Fire affects the taxonomic and functional composition of soil microbial communities, with cascading effects on grassland ecosystem functioning

Yang, Sihang; Zheng, Qiaoshu; Yang, Yunfeng; Yuan, Mengting; Ma, Xingyu; Chiariello, Nona R.; Docherty, Kathryn M.; Field, Christopher B.; Gutknecht, Jessica L.  M.; Hungate, Bruce A.; Niboyet, Audrey; Le Roux, Xavier; Zhou, Jizhong

doi:10.1111/gcb.14852

Fire affects the taxonomic and functional composition of soil microbial communities, with cascading effects on grassland ecosystem functioning

Journal Article · Mon Sep 23 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Global Change Biology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14852· OSTI ID:1580930

Yang, Sihang ^[1]; Zheng, Qiaoshu ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[2]; Ma, Xingyu ^[1]; Chiariello, Nona R. ^[3]; Docherty, Kathryn M. ^[4]; ^[3]; Gutknecht, Jessica L. M. ^[5]; Hungate, Bruce A. ^[6]; Niboyet, Audrey ^[7]; Le Roux, Xavier ^[8]; Zhou, Jizhong ^[9]

Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Joint Lab. of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment
Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). Inst. for Environmental Genomics
Carnegie Inst. for Science, Stanford, CA (United States)
Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo MI (United States)
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research– UFZ, Halle (Germany)
Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). Center for Ecosystem Science and Society
Inst. d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris, Paris (France); Sorbonne Univ., Paris (France); Univ. Paris Diderot, Paris (France). Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Inst. National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
Univ. de Lyon, Villeurbanne (France). Lab. d'Ecologie Microbienne, and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Inst. National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Joint Lab. of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment; Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States). Inst. for Environmental Genomics; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Fire is a crucial event regulating the structure and functioning of many ecosystems. Yet few studies have focused on how fire affects taxonomic and functional diversities of soil microbial communities, along with changes in plant communities and soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics. Here, we analyze these effects in a grassland ecosystem 9 months after an experimental fire at the Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment site in California, USA. Fire altered soil microbial communities considerably, with community assembly process analysis showing that environmental selection pressure was higher in burned sites. However, a small subset of highly connected taxa was able to withstand the disturbance. In addition, fire decreased the relative abundances of most functional genes associated with C degradation and N cycling, implicating a slowdown of microbial processes linked to soil C and N dynamics. In contrast, fire stimulated above- and belowground plant growth, likely enhancing plant-microbe competition for soil inorganic N, which was reduced by a factor of about 2. To synthesize those findings, we performed structural equation modeling, which showed that plants but not microbial communities were responsible for significantly higher soil respiration rates in burned sites. Together, our results demonstrate that fire 'reboots' the grassland ecosystem by differentially regulating plant and soil microbial communities, leading to significant changes in soil C and N dynamics.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); French CNRS/INSU–EC2CO Program; Morgan Family Foundation; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC); National Science Foundation (NSF); Packard Foundation; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1580930

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1572112

Journal Information:: Global Change Biology, Journal Name: Global Change Biology Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 26; ISSN 1354-1013

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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