Long-Term Warming in Alaska Enlarges the Diazotrophic Community in Deep Soils

With the likelihood that changes in global climate will adversely affect the soil C reservoir in the northern circumpolar permafrost zone, an understanding of the potential role of diazotrophic communities in enhancing biological N 2 fixation, which constrains both plant production and microbial dec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:mBio
Main Authors: Feng, Jiajie, Penton, C. Ryan, He, Zhili, Van Nostrand, Joy D., Yuan, Mengting M., Wu, Liyou, Wang, Cong, Qin, Yujia, Shi, Zhou J., Guo, Xue, Schuur, Edward A. G., Luo, Yiqi, Bracho, Rosvel, Konstantinidis, Konstantinos T., Cole, James R., Tiedje, James M., Yang, Yunfeng, Zhou, Jizhong
Other Authors: Keim, Paul, National Science Foundation of China, Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2019
Subjects:
permafrost
Tundra
Alaska
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/mbio.02521-18
https://journals.asm.org/doi/pdf/10.1128/mBio.02521-18
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Summary:With the likelihood that changes in global climate will adversely affect the soil C reservoir in the northern circumpolar permafrost zone, an understanding of the potential role of diazotrophic communities in enhancing biological N 2 fixation, which constrains both plant production and microbial decomposition in tundra soils, is important in elucidating the responses of soil microbial communities to global climate change. A recent study showed that the composition of the diazotrophic community in a tundra soil exhibited no change under a short-term (1.5-year) winter warming experiment. However, it remains crucial to examine whether the lack of diazotrophic community responses to warming is persistent over a longer time period as a possibly important mechanism in stabilizing tundra soil C. Through a detailed characterization of the effects of winter warming on diazotrophic communities, we showed that a long-term (5-year) winter warming substantially enhanced diazotrophic abundance and altered community composition, though soil depth had a stronger influence on diazotrophic community composition than warming. These changes were best explained by changes in soil moisture, soil thaw duration, and plant biomass. These results provide crucial insights into the potential factors that may impact future C and N availability in tundra regions.

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