Responses of soil microbial community to experimental warming and precipitation manipulation

Abstract:

An experimental nursery was established with two-year-old Pinus densiflora seedlings at Korea University to study soil microbial community responses to air warming (+3°C) and precipitation manipulation (-30% and +30%). Soil samplings were collected monthly from July to November, 2014. Substrate utilization profile of microbial community was examined using BIOLOG EcoPlate. Microbial community composition was assessed by high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that warming significantly affected the substrate utilization profile of microbial community (P<0.05), which labile substrates were degraded more quickly in warming plots than unwarmed plots. Only significant effects of warming on fungal community richness and abundance were observed (all P<0.05). Compared with unwarmed and precipitation control treatment, fungal community richness in the others were significantly decreased by 1.22%-15.27% (P<0.05), but community diversity in those treatments were slightly increased (P>0.05). In contrast, compared with unwarmed and precipitation control treatment, the bacterial community richness in the others were increased, but community abundance and diversity in those treatments were decreased (all P>0.05). These changes in microbial community structure resulted in the changes in community functional composition, which microbial metabolic functions were higher in warming plots than unwarmed plots. Since microorganisms differ in their susceptibility to stressors, changes in the soil environment affect the microbial community. Therefore, the results indicated that effects of warming and precipitation manipulation on soil microbial community might be related to warming and precipitation manipulation-induced changes in soil moisture. We suggested that shifts in the microbial community may be important implications for soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics in a warmer world. This study was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2013R1A1A2012242).