Responses of soil total microbial biomass and community compositions to rainfall reductions

Ren, Chao; Chen, Ji; Lu, Xingjie; Doughty, Russell; Zhao, Fazhu; Zhong, Zekun; Han, Xinhui; Yang, Gaihe; Feng, Yongzhong; Ren, Guangxin

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2017.09.028

Cited by 165 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In line with many previous studies (Liu et al, ; Ren et al, ), our results showed that precipitation change increased soil microbial biomass by increasing soil moisture (Table ). DW strongly increased LAI in January but barely affected it in August and November (Table ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Effects of seasonal precipitation change on soil respiration processes in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Chen

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Precipitation is projected to change intensity and seasonal regime under current global projections. However, little is known about how seasonal precipitation changes will affect soil respiration, especially in seasonally dry tropical forests. In a seasonally dry tropical forest in South China, we conducted a precipitation manipulation experiment to simulate a delayed wet season (DW) and a wetter wet season (WW) over a three-year period. In DW, we reduced 60% throughfall in April and May to delay the onset of the wet season and irrigated the same amount water into the plots in October and November to extend the end of the wet season. In WW, we irrigated 25% annual precipitation into plots in July and August. A control treatment (CT) receiving ambient precipitation was also established. Compared with CT, DW significantly increased soil moisture by 54% during October to November, and by 30% during December to April. The treatment of WW did not significantly affect monthly measured soil moisture. In 2015, DW significantly increased leaf area index and soil microbial biomass but decreased fine root biomass. In contrast, WW significantly decreased fine root biomass and forest floor litter stocks. Soil respiration was not affected by DW, which could be attributed to the increased microbial biomass offsetting the decrease in fine root biomass. In contrast, WW significantly increased soil respiration from 3.40 to 3.90 μmol m −2 s −1 in the third year, mainly due to the increased litter decomposition and soil pH (from 4.48 to 4.68). The present study suggests that both a delayed wet season and a wetter wet season will have significant impacts on soil respiration-associated ecosystem components. However, the ecosystem components can respond in different directions to the same change in precipitation, which ultimately affected soil respiration. K E Y W O R D S climate change, precipitation regime, rainfall change, soil CO 2 , tropics S U PP O RTI N G I N FO R M ATI O N Additional supporting information may be found online in the Supporting Information section. How to cite this article: Yu S, Mo Q, Chen Y, et al. Effects of seasonal precipitation change on soil respiration processes in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Ecol Evol. 2020;10:467-479.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Effects of seasonal precipitation change on soil respiration processes in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Chen

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Less soil microbial biomass in wetter soils is not a novel finding [46][47][48], but this pattern remains counterintuitive and does not match with the common pattern of more soil microbial biomass in wetter climates [49] or in manipulative experiments with altered precipitation [50,51]. One possible explanation for less microbial biomass in wetter soils is that connected water films provide greater access for soil fauna (e.g., protozoans and nematodes) and viruses to kill bacteria and fungi [52,53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotic versus Abiotic Controls on Bioavailable Soil Organic Carbon

Blankinship

Schimel

2018

Soil Systems

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Processes controlling microbial access to soil organic matter are critical for soil nutrient cycling and C stabilization. The bioavailability of soil organic matter partly depends on the rate that substrates become water-soluble, which is determined by some combination of biological, biochemical, and purely abiotic processes. Our goal was to unravel these biotic and abiotic processes to better understand mechanisms controlling the dynamics of bioavailable soil organic carbon (SOC). We sampled soils in a California annual grassland from manipulated plots with and without plants to help distinguish bioavailable SOC generated from mineral-associated organic matter versus from plant detritus (i.e., the "light fraction"). In the laboratory, soils were incubated for 8 months under all possible combinations of three levels of moisture and two levels of microbial biomass using continuous chloroform sterilization. We measured cumulative carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) production and the net change in soil water-extractable organic C (WEOC) to quantify C that was accessed biologically or biochemically. Under the driest conditions, microbes appeared to primarily access WEOC from recent plant C, with the other half of CO 2 production explained by extracellular processes. These results suggest that dry, uncolonized conditions promote the adsorption of WEOC onto mineral surfaces. Under wetter conditions, microbial access increased by two orders of magnitude, with a large concomitant decrease in WEOC, particularly in soils without plant inputs from the previous growing season. The largest increase in WEOC occurred in wet sterilized soil, perhaps because exoenzymes and desorption continued solubilizing C but without microbial consumption. A similar amount of WEOC accumulated in wet sterilized soil whether plants were present or not, suggesting that desorption of mineral-associated C was the abiotic WEOC source. Based on these results, we hypothesize that dry-live and wet-uncolonized soil microsites are sources of bioavailable SOC, whereas wet-live and dry-uncolonized microsites are sinks.

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“…Changes in the ratio of microbial biomass C to N (MBC:MBN) were also correlated with the decreases in SR and HR following fire treatment, suggesting possible links between specific microbial communities and respiration (Dooley & Treseder, ; Wang et al, ). Second, reductions in soil moisture would be expected to suppress both HR and R bgb (Holden, Berhe, & Treseder, ; Ren et al, ), particularly in a semiarid area such as the Tibetan Plateau. Indeed, there might have been more reductions in soil moisture in early post‐fire periods, because of the pronounced reduction in canopy cover and increase in evapotranspiration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting responses after fires of the source components of soil respiration and ecosystem respiration

Chen

Zhang

Luo

et al. 2019

European J Soil Science

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Wildfire is an important ecological disturbance that can have cascading effects on ecosystem carbon (C) fluxes. Ecosystem respiration (ER) and soil respiration (SR) account for two of the largest terrestrial C fluxes to the atmosphere, and they play critical roles in regulating C–climate feedbacks. Here, the responses of ER, SR and their source components to experimental burning in a meadow grassland on the Tibetan Plateau were investigated. Fire treatment increased ER by 9% but decreased SR by 15%. The contrasting post‐fire responses of SR and ER can be explained by the behaviour of their source components; that is, fire increased aboveground plant respiration (Ragb) by 37%, but decreased heterotrophic respiration (HR) by 21%. Increases in ER and Ragb were mainly related to enhanced plant productivity, whereas smaller SR and HR were associated with reductions in microbial biomass and soil moisture. Accounting for the responses of ER, SR and their intrinsic components has advanced our understanding of how fire affects ecosystem C fluxes. Highlights Fire treatment increased ecosystem respiration (ER) and aboveground plant respiration. Fire treatment decreased soil respiration (SR) and heterotrophic respiration (HR). Increases in ER and aboveground plant respiration were related to plant productivity. Reductions in SR and HR were caused by the suppressed microbial activity.

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Responses of soil total microbial biomass and community compositions to rainfall reductions

Cited by 165 publications

References 46 publications

Effects of seasonal precipitation change on soil respiration processes in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Effects of seasonal precipitation change on soil respiration processes in a seasonally dry tropical forest

Biotic versus Abiotic Controls on Bioavailable Soil Organic Carbon

Contrasting responses after fires of the source components of soil respiration and ecosystem respiration

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