Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra

Abstract Many Arctic regions are currently experiencing substantial summer and winter climate changes. Litter decomposition is a fundamental component of ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles, with fungi being among the primary decomposers. To assess the impacts of seasonal climatic changes on litter...

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Published in:Global Change Biology
Main Authors: Christiansen, Casper T., Haugwitz, Merian S., Priemé, Anders, Nielsen, Cecilie S., Elberling, Bo, Michelsen, Anders, Grogan, Paul, Blok, Daan
Other Authors: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13362
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spelling crwiley:10.1111/gcb.13362 2024-05-19T07:36:02+00:00 Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra Christiansen, Casper T. Haugwitz, Merian S. Priemé, Anders Nielsen, Cecilie S. Elberling, Bo Michelsen, Anders Grogan, Paul Blok, Daan Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Danmarks Grundforskningsfond 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13362 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.13362 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.13362 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Global Change Biology volume 23, issue 1, page 406-420 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 General Environmental Science Ecology Environmental Chemistry Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2016 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13362 2024-04-22T07:35:34Z Abstract Many Arctic regions are currently experiencing substantial summer and winter climate changes. Litter decomposition is a fundamental component of ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles, with fungi being among the primary decomposers. To assess the impacts of seasonal climatic changes on litter fungal communities and their functioning, Betula glandulosa leaf litter was surface‐incubated in two adjacent low Arctic sites with contrasting soil moisture regimes: dry shrub heath and wet sedge tundra at Disko Island, Greenland. At both sites, we investigated the impacts of factorial combinations of enhanced summer warming (using open‐top chambers; OTC s) and deepened snow (using snow fences) on surface litter mass loss, chemistry and fungal decomposer communities after approximately 1 year. Enhanced summer warming significantly restricted litter mass loss by 32% in the dry and 17% in the wet site. Litter moisture content was significantly reduced by summer warming in the dry, but not in the wet site. Likewise, fungal total abundance and diversity were reduced by OTC warming at the dry site, while comparatively modest warming effects were observed in the wet site. These results suggest that increased evapotranspiration in the OTC plots lowered litter moisture content to the point where fungal decomposition activities became inhibited. In contrast, snow addition enhanced fungal abundance in both sites but did not significantly affect litter mass loss rates. Across sites, control plots only shared 15% of their fungal phylotypes, suggesting strong local controls on fungal decomposer community composition. Nevertheless, fungal community functioning (litter decomposition) was negatively affected by warming in both sites. We conclude that although buried soil organic matter decomposition is widely expected to increase with future summer warming, surface litter decay and nutrient turnover rates in both xeric and relatively moist tundra are likely to be significantly restricted by the evaporative drying associated with ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland Tundra Wiley Online Library Global Change Biology 23 1 406 420
institution Open Polar
collection Wiley Online Library
op_collection_id crwiley
language English
topic General Environmental Science
Ecology
Environmental Chemistry
Global and Planetary Change
spellingShingle General Environmental Science
Ecology
Environmental Chemistry
Global and Planetary Change
Christiansen, Casper T.
Haugwitz, Merian S.
Priemé, Anders
Nielsen, Cecilie S.
Elberling, Bo
Michelsen, Anders
Grogan, Paul
Blok, Daan
Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
topic_facet General Environmental Science
Ecology
Environmental Chemistry
Global and Planetary Change
description Abstract Many Arctic regions are currently experiencing substantial summer and winter climate changes. Litter decomposition is a fundamental component of ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycles, with fungi being among the primary decomposers. To assess the impacts of seasonal climatic changes on litter fungal communities and their functioning, Betula glandulosa leaf litter was surface‐incubated in two adjacent low Arctic sites with contrasting soil moisture regimes: dry shrub heath and wet sedge tundra at Disko Island, Greenland. At both sites, we investigated the impacts of factorial combinations of enhanced summer warming (using open‐top chambers; OTC s) and deepened snow (using snow fences) on surface litter mass loss, chemistry and fungal decomposer communities after approximately 1 year. Enhanced summer warming significantly restricted litter mass loss by 32% in the dry and 17% in the wet site. Litter moisture content was significantly reduced by summer warming in the dry, but not in the wet site. Likewise, fungal total abundance and diversity were reduced by OTC warming at the dry site, while comparatively modest warming effects were observed in the wet site. These results suggest that increased evapotranspiration in the OTC plots lowered litter moisture content to the point where fungal decomposition activities became inhibited. In contrast, snow addition enhanced fungal abundance in both sites but did not significantly affect litter mass loss rates. Across sites, control plots only shared 15% of their fungal phylotypes, suggesting strong local controls on fungal decomposer community composition. Nevertheless, fungal community functioning (litter decomposition) was negatively affected by warming in both sites. We conclude that although buried soil organic matter decomposition is widely expected to increase with future summer warming, surface litter decay and nutrient turnover rates in both xeric and relatively moist tundra are likely to be significantly restricted by the evaporative drying associated with ...
author2 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Danmarks Grundforskningsfond
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Christiansen, Casper T.
Haugwitz, Merian S.
Priemé, Anders
Nielsen, Cecilie S.
Elberling, Bo
Michelsen, Anders
Grogan, Paul
Blok, Daan
author_facet Christiansen, Casper T.
Haugwitz, Merian S.
Priemé, Anders
Nielsen, Cecilie S.
Elberling, Bo
Michelsen, Anders
Grogan, Paul
Blok, Daan
author_sort Christiansen, Casper T.
title Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
title_short Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
title_full Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
title_fullStr Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
title_full_unstemmed Enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
title_sort enhanced summer warming reduces fungal decomposer diversity and litter mass loss more strongly in dry than in wet tundra
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2016
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13362
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.13362
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.13362
genre Arctic
Greenland
Tundra
genre_facet Arctic
Greenland
Tundra
op_source Global Change Biology
volume 23, issue 1, page 406-420
ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486
op_rights http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13362
container_title Global Change Biology
container_volume 23
container_issue 1
container_start_page 406
op_container_end_page 420
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