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Title: Soil fungal and bacterial responses to conversion of open land to short-rotation woody biomass crops

Abstract

Short-rotation woody biomass crops (SRWCs) have been proposed as an alternative feedstock for biofuel production in the northeastern US that leads to the conversion of current open land to woody plantations, potentially altering the soil microbial community structures and hence functions. We used pyrosequencing of 16S and 28S rRNA genes in soil to assess bacterial and fungal populations when ‘marginal’ grasslands were converted into willow (Salix spp.) and hybrid poplar (Populus spp.) plantations at two sites with similar soils and climate history in northern Michigan (Escanaba; ES) and Wisconsin (Rhinelander; RH). In only three growing seasons, the conversion significantly altered both the bacterial and fungal communities, which were most influenced by site and then vegetation. The fungal community showed greater change than the bacterial community in response to land conversion at both sites with substantial enrichment of putative pathogenic, ectomycorrhizal, and endophytic fungi associated with poplar and willow. Conversely, the bacterial community structures shifted, but to a lesser degree, with the new communities dissimilar at the two sites and most correlated with soil nutrient status. The bacterial phylum Nitrospirae increased after conversion and was negatively correlated to total soil nitrogen, but positively correlated to soil nitrate, and may be responsiblemore » for nitrate accumulation and the increased N2O emissions previously reported following conversion at these sites. It was determined that the legacy effect of a much longer grassland history and a second dry summer at the ES site may have influenced the grassland (control) microbial community to remain stable while it varied at the RH site.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [8]
  1. Nanjing Agricultural Univ. (China). Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizer and Dept. of Plant Nutrition; Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Center of Microbial Ecology
  2. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Center of Microbial Ecology; Arizona State Univ., Mesa, AZ (United States). School of Letters and Sciences and Faculty of Science and Mathematics
  3. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Center of Microbial Ecology; Xiamen Univ. (China). State Key Lab. of Marine Environmental Science, Key Lab. of the Ministry of Education for Coast and Wetland Ecosystems and School of Life Sciences
  4. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Center of Microbial Ecology; Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Joint Lab. of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control and School of Environment
  5. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Forestry
  6. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Forest and Wildlife Ecology
  7. Nanjing Agricultural Univ. (China). Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Utilization, National Engineering Research Center for Organic-based Fertilizer and Dept. of Plant Nutrition
  8. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Center of Microbial Ecology
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA)
OSTI Identifier:
1256120
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1256121; OSTI ID: 1438262
Grant/Contract Number:  
FC02-07ER64494; AC05‐76RL01830; EE‐0000280; 2010‐03866
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Global Change Biology. Bioenergy
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Global Change Biology. Bioenergy Journal Volume: 8 Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 1757-1693
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES; grassland; poplar; short-rotation woody biomass crop; soil bacterial community; soil fungal community; willow

Citation Formats

Xue, Chao, Penton, Christopher Ryan, Zhang, Bangzhou, Zhao, Mengxin, Rothstein, David E., Mladenoff, David J., Forrester, Jodi A., Shen, Qirong, and Tiedje, James M. Soil fungal and bacterial responses to conversion of open land to short-rotation woody biomass crops. United Kingdom: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1111/gcbb.12303.
Xue, Chao, Penton, Christopher Ryan, Zhang, Bangzhou, Zhao, Mengxin, Rothstein, David E., Mladenoff, David J., Forrester, Jodi A., Shen, Qirong, & Tiedje, James M. Soil fungal and bacterial responses to conversion of open land to short-rotation woody biomass crops. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12303
Xue, Chao, Penton, Christopher Ryan, Zhang, Bangzhou, Zhao, Mengxin, Rothstein, David E., Mladenoff, David J., Forrester, Jodi A., Shen, Qirong, and Tiedje, James M. Wed . "Soil fungal and bacterial responses to conversion of open land to short-rotation woody biomass crops". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12303.
@article{osti_1256120,
title = {Soil fungal and bacterial responses to conversion of open land to short-rotation woody biomass crops},
author = {Xue, Chao and Penton, Christopher Ryan and Zhang, Bangzhou and Zhao, Mengxin and Rothstein, David E. and Mladenoff, David J. and Forrester, Jodi A. and Shen, Qirong and Tiedje, James M.},
abstractNote = {Short-rotation woody biomass crops (SRWCs) have been proposed as an alternative feedstock for biofuel production in the northeastern US that leads to the conversion of current open land to woody plantations, potentially altering the soil microbial community structures and hence functions. We used pyrosequencing of 16S and 28S rRNA genes in soil to assess bacterial and fungal populations when ‘marginal’ grasslands were converted into willow (Salix spp.) and hybrid poplar (Populus spp.) plantations at two sites with similar soils and climate history in northern Michigan (Escanaba; ES) and Wisconsin (Rhinelander; RH). In only three growing seasons, the conversion significantly altered both the bacterial and fungal communities, which were most influenced by site and then vegetation. The fungal community showed greater change than the bacterial community in response to land conversion at both sites with substantial enrichment of putative pathogenic, ectomycorrhizal, and endophytic fungi associated with poplar and willow. Conversely, the bacterial community structures shifted, but to a lesser degree, with the new communities dissimilar at the two sites and most correlated with soil nutrient status. The bacterial phylum Nitrospirae increased after conversion and was negatively correlated to total soil nitrogen, but positively correlated to soil nitrate, and may be responsible for nitrate accumulation and the increased N2O emissions previously reported following conversion at these sites. It was determined that the legacy effect of a much longer grassland history and a second dry summer at the ES site may have influenced the grassland (control) microbial community to remain stable while it varied at the RH site.},
doi = {10.1111/gcbb.12303},
journal = {Global Change Biology. Bioenergy},
number = 4,
volume = 8,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Wed Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Wed Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcbb.12303

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Cited by: 20 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination plots based on Bray–Curtis dissimilarity of Escanaba (ES) site samples, all samples, and Rhinelander (RH) site samples for bacteria and fungi. EGR and RGR are preconversion control plots at ES and RH sites, respectively. EGRP and RGRP are postconversion control plots at ESmore » and RH sites, respectively. EPOP and RPOP are postconversion poplar plots at ES and RH sites, respectively. EWIP and RWIP are postconversion willow plots at ES and RH sites, respectively. ES represents all samples at Escanaba site, while RH represents all samples at Rhinelander site. NMDS stress values for bacterial communities are 0.079 (ES), 0.069 (both sites), and 0.105 (RH). NMDS stress values for fungal communities are 0.152 (ES), 0.148 (both sites), and 0.108 (RH).« less

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