Abstract
Due to climate warming, alpine ecosystems are changing rapidly. Ongoing upward migrations of plants and thus an increase of easily decomposable substrates will strongly affect the soil microbiome. To understand how belowground communities will respond to such changes, we set up an incubation experiment with permafrost and active soil layers from northern (NW) and southern (SE) slopes of a mountain ridge on Muot da Barba Peider in the Swiss Alps and incubated them with or without artificial root exudates (AREs) at two temperatures, 4°C or 15°C. The addition of AREs resulted in elevated respiration across all soil types. Bacterial and fungal alpha diversity decreased significantly, coinciding with strong shifts in microbial community structure in ARE-treated soils. These shifts in bacterial community structure were driven by an increased abundance of fast-growing copiotrophic taxa. Fungal communities were predominantly affected by AREs in SE active layer soils and shifted towards fast-growing opportunistic yeast. In contrast, in the colder NW facing active layer and permafrost soils fungal communities were more influenced by temperature changes. These findings demonstrate the sensitivity of soil microbial communities in high alpine ecosystems to climate change and how shifts in these communities may lead to functional changes impacting biogeochemical processes.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.