Identity of plant, lichen and moss species connects with microbial abundance and soil functioning in maritime Antarctica

Background and aims We lack studies evaluating how the identity of plant, lichen and moss species relates to microbial abundance and soil functioning on Antarctica. If species identity is associated with soil functioning, distributional changes of key species, linked to climate change, could signifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Plant and Soil
Main Authors: Benavent-Gonzalez, Alberto, Delgado Baquerizo, Manuel, Fernandez-Brun, Laura, Singh, Brajesh K. (R15253), Maestre, Fernando T., Sancho, Leopoldo G.
Other Authors: Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (Host institution)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Netherlands, Springer 2018
Subjects:
XXXXXX - Unknown
plants
bacteria
soil fungi
polymerase chain reaction
soil enzymology
Antarctic
Livingston Island
Antarc*
Antarctica
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3721-7
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:47852
Description
Summary:Background and aims We lack studies evaluating how the identity of plant, lichen and moss species relates to microbial abundance and soil functioning on Antarctica. If species identity is associated with soil functioning, distributional changes of key species, linked to climate change, could significantly affect Antarctic soil functioning. Methods We evaluated how the identity of six Antarctic plant, lichen and moss species relate to a range of soil attributes (C, N and P cycling), microbial abundance and structure in Livingston Island, Maritime Antarctica. We used an effect size metric to predict the association between species (vs. bare soil) and the measured soil attributes. Results We observed species-specific effects of the plant and biocrust species on soil attributes and microbial abundance. Phenols, phosphatase and β-D-cellobiosidase activities were the most important attributes characterizing the observed patterns. We found that the evaluated species positively correlated with soil nutrient availability and microbial abundance vs. bare soil. Conclusions We provide evidence, from a comparative study, that plant and biocrust identity is associated with different levels of soil functioning and microbial abundance in Maritime Antarctica. Our results suggest that changes in the spatial distribution of these species linked to climate change could potentially entail changes in the functioning of Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems.

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