Erosion of community complexity increases temperature-dependency of microbial respiration, but not growth, in short-term incubations

Abstract

Biodiversity loss and climate change are 2 of the most alarming threats to ecosystem functioning and stability. These factors are, however, typically investigated separately, overlooking potential interactions between species extinctions and climate change on ecosystems. Here, we evaluated how different temperature regimes impact the relationship between microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning, in terms of temperature sensitivity of carbon (C) cycling functions. We hypothesized that more complex communities promote the stability of C cycling functions under both temperature regimes. We did not observe a ubiquitous response of all C-cycling processes to temperature increases within communities of distinct complexities. While growth was stable with increasing temperatures across the complexity levels, respiration rates increased more strongly at low complexity than high complexity levels at higher temperatures. Carbon use efficiency, which integrates both growth and respiration, tended to decrease with temperature at lower levels of complexity. Jointly, these results demonstrate the importance of community complexity for maintaining C-cycling thermal response under a changing climate.