Article
Details
Citation
Frey B, Moser B, Tytgat B, Zimmermann S, Alberti J, Biederman LA, Borer ET, Broadbent AAD, Caldeira MC, Davies KF, Eisenhauer N, Eskelinen A, Fay PA, Hagedorn F & Hautier Y (2023) Long-term N-addition alters the community structure of functionally important N-cycling soil microorganisms across global grasslands. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 176, Art. No.: 108887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2022.108887
Abstract
Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) input is known to alter the soil microbiome, but how N enrichment influences the abundance, alpha-diversity and community structure of N-cycling functional microbial communities in grasslands remains poorly understood. Here, we collected soils from plant communities subjected to up to 9 years of annual N-addition (10 g N m?2 per year using urea as a N-source) and from unfertilized plots (control) in 30 grasslands worldwide spanning a large range of climatic and soil conditions. We focused on three key microbial groups responsible for two essential processes of the global N cycle: N2 fixation (soil diazotrophs) and nitrification (AOA: ammonia-oxidizing archaea and AOB: ammonia-oxidizing bacteria). We targeted soil diazotrophs, AOA and AOB using Illumina MiSeq sequencing and measured the abundance (gene copy numbers) using quantitative PCR. N-addition shifted the structure of the diazotrophic communities, although their alpha-diversity and abundance were not affected. AOA and AOB responded differently to N-addition. The abundance and alpha-diversity of AOB increased, and their community structure shifted with N-addition. In contrast, AOA were not affected by N-addition. AOA abundance outnumbered AOB in control plots under conditions of low N availability, whereas N-addition favoured copiotrophic AOB. Overall, N-addition showed a low impact on soil diazotrophs and AOA while effects for AOB communities were considerable. These results reveal that long-term N-addition has important ecological implications for key microbial groups involved in two critical soil N-cycling processes. Increased AOB abundance and community shifts following N-addition may change soil N-cycling, as larger population sizes may promote higher rates of ammonia oxidation and subsequently increase N loss via gaseous and soil N-leaching. These findings bring us a step closer to predicting the responses and feedbacks of microbial-mediated N-cycling processes to long-term anthropogenic N-addition in grasslands.
Keywords
Ammonia oxidizer; Biogeography; Diazotroph; Grassland; N-cycling microbial community; N-Fertilization; N2-fixong bacteria; nifH; Nutrient network (NutNet); Urea
Notes
Additional authors:
Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Joslin L. Moore, Maximilian Nepel, Sally A. Power, Eric W. Seabloom, Eduardo V¨¢zquez, Risto Virtanen, Laura Yahdjian, Anita C. Risch
Journal
Soil Biology and Biochemistry: Volume 176
Status | Published |
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Funders | and |
Publication date | 31/01/2023 |
Publication date online | 15/11/2022 |
Date accepted by journal | 14/11/2022 |
URL | |
Publisher | Elsevier BV |
ISSN | 0038-0717 |
People (1)
Research Fellow (NERC), Biological and Environmental Sciences