Land use alters the resistance and resilience of soil food webs to drought

Vries, Franciska T. de; Liiri, Mira; Bjørnlund, Lisa; Bowker, Matthew A.; Christensen, Søren; Setälä, Heikki; Bardgett, Richard D.

doi:10.1038/nclimate1368

Cited by 536 publications

(424 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In contrast with bacteria, the potentially active soil fungal community showed little response to differing precipitation treatments and to subsequent wet-up. This is consistent with the expected larger resistance of fungi than bacteria to drought (Bapiri et al, 2010;Barnard et al, 2013) and the generally more stable properties of fungal food webs compared to bacterial food webs (de Vries et al, 2012a).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Changing precipitation pattern alters soil microbial community response to wet-up under a Mediterranean-type climate

2014

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A large soil CO 2 pulse is associated with rewetting soils after the dry summer period under a Mediterranean-type climate, significantly contributing to grasslands' annual carbon budget. Rapid reactivation of soil heterotrophs and a pulse of available carbon are both required to fuel the CO 2 pulse. Understanding of the effects of altered summer precipitation on the metabolic state of indigenous microorganisms may be important in predicting changes in carbon cycling. Here, we investigated the effects of extending winter rainfall into the normally dry summer period on soil microbial response to a controlled rewetting event, by following the present (DNA-based) and potentially active (rRNA-based) soil bacterial and fungal communities in intact soil cores (from a California annual grassland) previously subjected to three different precipitation patterns over 4 months (full summer dry season, extended wet season and absent dry season). Phylogenetic marker genes for bacteria and fungi were sequenced before and after rewetting, and the abundance of these genes and transcripts was measured. After having experienced markedly different antecedent water conditions, the potentially active bacterial communities showed a consistent wet-up response. We found a significant positive relation between the extent of change in the structure of the potentially active bacterial community and the magnitude of the CO 2 pulse upon rewetting dry soils. We suggest that the duration of severe dry summer conditions characteristic of the Mediterranean climate is important in conditioning the response potential of the soil microbial community to wet-up as well as in framing the magnitude of the associated CO 2 pulse.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Changing precipitation pattern alters soil microbial community response to wet-up under a Mediterranean-type climate

2014

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“…In contrast, the fungal community generally remained unaffected by desiccation. Our direct characterisation of the stronger desiccation resistance of the potential activity of fungi compared with bacteria is consistent with the results from recent studies that used a PFLA approach to document the stability of fungal-based compared with bacterialbased food webs in grasslands (Gordon et al, 2008;de Vries et al, et al, 2012).…”

Section: Bacterial and Fungal Community-level Responsesupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Field-based evidence of different bacterial groups displaying contrasting desiccationrelated life-strategies nevertheless remain scarce. Tolerance to desiccation may also result from morphological life form: fungi are generally considered more resistant to desiccation than bacteria (Gordon et al, 2008;de Vries et al, 2012), with hyphae that may cross air-filled soil pores to access nutrients and water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to extreme desiccation and rewetting

2013

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The microbial response to summer desiccation reflects adaptation strategies, setting the stage for a large rainfall-induced soil CO 2 pulse upon rewetting, an important component of the ecosystem carbon budget. In three California annual grasslands, the present (DNA-based) and potentially active (RNA-based) soil bacterial and fungal communities were tracked over a summer season and in response to controlled rewetting of intact soil cores. Phylogenetic marker genes for bacterial (16S) and fungal (28S) RNA and DNA were sequenced, and the abundances of these genes and transcripts were measured. Although bacterial community composition differed among sites, all sites shared a similar response pattern of the present and potentially active bacterial community to dry-down and wet-up. In contrast, the fungal community was not detectably different among sites, and was largely unaffected by dry-down, showing marked resistance to dessication. The potentially active bacterial community changed significantly as summer dry-down progressed, then returned to pre-dry-down composition within several hours of rewetting, displaying spectacular resilience. Upon rewetting, transcript copies of bacterial rpoB genes increased consistently, reflecting rapid activity resumption. Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria were the most abundant phyla present and potentially active, and showed the largest changes in relative abundance. The relative increase (Actinobacteria) and decrease (Acidobacteria) with dry-down, and the reverse responses to rewetting reflected a differential response, which was conserved at the phylum level and consistent across sites. These contrasting desiccation-related bacterial life-strategies suggest that predicted changes in precipitation patterns may affect soil nutrient and carbon cycling by differentially impacting activity patterns of microbial communities.

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“…Of importance, however, is that almost all of the soil chemical quality indicators studied showed reversible changes, returning back to levels seen in the corresponding control treatments within weeks of floodwater removal. Our study therefore demonstrates the resilience of soil to extreme winter flooding events, although this should be extrapolated to other soil types with caution (Hueso et al 2011;de Vries et al 2012). We further conclude that the presence of cereal residues in combination with flooding appears to be far more influential in regulating soil chemistry than flooding alone.…”

Section: Discussion Soil Solution Chemistrymentioning

confidence: 83%

Crop residues exacerbate the negative effects of extreme flooding on soil quality

et al. 2017

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Extreme flood events are predicted to have a negative impact on soil quality. Currently, there is a lack of information about the effect of agricultural practices on soil functioning and microbial processes under these events. We hypothesized that the impact of flooding on soil quality will be exacerbated when crop residues are present in the soil as they will induce more extreme anaerobicity. A spring extreme flood event (10°C, 9 weeks) was simulated in mesocosms containing an arable sandy-loam soil low in nutrients. The main treatments were (1) with and without flooding and (2) with and without maize residue addition (8 Mg ha −1 ). We monitored changes in soil chemical quality indicators (e.g. pH, salinity, Fe 3+ , P, C, NH 4 + , NO 3 − and organic N), greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O) and soil microbial community composition (PLFAs) during a prolonged flood period (9 weeks) and an 8-week Brecovery^period after flooding. In comparison to the other treatments, flooding in the presence of crop residues resulted in a dramatic drop in soil redox potential. This was associated with the enhanced release of Fe and C into solution and an increase in CH 4 emissions. In contrast, maize residues reduced potential nitrate losses and N 2 O emissions, possibly due to complete denitrification and microbial N immobilization. Both flooding and maize residues stimulated microbial growth and promoted a shift in microbial community composition. Following floodwater removal, most of the soil quality indicators returned to the levels of the control treatment within 5 weeks. After this short recovery phase, no major impact of flooding could be observed on plant growth (maize pot-grown). Overall, we conclude that both extreme flooding and management regime negatively impact upon a range of soil quality indicators (e.g. redox, GHG emissions); however, the soil showed high resilience and recovered quickly after floodwater removal. Further work is required to investigate the impact of repeated extreme flood events on soil quality and function over longer timescales.

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Land use alters the resistance and resilience of soil food webs to drought

Cited by 536 publications

References 24 publications

Changing precipitation pattern alters soil microbial community response to wet-up under a Mediterranean-type climate

Changing precipitation pattern alters soil microbial community response to wet-up under a Mediterranean-type climate

Responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to extreme desiccation and rewetting

Crop residues exacerbate the negative effects of extreme flooding on soil quality

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