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Title: Soil bacterial and fungal community responses to nitrogen addition across soil depth and microhabitat in an arid shrubland

Abstract

Arid shrublands are stressful environments, typified by alkaline soils low in organic matter, with biologically-limiting extremes in water availability, temperature, and UV radiation. The widely-spaced plants and interspace biological soil crusts in these regions provide soil nutrients in a localized fashion, creating a mosaic pattern of plant- or crust-associated microhabitats with distinct nutrient composition. With sporadic and limited rainfall, nutrients are primarily retained in the shallow surface soil, patterning biological activity. We examined soil bacterial and fungal community responses to simulated nitrogen (N) deposition in an arid Larrea tridentata-Ambrosia dumosa field experiment in southern Nevada, USA, using high-throughput sequencing of ribosomal RNA genes. To examine potential interactions among the N application, microhabitat and soil depth, we sampled soils associated with shrub canopies and interspace biological crusts at two soil depths (0–0.5 or 0–10 cm) across the N-amendment gradient (0, 7, and 15 kg ha–1 yr–1). We hypothesized that localized compositional differences in soil microbiota would constrain the impacts of N addition to a microhabitat distribution that would reflect highly localized geochemical conditions and microbial community composition. The richness and community composition of both bacterial and fungal communities differed significantly by microhabitat and with soil depth in each microhabitat. Only bacterialmore » communities exhibited significant responses to the N addition. Community composition correlated with microhabitat and depth differences in soil geochemical features. As a result, given the distinct roles of soil bacteria and fungi in major nutrient cycles, the resilience of fungi and sensitivity of bacteria to N amendments suggests that increased N input predicted for many arid ecosystems could shift nutrient cycling toward pathways driven primarily by fungal communities.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. United States Geological Survey, Moab, UT (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1222486
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1234922
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-20578
Journal ID: ISSN 1664-302X
Grant/Contract Number:  
LANL SFA; JB field research access; AC52-06NA25396
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Microbiology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 1664-302X
Publisher:
Frontiers Research Foundation
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; dryland; shrubland; soil fungal community; soil bacterial community; global change; biological soil crusts; microhabitat; ribosomal RNA; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Mueller, Rebecca C., Belnap, Jayne, and Kuske, Cheryl R. Soil bacterial and fungal community responses to nitrogen addition across soil depth and microhabitat in an arid shrubland. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2015.00891.
Mueller, Rebecca C., Belnap, Jayne, & Kuske, Cheryl R. Soil bacterial and fungal community responses to nitrogen addition across soil depth and microhabitat in an arid shrubland. United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00891
Mueller, Rebecca C., Belnap, Jayne, and Kuske, Cheryl R. 2015. "Soil bacterial and fungal community responses to nitrogen addition across soil depth and microhabitat in an arid shrubland". United States. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00891. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1222486.
@article{osti_1222486,
title = {Soil bacterial and fungal community responses to nitrogen addition across soil depth and microhabitat in an arid shrubland},
author = {Mueller, Rebecca C. and Belnap, Jayne and Kuske, Cheryl R.},
abstractNote = {Arid shrublands are stressful environments, typified by alkaline soils low in organic matter, with biologically-limiting extremes in water availability, temperature, and UV radiation. The widely-spaced plants and interspace biological soil crusts in these regions provide soil nutrients in a localized fashion, creating a mosaic pattern of plant- or crust-associated microhabitats with distinct nutrient composition. With sporadic and limited rainfall, nutrients are primarily retained in the shallow surface soil, patterning biological activity. We examined soil bacterial and fungal community responses to simulated nitrogen (N) deposition in an arid Larrea tridentata-Ambrosia dumosa field experiment in southern Nevada, USA, using high-throughput sequencing of ribosomal RNA genes. To examine potential interactions among the N application, microhabitat and soil depth, we sampled soils associated with shrub canopies and interspace biological crusts at two soil depths (0–0.5 or 0–10 cm) across the N-amendment gradient (0, 7, and 15 kg ha–1 yr–1). We hypothesized that localized compositional differences in soil microbiota would constrain the impacts of N addition to a microhabitat distribution that would reflect highly localized geochemical conditions and microbial community composition. The richness and community composition of both bacterial and fungal communities differed significantly by microhabitat and with soil depth in each microhabitat. Only bacterial communities exhibited significant responses to the N addition. Community composition correlated with microhabitat and depth differences in soil geochemical features. As a result, given the distinct roles of soil bacteria and fungi in major nutrient cycles, the resilience of fungi and sensitivity of bacteria to N amendments suggests that increased N input predicted for many arid ecosystems could shift nutrient cycling toward pathways driven primarily by fungal communities.},
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2015.00891},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1222486}, journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
issn = {1664-302X},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 66 works
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Different responses of soil respiration and its components to nitrogen addition among biomes: a meta-analysis
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Who is who in litter decomposition? Metaproteomics reveals major microbial players and their biogeochemical functions
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journal, June 2014


Soil Moisture and pH Control Relative Contributions of Fungi and Bacteria to N2O Production
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Nitrogen Cycles: Past, Present, and Future
journal, September 2004


Spatial and temporal variation in islands of fertility in the Sonoran Desert
journal, April 2005


Fungal control of nitrous oxide production in semiarid grassland
journal, November 2007


Conservation evaluation and phylogenetic diversity
journal, January 1992


Living in a fungal world: impact of fungi on soil bacterial niche development
journal, September 2005


Fungi in hot and cold deserts with particular reference to microcolonial fungi
journal, August 2012


The influence of soil properties on the structure of bacterial and fungal communities across land-use types
journal, September 2008


Biogeochemistry of Metalliferous Peats:  Sulfur Speciation and Depth Distributions of dsr AB Genes and Cd, Fe, Mn, S, and Zn in Soil Cores
journal, August 2007


Examining the global distribution of dominant archaeal populations in soil
journal, November 2010


Comparative metagenomic, phylogenetic and physiological analyses of soil microbial communities across nitrogen gradients
journal, December 2011


Who is who in litter decomposition? Metaproteomics reveals major microbial players and their biogeochemical functions
journal, March 2012


Links between plant and fungal communities across a deforestation chronosequence in the Amazon rainforest
journal, January 2014


Loss in microbial diversity affects nitrogen cycling in soil
journal, March 2013


Loss of plant species after chronic low-level nitrogen deposition to prairie grasslands
journal, February 2008


Reduction of forest soil respiration in response to nitrogen deposition
journal, April 2010


Microbial colonization and controls in dryland systems
journal, July 2012


Niche partitioning of the ubiquitous and ecologically relevant NS5 marine group
journal, February 2022


Comparative analysis of racial differences in breast tumor microbiome
journal, August 2020


PyNAST: a flexible tool for aligning sequences to a template alignment
journal, November 2009


Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology
journal, April 2010


UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimera detection
journal, June 2011


Microbial ecology of hot desert edaphic systems
journal, February 2015


Direct and indirect impacts of climate change on microbial and biocrust communities alter the resistance of the N cycle in a semiarid grassland
journal, August 2014


Dryland soil microbial communities display spatial biogeographic patterns associated with soil depth and soil parent material
journal, May 2013


Resilience vs. historical contingency in microbial responses to environmental change
journal, May 2015


Different responses of soil respiration and its components to nitrogen addition among biomes: a meta-analysis
journal, April 2014


Consistent effects of nitrogen amendments on soil microbial communities and processes across biomes
journal, February 2012


Increased temperature and altered summer precipitation have differential effects on biological soil crusts in a dryland ecosystem
journal, May 2012


Pulse dynamics and microbial processes in aridland ecosystems: Pulse dynamics in aridland soils
journal, March 2008


The unseen majority: soil microbes as drivers of plant diversity and productivity in terrestrial ecosystems
journal, March 2008


Transformation of the Nitrogen Cycle: Recent Trends, Questions, and Potential Solutions
journal, May 2008


Abiotic Factors Shape Microbial Diversity in Sonoran Desert Soils
journal, August 2012


Comparison of Soil Bacterial Communities in Rhizospheres of Three Plant Species and the Interspaces in an Arid Grassland
journal, April 2002


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journal, February 2004


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journal, December 2005


Colonization patterns of soil microbial communities in the Atacama Desert
journal, January 2013


Incorporating 16S Gene Copy Number Information Improves Estimates of Microbial Diversity and Abundance
journal, October 2012


Microbiome Profiling by Illumina Sequencing of Combinatorial Sequence-Tagged PCR Products
journal, October 2010


Niche-Partitioning of Edaphic Microbial Communities in the Namib Desert Gravel Plain Fairy Circles
journal, October 2014


Toward an Ecological Classification of soil Bacteria
journal, June 2007


Community niche predicts the functioning of denitrifying bacterial assemblages
journal, December 2009


The world at your feet: desert biological soil crusts
journal, May 2003


Evidence for Fungal Dominance of Denitrification and Codenitrification in a Grassland Soil
journal, January 2002


Nitrogen addition, not initial phylogenetic diversity, increases litter decomposition by fungal communities
journal, February 2015


Soil microbial responses to nitrogen addition in arid ecosystems
journal, August 2015


Patterns of diversity for fungal assemblages of biological soil crusts from the southwestern United States
journal, March 2012


Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life: constructing the Structural and Biochemical Database
journal, November 2006


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Effects of initial microbial biomass abundance on respiration during pine litter decomposition
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Tillage Changes Vertical Distribution of Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities
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The Bacterial Microbiome Associated With Arid Biocrusts and the Biogeochemical Influence of Biocrusts Upon the Underlying Soil
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