Abstract
Projected climate change and rainfall variability will affect soil microbial communities, biogeochemical cycling and agriculture. Nitrogen (N) is the most limiting nutrient in agroecosystems and its cycling and availability is highly dependent on microbial driven processes. In agroecosystems, hydrolysis of organic nitrogen (N) is an important step in controlling soil N availability. We analyzed the effect of management (ecological intensive vs. conventional intensive) on N-cycling processes and involved microbial communities under climate change-induced rain regimes. Terrestrial model ecosystems originating from agroecosystems across Europe were subjected to four different rain regimes for 263 days. Using structural equation modelling we identified direct impacts of rain regimes on N-cycling processes, whereas N-related microbial communities were more resistant. In addition to rain regimes, management indirectly affected N-cycling processes via modifications of N-related microbial community composition. Ecological intensive management promoted a beneficial N-related microbial community composition involved in N-cycling processes under climate change-induced rain regimes. Exploratory analyses identified phosphorus-associated litter properties as possible drivers for the observed management effects on N-related microbial community composition. This work provides novel insights into mechanisms controlling agro-ecosystem functioning under climate change.
Highlights
Projected climate change and rainfall variability will affect soil microbial communities, biogeochemical cycling and agriculture
Soil NH4+ increased under dry treatments while NO3− + NO2− content decreased under wet compared to normal treatments (SI Fig. 3)
The current study aimed at assessing the effects of contrasting rain regimes, management and soil organic matter (SOM) concentration on N-related ecosystem processes partially mediated by microbes, in forage agroecosystems across three European countries
Summary
Projected climate change and rainfall variability will affect soil microbial communities, biogeochemical cycling and agriculture. We analyzed the effect of management (ecological intensive vs conventional intensive) on N-cycling processes and involved microbial communities under climate change-induced rain regimes. Ecological intensive management promoted a beneficial N-related microbial community composition involved in N-cycling processes under climate change-induced rain regimes. Ecological intensive management (e.g. organic farming) can increase soil organic carbon content[9], change plant traits[10], increase soil microbial abundance and activity[11] and affect diversity as well as select for a distinct microbial community composition compared to conventional intensively managed systems[12]. In a previous soil incubation experiment, apr encoding microbial community composition showed different composition, higher diversity and enhanced stability under drought stress in organically versus conventionally managed soil[36] No such effect was found for npr encoding microbial community diversity and composition[36]. These results experimentally demonstrated that parts of the proteolytic microbial communities selected under organic farming can improve the capacity to maintain plant nutrition of a model crop under dry conditions[36]
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