the impact of physical disturbance on biocrusts during the rehabilitation process of gold mine tailings. The results show that physical disturbance significantly reduced the photosynthetic biomass, nutrient contents (organic carbon, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and total phosphorus), and enzyme activities (β-glucosidase, sucrase, nitrogenase, neutral phosphatase, and urease) of biocrusts in the mine tailings. Furthermore, 16S rDNA sequencing showed that physical disturbance strongly changed the composition, structure, and interactions of the bacterial community, leading to a shift from a cyanobacteria dominated community to a heterotrophic bacteria (proteobacteria, actinobacteria, and acidobacteria) dominated community and a more complex bacterial network (higher complexity, nodes, and edges). Altogether, our results show that the biocrusts dominated by cyanobacteria could also develop in the tailings of humid region, and the dominants (e.g., Microcoleus) were the same as those from dryland biocrusts; nevertheless, physical disturbance significantly reduced cyanobacterial relative abundance in biocrusts. Based on our findings, we propose the future work on cyanobacterial inoculation (e.g., Microcoleus), which is expected to promote substrate metabolism and accumulation, ultimately accelerating the development of biocrusts and the subsequent ecological restoration of tailings.

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Crust cover and prior soil moisture status affect the response of soil microbial community and function to extreme rain events in an arid area

Cited by 16 publications

References 39 publications

Depth‐related response of soil enzymes to cyanobacteria‐dominated crusts along a precipitation gradient

Depth‐related response of soil enzymes to cyanobacteria‐dominated crusts along a precipitation gradient

Recurring heavy rainfall resulting in degraded-upgraded phases in soil microbial networks that are reflected in soil functioning

Physical Disturbance Reduces Cyanobacterial Relative Abundance and Substrate Metabolism Potential of Biological Soil Crusts on a Gold Mine Tailing of Central China

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