Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Microbial functional diversity covaries with permafrost thaw-induced environmental heterogeneity in tundra soil

Journal Article · · Global Change Biology
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13820· OSTI ID:1561880
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [1];  [6];  [1];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [10];  [1];  [11]
  1. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  2. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  3. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  4. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); East China Normal Univ. (ECNU), Shanghai (China)
  5. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Central South Univ., Changsha (China)
  6. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  7. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
  8. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  9. Arizona State Univ., Mesa, AZ (United States)
  10. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  11. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Permafrost soil in high latitude tundra is one of the largest terrestrial carbon (C) stocks and is highly sensitive to climate warming. Understanding microbial responses to warming-induced environmental changes is critical to evaluating their influences on soil biogeochemical cycles. In this study, a functional gene array (i.e., geochip 4.2) was used to analyze the functional capacities of soil microbial communities collected from a naturally degrading permafrost region in Central Alaska. Varied thaw history was reported to be the main driver of soil and plant differences across a gradient of minimally, moderately, and extensively thawed sites. Compared with the minimally thawed site, the number of detected functional gene probes across the 15-65 cm depth profile at the moderately and extensively thawed sites decreased by 25% and 5%, while the community functional gene β-diversity increased by 34% and 45%, respectively, revealing decreased functional gene richness but increased community heterogeneity along the thaw progression. Particularly, the moderately thawed site contained microbial communities with the highest abundances of many genes involved in prokaryotic C degradation, ammonification, and nitrification processes, but lower abundances of fungal C decomposition and anaerobic-related genes. Significant correlations were observed between functional gene abundance and vascular plant primary productivity, suggesting that plant growth and species composition could be co-evolving traits together with microbial community composition. Finally, altogether, this study reveals the complex responses of microbial functional potentials to thaw-related soil and plant changes and provides information on potential microbially mediated biogeochemical cycles in tundra ecosystems.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0004601; SC0006982; SC0010715; SC0014085
OSTI ID:
1561880
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1415048
Journal Information:
Global Change Biology, Journal Name: Global Change Biology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 24; ISSN 1354-1013
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (66)

Evidence for warming and thawing of discontinuous permafrost in Alaska journal January 1999
Microbial responses to southward and northward Cambisol soil transplant journal October 2015
Physical and ecological changes associated with warming permafrost and thermokarst in Interior Alaska journal July 2009
Permafrost thermal state in the polar Northern Hemisphere during the international polar year 2007-2009: a synthesis journal April 2010
Plant-microbe competition for soil amino acids in the alpine tundra: effects of freeze-thaw and dry-rewet events journal January 1998
Microbial ecology and biodiversity in permafrost journal March 2006
Plant Species Composition and Productivity following Permafrost Thaw and Thermokarst in Alaskan Tundra journal March 2007
Holocene Carbon Stocks and Carbon Accumulation Rates Altered in Soils Undergoing Permafrost Thaw journal November 2011
Expert assessment of vulnerability of permafrost carbon to climate change journal March 2013
Dynamics of alpine plant litter decomposition in a changing climate journal July 2010
Redox potential (Eh) and pH as drivers of soil/plant/microorganism systems: a transdisciplinary overview pointing to integrative opportunities for agronomy journal September 2012
References book January 2012
The Chemistry of Submerged Soils book January 1972
Coupling of nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics in the Arctic, integration of soil microbial and plant processes journal February 1999
Microbial life in permafrost journal January 2004
Long-term persistence of bacterial DNA journal January 2004
Understory plant functional groups and litter species identity are stronger drivers of litter decomposition than warming along a boreal forest post-fire successional gradient journal July 2016
Permafrost Degradation and Ecological Changes Associated with a WarmingClimate in Central Alaska journal March 2001
Global patterns of the isotopic composition of soil and plant nitrogen: GLOBAL SOIL AND PLANT N ISOTOPES journal March 2003
A projection of severe near-surface permafrost degradation during the 21st century journal January 2005
Characteristics of the recent warming of permafrost in Alaska journal January 2007
Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region: SOIL ORGANIC CARBON POOLS journal June 2009
Response of CO 2 exchange in a tussock tundra ecosystem to permafrost thaw and thermokarst development journal January 2009
Soil CO 2 production in upland tundra where permafrost is thawing journal January 2010
Seven-year trends of CO 2 exchange in a tundra ecosystem affected by long-term permafrost thaw : CARBON EXCHANGE IN THAWING TUNDRA journal June 2012
High risk of permafrost thaw journal November 2011
Bacterial gene abundances as indicators of greenhouse gas emission in soils journal February 2010
Stochastic and deterministic assembly processes in subsurface microbial communities journal March 2012
Impact of fire on active layer and permafrost microbial communities and metagenomes in an upland Alaskan boreal forest journal April 2014
Microbial regulation of the soil carbon cycle: evidence from gene–enzyme relationships journal May 2016
The effect of permafrost thaw on old carbon release and net carbon exchange from tundra journal May 2009
Metagenomic analysis of a permafrost microbial community reveals a rapid response to thaw journal November 2011
Climate change and the permafrost carbon feedback journal April 2015
Tundra soil carbon is vulnerable to rapid microbial decomposition under climate warming journal February 2016
Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map journal February 2006
Microbial seed banks: the ecological and evolutionary implications of dormancy journal January 2011
The microbial ecology of permafrost journal May 2014
Stochasticity, succession, and environmental perturbations in a fluidic ecosystem journal February 2014
Biomass offsets little or none of permafrost carbon release from soils, streams, and wildfire: an expert assessment journal March 2016
The interactive effects of soil transplant into colder regions and cropping on soil microbiology and biogeochemistry: Effects of northward soil transplant and cropping journal February 2014
GeoChip 4: a functional gene-array-based high-throughput environmental technology for microbial community analysis journal March 2014
Changes in microbial communities along redox gradients in polygonized Arctic wet tundra soils: Soil microbial communities along a redox gradient journal July 2015
Thawing permafrost increases old soil and autotrophic respiration in tundra: Partitioning ecosystem respiration using δ 13 C and ∆ 14 C journal November 2012
Importance of recent shifts in soil thermal dynamics on growing season length, productivity, and carbon sequestration in terrestrial high-latitude ecosystems journal April 2006
Molecular investigations into a globally important carbon pool: permafrost-protected carbon in Alaskan soils journal February 2010
Effects of experimental warming of air, soil and permafrost on carbon balance in Alaskan tundra: WARMING OF ALASKAN TUNDRA journal February 2011
Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure journal March 1993
Multivariate dispersion as a measure of beta diversity journal June 2006
The unseen majority: soil microbes as drivers of plant diversity and productivity in terrestrial ecosystems journal March 2008
Shifts of tundra bacterial and archaeal communities along a permafrost thaw gradient in Alaska journal December 2014
Role of Land-Surface Changes in Arctic Summer Warming journal October 2005
Stochastic Assembly Leads to Alternative Communities with Distinct Functions in a Bioreactor Microbial Community journal March 2013
Annual Removal of Aboveground Plant Biomass Alters Soil Microbial Responses to Warming journal September 2016
High-Throughput Metagenomic Technologies for Complex Microbial Community Analysis: Open and Closed Formats journal January 2015
Permafrost Meta-Omics and Climate Change journal June 2016
The role of root Exudates in Rhizosphere Interactions with Plants and Other Organisms journal June 2006
Vulnerability of Permafrost Carbon to Climate Change: Implications for the Global Carbon Cycle journal September 2008
Contribution of Stream Detrivores, Fungi, and Bacteria to leaf Breakdown Based on Biomass Estimates journal April 2002
Interactions of Bacteria and Fungi on Decomposing Litter: Differential Extracellular Enzyme Activities journal October 2006
Plant and Microbe Contribution to Community Resilience in a Directionally Changing Environment journal August 2008
Effects of arctic shrub expansion on biophysical vs. biogeochemical drivers of litter decomposition journal July 2014
Using Mean Similarity Dendrograms to Evaluate Classifications journal December 1997
Diversity and Evenness: A Unifying Notation and Its Consequences journal March 1973
Temperature and Plant Species Control Over Litter Decomposition in Alaskan Tundra journal February 1996
The transcriptional response of microbial communities in thawing Alaskan permafrost soils journal March 2015
NifH-Harboring Bacterial Community Composition across an Alaskan Permafrost Thaw Gradient journal November 2016

Cited By (1)

Biotic responses buffer warming-induced soil organic carbon loss in Arctic tundra journal June 2018

Figures / Tables (6)

Figure 1(p. 9)figure Figure 1
Table 1(p. 9)table Table 1
Figure 2(p. 10)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 11)figure Figure 3
Table 2(p. 13)table Table 2
Figure 4(p. 14)figure Figure 4

Similar Records

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
GEOCHIP
functional gene array
permafrost thaw
soil microbial functional diversity
tundra
tussock