Rhizosphere impacts on peat decomposition and nutrient cycling across a natural water table gradient

High latitude forest and peatland soils represent a major terrestrial carbon store sensitive to climate change. Warming temperatures and increased growing-season evapotranspiration are projected to reduce water table (WT) height in continental peatlands. WT reduction increases peat aerobicity and facilitates vascular plant and root growth. Root-associated microbial communities are exposed to a different physical and chemical environment than microbial communities in non-root associated “bulk” peat, and therefore have distinct composition and function within the soil system. As the size of the peatland rhizosphere impacts resources available to the microbial communities, transitions from a root-free high water table peatland to a root-dominated low WT peatland may alter seasonal patterns of microbial community dynamics, enzyme production, and carbon storage within the system.

We used a natural water table gradient in Caribou Bog near Orono, ME to explore the influence of species composition, root biomass, and rhizosphere size on seasonal patterns in microbial community structure, enzyme production, and carbon mineralization. We quantified root biomass across the water table gradient and measured microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, C mineralization, N mineralization, and exoenzyme activity in root-associated and bulk peat samples throughout the 2013 growing season. Microbial biomass was consistently higher in rhizosphere-associated soils and peaked in the spring. Microbial biomass CN and enzyme activity was higher in rhizosphere-associated soil, likely due to increased mycorrhizal abundance. Exoenzyme activity peaked in the fall, with a larger relative increase in enzyme activity in rhizosphere peat, while carbon mineralization rates did not demonstrate a strong seasonal pattern. The results suggest that rhizosphere-associated peat sustains higher and more variable rates of enzyme activity throughout the growing season, which results in higher rates of carbon mineralization driven by increased microbial biomass. Increases in vascular plant abundance and root biomass may therefore increase overall rates of carbon mineralization and peat decomposition within peatland systems and influence the nature of the peatland carbon store.