Abstract
Resolving carbon use by fungi and bacteria is thought to capture disparate life strategies for soil microbial decomposers, associating bacteria with a fast but leaky use of carbon (C) and nutrients, and fungi with a slow but efficient use. We tested these ideas using the Detritus Input and Removal Treatments (DIRT) experiment, where litter and root inputs had been experimentally manipulated during 23 years, generating differences in soil C quality. We find no support for the presumed differences between fungal- and bacterial-dominated detrital food webs in these soils, calling for a revision of our basic understanding of microbial communities and the processes they regulate. The different litter manipulation treatments of the DIRT experiment. Photo by Mel Knorr. These photographs illustrate the article ”Revisiting the hypothesis that fungal-to-bacterial dominance characterizes turnover of soil organic matter and nutrients” by Johannes Rousk and Serita D. Frey, tentatively scheduled to appear in Ecological Monographs 85(3), August 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/14-1796.1
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