Moss and underlying soil bacterial community structures are linked to moss functional traits ...

• Main Authors: Klarenberg, Ingeborg J., Keuschnig, Christoph, Salazar, Alejandro, Benning, Liane G., Vilhelmsson, Oddur
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Freie Universität Berlin 2023
• Subjects: carbon; glacier retreat; moss; moss bacterial communities; moss traits; nitrogen; nitrogen fixation; plant–soil–microbe interactions; 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie; Fláajökull; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17169/refubium-38688; https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/38972

Mosses are among the first colonizing organisms after glacier retreat and can develop into thick moss mats during later successional stages. They are key players in N2 fixation through their microbiome, which is an important process for nutrient buildup during primary succession. How these moss–microbe interactions develop during succession is not well studied and is relevant in the light of climate change and increased glacier retreat. We examined how the bacterial communities associated with two moss species of the genus Racomitrium and the underlying soil, as well as moss traits and nitrogen fixation, develop along a successional gradient in the glacier forefield of Fláajökull in southeast Iceland. In addition, we tested whether moss functional traits, such as total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, moss moisture content, and moss shoot length are drivers of moss and underlying soil bacterial communities. Although time since deglaciation did not affect TN and moss moisture contents, TC and ...