• Energy Research

Understanding soil CO2 flux temperature sensitivity (Q10) is critical for predicting ecosystem-level responses to climate change. Yet, the effects of warming on microbial CO2 respiration still remain poorly understood under current Earth system models, partly as a result of thermal acclimation of organic matter decomposition. We conducted a 117-day incubation experiment under constant and diurnally varying temperature treatments based on four forest soils varying in vegetation stand and soil horizon. Our results showed that Q10 was greater under varying than constant temperature regimes. This distinction was most likely attributed to differences in the depletion of available carbon between constant high and varying high-temperature treatments, resulting in significantly higher rates of heterotrophic respiration in the varying high-temperature regime. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing data using Illumina, the varying high-temperature regime harbored higher prokaryotic alpha-diversity, was more dominated by the copiotrophic strategists and sustained a distinct community composition, in comparison to the constant-high treatment. We found a tightly coupled relationship between Q10 and microbial trophic guilds: the copiotrophic prokaryotes responded positively with high Q10 values, while the oligotrophs showed a negative response. Effects of vegetation stand and soil horizon consistently supported that the copiotrophic vs oligotrophic strategists determine the thermal sensitivity of CO2 flux. Our observations suggest that incorporating prokaryotic functional traits, such as shifts between copiotrophy and oligotrophy, is fundamental to our understanding of thermal acclimation of microbially mediated soil organic carbon cycling. Inclusion of microbial functional shifts may provide the potential to improve our projections of responses in microbial community and CO2 efflux to a changing environment in forest ecosystems.

The collection of microorganisms found in the root zone of soil, termed the rhizosphere microbiome, has been shown to impact plant growth and development. Here, we tease apart the function of the cultivable portion of the microbiome from the whole microbiome in retaining plant traits modified through artificial selection on flowering time. Specifically, the whole microbiome associated with earlier flowering time of Arabidopsis thaliana was cultivated on four types of solid media to create cultivated fractions of the microbiome. These cultivated microbiomes were subsequently preserved in glycerol, frozen, and revived to yield a portion of the cultivable fraction to compare (1) whole microbiome, (2) cultivable microbiome, and (3) revived, cultivable microbiome controls on early flowering time. Plants grown in soils inoculated with bacteria grown on 25 % Luria broth and 10 % tryptic soy agar retained the early flowering trait. An increase in leaf biomass with two of the cultivated microbiomes (49.4 and 38.5 %) contrasted the lowered biomass effect of the whole microbiome. Inoculation with the cultivated microbiomes that were cryopreserved in glycerol showed no effect on flowering time or leaf biomass. The results indicate that the cultivable portion of a plant's microbiome retains the early flowering effect in A. thaliana, but cryopreservation of the cultivated microbiomes disrupts the microbial effects on flowering time. Furthermore, the contrasting effects on leaf biomass (an indirect response from selection on early flowering time), seen with the whole microbiome versus the cultivable portion, suggests versatility in using cultivation methods to modify multiple traits of plants.

AbstractWe examined patterns in soil microbial community composition across a successional gradient of drained lake basins in the Arctic Coastal Plain. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that methanogens closely related to Candidatus ‘Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis’ were the dominant archaea, comprising >50% of the total archaea at most sites, with particularly high levels in the oldest basins and in the top 57 cm of soil (active and transition layers). Bacterial community composition was more diverse, with lineages from OP11, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria found in high relative abundance across all sites. Notably, microbial composition appeared to converge in the active layer, but transition and permafrost layer communities across the sites were significantly different to one another. Microbial biomass using fatty acid-based analysis indicated that the youngest basins had increased abundances of gram-positive bacteria and saprotrophic fungi at higher soil organic carbon levels, while the oldest basins displayed an increase in only the gram-positive bacteria. While this study showed differences in microbial populations across the sites relevant to basin age, the dominance of Candidatus ‘M. stordalenmirensis’ across the chronosequence indicates the potential for changes in local carbon cycling, depending on how these methanogens and associated microbial communities respond to warming temperatures.

Abstract Soil microorganisms found in the root zone impact plant growth and development, but the potential to harness these benefits is hampered by the sheer abundance and diversity of the players influencing desirable plant traits. Here, we report a high level of reproducibility of soil microbiomes in altering plant flowering time and soil functions when partnered within and between plant hosts. We used a multi-generation experimental system using Arabidopsis thaliana Col to select for soil microbiomes inducing earlier or later flowering times of their hosts. We then inoculated the selected microbiomes from the tenth generation of plantings into the soils of three additional A. thaliana genotypes (Ler, Be, RLD) and a related crucifer (Brassica rapa). With the exception of Ler, all other plant hosts showed a shift in flowering time corresponding with the inoculation of early- or late-flowering microbiomes. Analysis of the soil microbial community using 16 S rRNA gene sequencing showed distinct microbiota profiles assembling by flowering time treatment. Plant hosts grown with the late-flowering-associated microbiomes showed consequent increases in inflorescence biomass for three A. thaliana genotypes and an increase in total biomass for B. rapa. The increase in biomass was correlated with two- to five-fold enhancement of microbial extracellular enzyme activities associated with nitrogen mineralization in soils. The reproducibility of the flowering phenotype across plant hosts suggests that microbiomes can be selected to modify plant traits and coordinate changes in soil resource pools.