Litter microbial responses to climate change: How do inland or coastal context and litter type matter across the Mediterranean?

Kheir, Maya; Lerch, Thomas Z.; Borsali, Amine Habib; Roche, Philip; Ziarelli, Fabio; Zouidi, Mohamed; Silva, Anne Marie Farnet da

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107505

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…We further observed that chemical soil properties dominantly shaped the composition of fungal decomposition functions. This is in line with observations on bacterial litter communities that expressed similar catabolic structures across different litter types but varied with precipitation changes (Kheir et al, 2021) and with studies on soil microbial functions that changed with edaphic conditions (Hu et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2023;Yang et al, 2014) and micro(climate) (Chen et al, 2018;Hartmann et al, 2013). This suggests climatic conditions as important predictor to be considered for projections of litter decomposition in space and time.…”

Section: Effect Of Environmental Parameters On Potential Decompositio...supporting

confidence: 85%

Environmental versus litter traits as drivers of microbial decomposer functions

Stock,

Canessa,

van den Brink

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Plant litter decomposition is a key ecosystem process with significant implications for global carbon cycling, soil fertility and plant productivity. Given that microbial decomposers are the main players in the decomposition process, it is surprising how little is known about their functional diversity in different habitats or their ability to respond to environmental changes. To fill this knowledge gap, we conducted a litterbag decomposition experiment along a pronounced climate and vegetation gradient in the Chilean Coastal Cordillera (26°S to 38°S), ranging from hyper-arid to temperate, using mixtures of four plant species, native to the respective ecosystems. We analyzed potential decomposition functions of bacterial and fungal litter communities along with their biotic (litter traits) and abiotic (meteorological conditions and soil properties) environments, to determine the relative importance of these environmental factors for microbial community functioning. We also tested the impact of the functional diversity of the decomposer communities (i.e., the diversity of decomposition related functions) on litter mass loss. Functional composition was related most strongly to the temporal variation of precipitation and radiation, explaining about 19 % and 6 % of variation in bacteria and fungi, respectively. In contrast, functional diversity was quite strongly related to litter chemical traits (C:N, C:P, tannins, phenols). Litter mass loss after six months of decomposition was not correlated to the functional diversity of decomposer communities but increased with the presence of habitat generalists like Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. Taken together, these results highlight i) the interplay between abiotic factors and chemical litter traits on litter microbial functions and functional diversity and ii) the importance of microbial generalists for litter decomposition across different ecosystems. These results enhance our ability to predict changes in microbial decomposer communities and litter decomposition under future climate-change scenarios.

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Section: Effect Of Environmental Parameters On Potential Decompositio...supporting

confidence: 85%

Environmental versus litter traits as drivers of microbial decomposer functions

Stock,

Canessa,

van den Brink

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…Mediterranean climate stress (high temperature, drought) change soil properties by increasing content of recalcitrant compounds in plant tissue (e.g lignin) and thus in soil composition (Suseela and Tharayil, 2018). Humidity and temperature also influence microorganisms' activities involved in organic matter transformation that ultimately affect soils chemical properties (Allison and Treseder, 2008;Borsali et al, 2021;Kheir et al, 2021). Consequently, in the Mediterranean basin, current soil-loss rates drastically exceed soil formation rates (Raclot et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land use legacy footprint in Mediterranean forest soils: An infrared spectroscopy approach

et al. 2023

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“…In this study, we investigated two types of FFL differing in the initial litters used and climatic context. Indeed, it has been shown that mixing litters from different trees can potentially maximize the diversity of nutrient resources and consequently, favor microbial diversity [ 22 ], but this effect strongly varied according to the climate context [ 23 , 24 ]. Here, we hypothesized that the more chemically dissimilar the litters used, the higher the microbial diversity in the FFL.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical and Microbial Characterization of Fermented Forest Litters Used as Biofertilizers

et al. 2023

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The excessive use of chemicals in intensive agriculture has had a negative impact on soil diversity and fertility. A strategy for developing sustainable agriculture could rely on the use of microbial-based fertilizers, known as biofertilizers. An alternative to marketed products could be offered to small farmers if they could produce their own biofertilizers using forest litters, which harbor one of the highest microbial diversities. The aim of this study is to characterize microbial communities of Fermented Forest Litters (FFL), assuming that the fermentation process will change both their abundance and diversity. We investigated two types of differing in the chemical composition of the initial litters used and the climatic context of the forest where they are originated from. The abundance and diversity of bacterial and fungal communities were assessed using quantitative PCR and molecular genotyping techniques. The litter chemical compositions were compared before and after fermentation using Infrared spectrometry. Results obtained showed that fermentation increased the abundance of bacteria but decreased that of fungi. Low pH and change in organic matter composition observed after fermentation also significantly reduced the α-diversity of both bacterial and fungal communities. The higher proportion of aliphatic molecules and lower C/N of the FFLs compared to initial litters indicate that FFLs should be rapidly decomposed once added into the soil. This preliminary study suggests that the agronomic interest of FFLs used as biofertilizers is probably more related to the contribution of nutrients easily assimilated by plants than to the diversity of microorganisms that compose it. Further studies must be conducted with sequencing techniques to identify precisely the microbial species likely to be beneficial to plant growth.

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Litter microbial responses to climate change: How do inland or coastal context and litter type matter across the Mediterranean?

Cited by 4 publications

References 47 publications

Environmental versus litter traits as drivers of microbial decomposer functions

Environmental versus litter traits as drivers of microbial decomposer functions

Land use legacy footprint in Mediterranean forest soils: An infrared spectroscopy approach

Chemical and Microbial Characterization of Fermented Forest Litters Used as Biofertilizers

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