Microbial communities on litter of managed and abandoned alpine pastureland

Abstract

Degradation of litter strongly depends on its chemical composition, which in turn affects the associated microorganisms. In the alpine region, the abandonment of pastures leads to a rigorous change in the composition of the litter layer, shifting from grass to highly recalcitrant dwarf shrub litter, thus affecting the food web and decomposition processes. Three species belonging to different functional groups (grasses, herbs, dwarf shrubs) and indigenous on managed and/or abandoned alpine pastureland were selected for this study, the annual grass Dactylis glomerata, characteristic for managed sites, Trollius europaeus as representative of a herb common on both managed and abandoned areas, and Vaccinium vitis-idea as typical dwarf shrub arising on abandoned alpine pastures. Litter bags containing litter material from either one of the three plant types were incubated on the soil surface for 9 weeks. DNA was extracted from the substrate, amplified and analysed using PCR–DGGE. Fingerprinting analyses of bacterial and fungal communities showed that the microbiota attached to the litter differed considerably depending on the plant type. Nonetheless, specific bacterial bands were present in the fingerprinting patterns of all three litter types. Identifying these organisms applying the 16S rRNA clone libraries revealed the dominance of bacteria from the class Bacteroidetes, representing two thirds of all identified band positions.