TY - JOUR
T1 - Soil microbial community composition is correlated to soil carbon processing along a boreal wetland formation gradient
AU - Chapman, Eric J.
AU - Cadillo-Quiroz, Hinsby
AU - Childers, Daniel
AU - Turetsky, Merritt R.
AU - Waldrop, Mark P.
N1 - Funding Information:
EJC received support from the Graduate Student and Professional Association and the School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University for sampling and travel. Additional support was provided by Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research Program (NSF Grant No. 1027188). Support was also provided to DLC by the National Science Foundation through the Urban Sustainability Research Coordination Network (NSF Grant No. 1140070). We thank the Alaska Peatland Experiment team (APEX) for site access and intellectual support. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS
PY - 2017/9
Y1 - 2017/9
N2 - Climate change is modifying global biogeochemical cycles. Microbial communities play an integral role in soil biogeochemical cycles; knowledge about microbial composition helps provide a mechanistic understanding of these ecosystem-level phenomena. Next generation sequencing approaches were used to investigate changes in microbial functional groups during ecosystem development, in response to climate change, in northern boreal wetlands. A gradient of wetlands that developed following permafrost degradation was used to characterize changes in the soil microbial communities that mediate C cycling: a bog representing an “undisturbed” system with intact permafrost, and a younger bog and an older bog that formed following the disturbance of permafrost thaw. Reference 16S rRNA databases and several diversity indices were used to assess structural differences among these communities, to assess relationships between soil microbial community composition and various environmental variables including redox potential and pH. Rates of potential CO2 and CH4 gas production were quantified to correlate sequence data with gas flux. The abundance of organic C degraders was highest in the youngest bog, suggesting higher rates of microbial processes, including potential CH4 production. In addition, alpha diversity was also highest in the youngest bog, which seemed to be related to a more neutral pH and a lower redox potential. These results could potentially be driven by increased niche differentiation in anaerobic soils. These results suggest that ecosystem structure, which was largely driven by changes in edaphic and plant community characteristics between the “undisturbed” permafrost bog and the two bogs formed following permafrost thaw, strongly influenced microbial function.
AB - Climate change is modifying global biogeochemical cycles. Microbial communities play an integral role in soil biogeochemical cycles; knowledge about microbial composition helps provide a mechanistic understanding of these ecosystem-level phenomena. Next generation sequencing approaches were used to investigate changes in microbial functional groups during ecosystem development, in response to climate change, in northern boreal wetlands. A gradient of wetlands that developed following permafrost degradation was used to characterize changes in the soil microbial communities that mediate C cycling: a bog representing an “undisturbed” system with intact permafrost, and a younger bog and an older bog that formed following the disturbance of permafrost thaw. Reference 16S rRNA databases and several diversity indices were used to assess structural differences among these communities, to assess relationships between soil microbial community composition and various environmental variables including redox potential and pH. Rates of potential CO2 and CH4 gas production were quantified to correlate sequence data with gas flux. The abundance of organic C degraders was highest in the youngest bog, suggesting higher rates of microbial processes, including potential CH4 production. In addition, alpha diversity was also highest in the youngest bog, which seemed to be related to a more neutral pH and a lower redox potential. These results could potentially be driven by increased niche differentiation in anaerobic soils. These results suggest that ecosystem structure, which was largely driven by changes in edaphic and plant community characteristics between the “undisturbed” permafrost bog and the two bogs formed following permafrost thaw, strongly influenced microbial function.
KW - Boreal wetlands
KW - DNA sequencing
KW - Methanogenesis
KW - Microbial community
KW - Permafrost thaw
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.08.001
DO - 10.1016/j.ejsobi.2017.08.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85026899766
SN - 1164-5563
VL - 82
SP - 17
EP - 26
JO - European Journal of Soil Biology
JF - European Journal of Soil Biology
ER -