TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental harshness mediates the relationship between aboveground and belowground communities in Antarctica
AU - Ball, Becky A.
AU - Convey, Peter
AU - Feeser, Kelli L.
AU - Nielsen, Uffe N.
AU - Van Horn, David J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by National Science Foundation's Division of Polar Programs grants to PIs Ball (NSF PLR- 1341429 ) and Van Horn (NSF PLR-1341427). Logistical support was provided by the US Antarctic Program and British Antarctic Survey . We thank the staff at Rothera Station (2014-15 season: Roger Stillwell and the FGA team, Ali Massey, the pilots and boatmen who carted us around, and residents who enthusiastically provided empty cans for our Tullgren funnels) and crew of R/V Laurence M. Gould (2016 season: MT's Garett Eisele, Tom Sigmond, and Mike Lewis, ET David Branson, and MLT Cindy Dean) for their wonderful support. We thank students Ammar Abidali, Shannon Archuleta, Paul Cattelino, Nadia Colombi, Emily Habinck, Christopher Hughes, Ana Khan, Giles Ross, and Connor Wetzel-Brown for their help in the field and lab. Cathy Kochert, Roy Erickson, and Sara Ryan at the Goldwater Environmental Lab at ASU provided analytical services. Peter Convey is supported by NERC core funding to the BAS ‘Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation’ Team.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/1
Y1 - 2022/1
N2 - Linkages between aboveground and belowground communities are a key but globally under-researched component of responses to environmental change. Given the logistical complications to studying these relationships, much of our knowledge derives from laboratory experiments and localized field studies which have so far yielded inconsistent results. Because environmental factors may alter relationships between above- and belowground communities, there is a need for broad-scale field studies testing these interactions. The Antarctic Peninsula provides an ideal test setting, given the relatively simple communities both above- and belowground. The Peninsula is also experiencing rapid environmental changes, including alterations in species diversity and distribution both above- and belowground. Thus, an improved understanding of the broad-scale consequences of altered environments and vegetation communities for the soil microbiome is of high priority. To determine the nature and strength of the relationship between in situ plant and soil communities across a broad spatial scale and range of environmental conditions, we sampled soil communities at 9 locations (spanning 60–72°S along the Scotia Arc and Antarctic Peninsula) beneath the major aboveground habitats (moss, grass, lichen, algae and bare soil). We measured a comprehensive suite of soil physicochemical properties, microbial (bacterial and fungal) diversity and composition, and invertebrate abundance and community composition to determine the relationships between plant and soil communities. Our results suggest that, with increased environmental severity, plant cover types become more important for influencing the physicochemical soil environment, and therefore the soil microbial communities. Although we found site-specific relationships, broad-scale patterns reveal significant differences among bare soils and vegetated soils, particularly soils beneath grass and moss. This suggests that expansion of vegetation communities under current climate warming projections will be accompanied by shifts in the soil microbiome, with important implications for the ecosystem functioning with which they are associated.
AB - Linkages between aboveground and belowground communities are a key but globally under-researched component of responses to environmental change. Given the logistical complications to studying these relationships, much of our knowledge derives from laboratory experiments and localized field studies which have so far yielded inconsistent results. Because environmental factors may alter relationships between above- and belowground communities, there is a need for broad-scale field studies testing these interactions. The Antarctic Peninsula provides an ideal test setting, given the relatively simple communities both above- and belowground. The Peninsula is also experiencing rapid environmental changes, including alterations in species diversity and distribution both above- and belowground. Thus, an improved understanding of the broad-scale consequences of altered environments and vegetation communities for the soil microbiome is of high priority. To determine the nature and strength of the relationship between in situ plant and soil communities across a broad spatial scale and range of environmental conditions, we sampled soil communities at 9 locations (spanning 60–72°S along the Scotia Arc and Antarctic Peninsula) beneath the major aboveground habitats (moss, grass, lichen, algae and bare soil). We measured a comprehensive suite of soil physicochemical properties, microbial (bacterial and fungal) diversity and composition, and invertebrate abundance and community composition to determine the relationships between plant and soil communities. Our results suggest that, with increased environmental severity, plant cover types become more important for influencing the physicochemical soil environment, and therefore the soil microbial communities. Although we found site-specific relationships, broad-scale patterns reveal significant differences among bare soils and vegetated soils, particularly soils beneath grass and moss. This suggests that expansion of vegetation communities under current climate warming projections will be accompanied by shifts in the soil microbiome, with important implications for the ecosystem functioning with which they are associated.
KW - Aboveground-belowground linkages
KW - Antarctic Peninsula
KW - Antarctic vegetation
KW - Soil biodiversity
KW - Soil invertebrates
KW - Soil microbial communities
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85119291320&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108493
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108493
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119291320
SN - 0038-0717
VL - 164
JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
M1 - 108493
ER -