Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland
Abstract Herbivory by barnacle geese ( Branta leucopsis ) alters the vegetation cover and reduces ecosystem productivity in high-Arctic peatlands, limiting the carbon sink strength of these ecosystems. Here we investigate how herbivory-induced vegetation changes affect the activities of peat soil mi...
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2021
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crspringernat:10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z 2023-05-15T14:57:59+02:00 Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland Bender, Kathrin M. Svenning, Mette M. Hu, Yuntao Richter, Andreas Schückel, Julia Jørgensen, Bodil Liebner, Susanne Tveit, Alexander T. Norges Forskningsråd Tromsø forskningsstiftelse UiT The Arctic University of Norway 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Polar Biology volume 44, issue 5, page 899-911 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 General Agricultural and Biological Sciences journal-article 2021 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z 2022-01-04T13:59:35Z Abstract Herbivory by barnacle geese ( Branta leucopsis ) alters the vegetation cover and reduces ecosystem productivity in high-Arctic peatlands, limiting the carbon sink strength of these ecosystems. Here we investigate how herbivory-induced vegetation changes affect the activities of peat soil microbiota using metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and targeted metabolomics in a comparison of fenced exclosures and nearby grazed sites. Our results show that a different vegetation with a high proportion of vascular plants developed due to reduced herbivory, resulting in a larger and more diverse input of polysaccharides to the soil at exclosed study sites. This coincided with higher sugar and amino acid concentrations in the soil at this site as well as the establishment of a more abundant and active microbiota, including saprotrophic fungi with broad substrate ranges, like Helotiales ( Ascomycota ) and Agaricales ( Basidiomycota ). A detailed description of fungal transcriptional profiles revealed higher gene expression for cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin and chitin degradation at herbivory-exclosed sites. Furthermore, we observed an increase in the number of genes and transcripts for predatory eukaryotes such as Entomobryomorpha (Arthropoda). We conclude that in the absence of herbivory, the development of a vascular vegetation alters the soil polysaccharide composition and supports larger and more active populations of fungi and predatory eukaryotes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Branta leucopsis Polar Biology Springer Nature (via Crossref) Arctic Polar Biology 44 5 899 911 |
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Open Polar |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Bender, Kathrin M. Svenning, Mette M. Hu, Yuntao Richter, Andreas Schückel, Julia Jørgensen, Bodil Liebner, Susanne Tveit, Alexander T. Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland |
topic_facet |
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences |
description |
Abstract Herbivory by barnacle geese ( Branta leucopsis ) alters the vegetation cover and reduces ecosystem productivity in high-Arctic peatlands, limiting the carbon sink strength of these ecosystems. Here we investigate how herbivory-induced vegetation changes affect the activities of peat soil microbiota using metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and targeted metabolomics in a comparison of fenced exclosures and nearby grazed sites. Our results show that a different vegetation with a high proportion of vascular plants developed due to reduced herbivory, resulting in a larger and more diverse input of polysaccharides to the soil at exclosed study sites. This coincided with higher sugar and amino acid concentrations in the soil at this site as well as the establishment of a more abundant and active microbiota, including saprotrophic fungi with broad substrate ranges, like Helotiales ( Ascomycota ) and Agaricales ( Basidiomycota ). A detailed description of fungal transcriptional profiles revealed higher gene expression for cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin and chitin degradation at herbivory-exclosed sites. Furthermore, we observed an increase in the number of genes and transcripts for predatory eukaryotes such as Entomobryomorpha (Arthropoda). We conclude that in the absence of herbivory, the development of a vascular vegetation alters the soil polysaccharide composition and supports larger and more active populations of fungi and predatory eukaryotes. |
author2 |
Norges Forskningsråd Tromsø forskningsstiftelse UiT The Arctic University of Norway |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bender, Kathrin M. Svenning, Mette M. Hu, Yuntao Richter, Andreas Schückel, Julia Jørgensen, Bodil Liebner, Susanne Tveit, Alexander T. |
author_facet |
Bender, Kathrin M. Svenning, Mette M. Hu, Yuntao Richter, Andreas Schückel, Julia Jørgensen, Bodil Liebner, Susanne Tveit, Alexander T. |
author_sort |
Bender, Kathrin M. |
title |
Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland |
title_short |
Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland |
title_full |
Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland |
title_fullStr |
Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-Arctic peatland |
title_sort |
microbial responses to herbivory-induced vegetation changes in a high-arctic peatland |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z/fulltext.html |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Branta leucopsis Polar Biology |
genre_facet |
Arctic Branta leucopsis Polar Biology |
op_source |
Polar Biology volume 44, issue 5, page 899-911 ISSN 0722-4060 1432-2056 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02846-z |
container_title |
Polar Biology |
container_volume |
44 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
899 |
op_container_end_page |
911 |
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1766330077525573632 |