Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica)
In continental Antarctica, autotrophs are exclusively represented by cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and mosses. Consequently, Antarctic soil communities are expected to be rather simple and primarily dominated by microorganisms. Recently, a change in abundance of mosses and lichens has been observed...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:432704 2023-07-30T03:58:35+02:00 Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) Bragazza, Luca Robroek, Bjorn J.M. Jassey, Vincent E.J. Arif, Muhammad Saleem Marchesini, Roberta Guglielmin, M. Cannone, Nicoletta 2019-11-01 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432704/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432704/1/Bragazza_etal_re_revised_Geoder_2019.docx en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432704/1/Bragazza_etal_re_revised_Geoder_2019.docx Bragazza, Luca, Robroek, Bjorn J.M., Jassey, Vincent E.J., Arif, Muhammad Saleem, Marchesini, Roberta, Guglielmin, M. and Cannone, Nicoletta (2019) Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica). Geoderma, 353, 144-151. (doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.06.033 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.06.033>). cc_by_nc_nd_4 Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftsouthampton https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.06.033 2023-07-09T22:30:54Z In continental Antarctica, autotrophs are exclusively represented by cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and mosses. Consequently, Antarctic soil communities are expected to be rather simple and primarily dominated by microorganisms. Recently, a change in abundance of mosses and lichens has been observed in continental Antarctica in response to an increase of the active permafrost layer, but the implication of this change to soil micro-organisms remains little known. Here we aim to clarify to what extent the abundance of mosses and lichens affects soil biogeochemistry in Victoria Land, with a particular focus on soil microbial abundance and associated soil enzymatic activity. To achieve this aim, we assessed the structure of soil microbiome and the activity of hydrolytic C, N, and P enzymes along a gradient in soil physico-chemical conditions and plant cover. Moss cover strongly relates to the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil water and nutrient content. Soils with higher content of organic carbon were characterized by higher microbial biomass and showed a relatively higher abundance of fungi as compared to bacteria. More specifically, PLFAs biomarkers for Actinomycetes and Gram-positive bacteria were mainly associated to soils with lower SOC. In order to sustain a higher microbial biomass, total activity of hydrolytic enzymes increased with increasing SOC content. Eco-enzymatic stoichiometry, based on C to P and C to N ratios, indicates a higher investment in N- and P-hydrolytic enzymes (ratio < 1), particularly at low SOC content. Oppositely, an increase in C-hydrolytic enzyme activity (ratio ≈ 1) was observed with increasing accumulation of organic carbon. Such a result seems to indicate a stronger role of soil pH at low SOC on enzymatic stoichiometry (abiotic control) whereas with increasing accumulation of organic matter the enzymatic stoichiometry is more affected by microbial metabolism (biotic control). Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica permafrost Victoria Land University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton Antarctic Victoria Land Geoderma 353 144 151 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
op_collection_id |
ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
In continental Antarctica, autotrophs are exclusively represented by cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and mosses. Consequently, Antarctic soil communities are expected to be rather simple and primarily dominated by microorganisms. Recently, a change in abundance of mosses and lichens has been observed in continental Antarctica in response to an increase of the active permafrost layer, but the implication of this change to soil micro-organisms remains little known. Here we aim to clarify to what extent the abundance of mosses and lichens affects soil biogeochemistry in Victoria Land, with a particular focus on soil microbial abundance and associated soil enzymatic activity. To achieve this aim, we assessed the structure of soil microbiome and the activity of hydrolytic C, N, and P enzymes along a gradient in soil physico-chemical conditions and plant cover. Moss cover strongly relates to the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil water and nutrient content. Soils with higher content of organic carbon were characterized by higher microbial biomass and showed a relatively higher abundance of fungi as compared to bacteria. More specifically, PLFAs biomarkers for Actinomycetes and Gram-positive bacteria were mainly associated to soils with lower SOC. In order to sustain a higher microbial biomass, total activity of hydrolytic enzymes increased with increasing SOC content. Eco-enzymatic stoichiometry, based on C to P and C to N ratios, indicates a higher investment in N- and P-hydrolytic enzymes (ratio < 1), particularly at low SOC content. Oppositely, an increase in C-hydrolytic enzyme activity (ratio ≈ 1) was observed with increasing accumulation of organic carbon. Such a result seems to indicate a stronger role of soil pH at low SOC on enzymatic stoichiometry (abiotic control) whereas with increasing accumulation of organic matter the enzymatic stoichiometry is more affected by microbial metabolism (biotic control). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bragazza, Luca Robroek, Bjorn J.M. Jassey, Vincent E.J. Arif, Muhammad Saleem Marchesini, Roberta Guglielmin, M. Cannone, Nicoletta |
spellingShingle |
Bragazza, Luca Robroek, Bjorn J.M. Jassey, Vincent E.J. Arif, Muhammad Saleem Marchesini, Roberta Guglielmin, M. Cannone, Nicoletta Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) |
author_facet |
Bragazza, Luca Robroek, Bjorn J.M. Jassey, Vincent E.J. Arif, Muhammad Saleem Marchesini, Roberta Guglielmin, M. Cannone, Nicoletta |
author_sort |
Bragazza, Luca |
title |
Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) |
title_short |
Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) |
title_full |
Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) |
title_fullStr |
Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica) |
title_sort |
soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in victoria land (continental antarctica) |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432704/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432704/1/Bragazza_etal_re_revised_Geoder_2019.docx |
geographic |
Antarctic Victoria Land |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Victoria Land |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica permafrost Victoria Land |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica permafrost Victoria Land |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/432704/1/Bragazza_etal_re_revised_Geoder_2019.docx Bragazza, Luca, Robroek, Bjorn J.M., Jassey, Vincent E.J., Arif, Muhammad Saleem, Marchesini, Roberta, Guglielmin, M. and Cannone, Nicoletta (2019) Soil microbial community structure and enzymatic activity along a plant cover gradient in Victoria Land (continental Antarctica). Geoderma, 353, 144-151. (doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.06.033 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.06.033>). |
op_rights |
cc_by_nc_nd_4 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.06.033 |
container_title |
Geoderma |
container_volume |
353 |
container_start_page |
144 |
op_container_end_page |
151 |
_version_ |
1772821355303010304 |