Precipitation changes, warming, and N input differentially affect microbial predators in an alpine meadow: Evidence from soil phagotrophic protists

Hu, Zhengkun; Yao, Junneng; Chen, Xiaoyun; Gong, Xin; Zhang, Yi; Zhou, Xianhui; Guo, Hui; Liu, Manqiang

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108521

Cited by 18 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…We also found that the abundance of omnivorous‐carnivorous nematode was positively correlated with the abundances of bacterial‐feeding and fungal‐feeding nematodes in forests, and the abundance of fungal‐feeding nematode was positively correlated with the fungal biomass (Figure 5). Therefore, the loss of the top predatory nematodes via N enrichment could diminish their top‐down controls on bacterial‐feeding and fungal‐feeding nematodes in natural grasslands and forests, which translated to a reduction in microbial biomass (Hu et al., 2022; Thakur & Geisen, 2019). However, we found that plant biomass had positive effects on the bacterial, fungal and total microbial biomass in grasslands and forests (Figure 5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic regulation of soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment: A global meta‐analysis

Xing,

Chen,

Thakur

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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Eutrophication, including nitrogen (N) enrichment, can affect soil microbial communities through changes in trophic interactions. However, a knowledge gap still exists about how plant resources (‘bottom‐up effects’) and microbial predators (‘top‐down effects’) regulate the impacts of N enrichment on microbial biomass at the global scale. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a global meta‐analysis using 2885 paired observations from 217 publications to evaluate the regulatory effects of plant biomass and soil nematodes on soil microbial biomass under N enrichment across terrestrial ecosystems. We found that the effects of N enrichment on soil microbial biomass varied strongly across ecosystems. N enrichment decreased the soil microbial biomass of natural grasslands and forests due to soil acidification and the subsequent losses of predatory and microbivorous nematodes stimulating microbial growth. By contrast, N enrichment increased the microbial biomass of managed croplands mainly via increasing plant biomass production. Across diverse ecosystems, the short‐term N enrichment (experimental duration ≤5 years) could reduce microbial biomass via decreasing nematode abundance, whereas the long‐term N enrichment (experimental duration >5 years) mainly promoted microbial biomass via increasing plant biomass. These findings highlight the critical roles of microbial predators and plant input in shaping microbial responses to N enrichment, which are highly dependent on ecosystem type and the period of N enrichment. Earth system models that predict soil microbial biomass and their linkages to soil functioning should consider the variations in plant biomass and soil nematodes under future scenarios of N deposition. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trophic regulation of soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment: A global meta‐analysis

Xing,

Chen,

Thakur

et al. 2024

Functional Ecology

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“…These combined limitations would further reduce root vitality, thus suppressing the absorption of nutrients by roots (Colmer & Greenway, 2011; Kotula et al., 2015; Li et al., 2019; Weih & Karlsson, 2001). In this context, some manipulated experiments have also demonstrated that increased precipitation has no significant effects on soil nutrient availability and community biomass in alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau (Hu et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2017, 2019). By contrast, increased temperature significantly enhances plant community biomass and leaf nutrient concentrations in the meadows of the Tibetan Plateau, indicating an increase in soil nutrient availability by elevated temperature (Wei et al., 2023; Zhou, Li, et al., 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoupling of uptake‐ and transport‐related traits in absorptive roots across coexisting herbaceous species in alpine meadows

Zheng,

Wang,

Wang

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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The anatomical structure of roots determines their function. Coexisting species complementarily forage nutrients by roots themselves (e.g. root strategy) and their fungal partners (e.g. mycorrhizal strategy), leading to a trade‐off between root strategy and mycorrhizal strategy. However, few studies have specifically evaluated whether and how the root anatomical structures are involved in this trade‐off, especially for species in alpine ecosystems limited by extreme climate. Here, absorptive root anatomical and chemical traits and three key root traits commonly associated with nutrient foraging strategies, that is root strategy indicated by first‐order root length and root branching intensity and mycorrhizal strategy indicated by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal colonization, were examined across 68 herbaceous species in alpine meadows of the Tibetan Plateau. We observed that absorptive roots with higher branching intensity had more protoxylem poles, thinner cortices and smaller cortical cells, whereas absorptive roots with higher mycorrhizal colonization and longer first‐order roots consistently had thicker cortices and larger cortical cells. Unexpectedly, root cortical traits responsible for nutrient uptake were decoupled from stelar traits specialized in water and nutrient transportation. The decoupling may be related to the non‐coordinated changes in soil water and nutrient availability in the meadows of the Tibetan Plateau. In addition, we found that root cortical thickness and stelar radius increased at a similar rate rather than well‐reported different rates with increasing root diameter. Synthesis: Our results demonstrate that root internal makeup plays an integral role in forming the diverse nutrient foraging strategies in below‐ground. These findings provide new insights into our understanding of plant coexistence and the responses of alpine meadows to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau.

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“…These GCDs include climate change‐related factors (e.g., rising soil temperatures, droughts; Hu et al, 2022; Mueller et al, 2016; Thakur et al, 2019), land use change (e.g., fertilization and mechanical soil disturbance; Hu et al, 2022; Yeates et al, 1993) and environmental pollution (i.e., agrochemicals, microplastics, antibiotics; Kim et al, 2020; Vangheel et al, 2014; Zhu et al, 2021). GCDs may affect microbiome predator communities directly, as well as indirectly through bottom‐up effects caused by alterations of the microbiome (Figure 1; Hu et al, 2022; Valencia et al, 2018). Such bottom‐up effects are, for example, driven by eutrophication, which stimulates fast‐growing microorganisms, including most bacteria, more than slow‐growing microorganisms, including most fungi (de Vries et al, 2006).…”

Section: How Do Global Changes Impact Microbiome Predators?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbiome predators in changing soils

Hu,

Li,

Berlinches de Gea

et al. 2023

Environmental Microbiology

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Microbiome predators shape the soil microbiome and thereby soil functions. However, this knowledge has been obtained from small‐scale observations in fundamental rather than applied settings and has focused on a few species under ambient conditions. Therefore, there are several unaddressed questions on soil microbiome predators: (1) What is the role of microbiome predators in soil functioning? (2) How does global change affect microbiome predators and their functions? (3) How can microbiome predators be applied in agriculture? We show that there is sufficient evidence for the vital role of microbiome predators in soils and stress that global changes impact their functions, something that urgently needs to be addressed to better understand soil functioning as a whole. We are convinced that there is a potential for the application of microbiome predators in agricultural settings, as they may help to sustainably increase plant growth. Therefore, we plea for more applied research on microbiome predators.

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Precipitation changes, warming, and N input differentially affect microbial predators in an alpine meadow: Evidence from soil phagotrophic protists

Cited by 18 publications

References 51 publications

Trophic regulation of soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment: A global meta‐analysis

Trophic regulation of soil microbial biomass under nitrogen enrichment: A global meta‐analysis

Decoupling of uptake‐ and transport‐related traits in absorptive roots across coexisting herbaceous species in alpine meadows

Microbiome predators in changing soils

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