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Title: 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
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [1];  [5];  [1]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [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; SC0010715; SC0006982; 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

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Cited By (1)

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

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