Suchergebnisse

Terrestrial ecosystems are globally under threat of loss or degradation. To compensate for the impacts incurred by loss and/or degradation, efforts to restore ecosystems are being undertaken. These efforts often focus on restoring the aboveground plant community with the expectation that the belowground microbial community will follow suit. This 'Field of Dreams' expectation - if you build it, they will come - makes untested assumptions about how microbial communities and their functions will respond to aboveground-focused restoration. To determine if restoration of aboveground plant communities equates to restoration of belowground microbial communities, we assessed the effects of four forest restoration treatments - varying in intensity from unmanaged to interplanting tree species - on microbial (i.e. prokaryotic and fungal) community composition and function (i.e. catabolic profiles and extracellular enzyme activities). Additionally, effects of the restoration treatments were compared to both degraded (i.e. active arable cultivation) and target endpoint communities (i.e. remnant bottomland forest) to determine the trajectory of intensifying aboveground restoration efforts on microbial communities. Approximately 16 years after the initiation of the restoration treatments, prokaryotic and fungal community composition, and microbial function in the four restoration treatments were intermediate to the endpoint communities. Surprisingly, intensification of aboveground restoration efforts led to few differences among the four restoration treatments and increasing intensification did not consistently lead to microbial communities with greater similarity in composition and function to the target remnant forest communities. Together these results suggest that belowground microbial community composition and function will respond little to, or will lag markedly behind, intensifying aboveground restoration efforts. Reliance on a Field of Dreams' approach, even if you build it better, may still lead to belowground microbial communities that remain uncoupled from aboveground communities. Importantly, our findings suggest that restoring aboveground vegetation may not lead to the intended restoration of belowground microbial communities and the ecosystem processes they mediate. ; USFS Southern Research StationUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)United States Forest Service; Yale University ; We thank Stephen Wood and Evelyn Wenk for field assistance. This project was funded through a cooperative agreement between USFS Southern Research Station and Yale University. ; Public domain authored by a U.S. government employee

The ongoing revolution in high-throughput sequencing continues to democratize the ability of small groups of investigators to map the microbial component of the biosphere. In particular, the coevolution of new sequencing platforms and new software tools allows data acquisition and analysis on an unprecedented scale. Here we report the next stage in this coevolutionary arms race, using the Illumina GAIIx platform to sequence a diverse array of 25 environmental samples and three known "mock communities" at a depth averaging 3.1 million reads per sample. We demonstrate excellent consistency in taxonomic recovery and recapture diversity patterns that were previously reported on the basis of metaanalysis of many studies from the literature (notably, the saline/nonsaline split in environmental samples and the split between host-associated and free-living communities). We also demonstrate that 2,000 Illumina single-end reads are sufficient to recapture the same relationships among samples that we observe with the full dataset. The results thus open up the possibility of conducting large-scale studies analyzing thousands of samples simultaneously to survey microbial communities at an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution.

Diets during critical brooding and winter periods likely influence the growth of Lesser Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) populations. During the brooding period, rapidly growing Lesser Prairie-Chicken chicks have high calorie demands and are restricted to foods within immediate surroundings. For adults and juveniles during cold winters, meeting thermoregulatory demands with available food items of limited nutrient content may be challenging. Our objective was to determine the primary animal and plant components of Lesser Prairie-Chicken diets among native prairie, cropland, and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields in Kansas and Colorado, USA, during brooding and winter using a DNA metabarcoding approach. Lesser Prairie-Chicken fecal samples (n = 314) were collected during summer 2014 and winter 2014-2015, DNA was extracted, amplified, and sequenced. A region of the cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene was sequenced to determine the arthropod component of the diet, and a portion of the trnL intron region was used to determine the plant component. Relying on fecal DNA to quantify dietary composition, as opposed to traditional visual identification of gut contents, revealed a greater proportion of soft-bodied arthropods than previously recorded. Among 80 fecal samples for which threshold arthropod DNA reads were obtained, 35% of the sequences were most likely from Lepidoptera, 26% from Orthoptera, 14% from Araneae, 13% from Hemiptera, and 12% from other orders. Plant sequences from 137 fecal samples were composed of species similar to Ambrosia (27%), followed by species similar to Lactuca or Taraxacum (10%), Medicago (6%), and Triticum (5%). Forbs were the predominant (>50% of reads) plant food consumed during both brood rearing and winter. The importance both of native forbs and of a broad array of arthropods that rely on forbs suggests that disturbance regimes that promote forbs may be crucial in providing food for Lesser Prairie-Chickens in the northern portion of their distribution. ; Kansas Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism [KS W-73-R-3]; USDA Farm Services CRP Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation [12-IA-MRE CRP TA#7, KSCFWRU RWO 62]; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative ; Funding for the project was provided by Kansas Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism (Federal Assistance Grant KS W-73-R-3); USDA Farm Services CRP Monitoring, Assessment, and Evaluation (12-IA-MRE CRP TA#7, KSCFWRU RWO 62); and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative. ; Public domain authored by a U.S. government employee

Identifying the global drivers of soil priming is essential to understanding C cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. We conducted a survey of soils across 86 globally-distributed locations, spanning a wide range of climates, biotic communities, and soil conditions, and evaluated the apparent soil priming effect using C-13-glucose labeling. Here we show that the magnitude of the positive apparent priming effect (increase in CO2 release through accelerated microbial biomass turnover) was negatively associated with SOC content and microbial respiration rates. Our statistical modeling suggests that apparent priming effects tend to be negative in more mesic sites associated with higher SOC contents. In contrast, a single-input of labile C causes positive apparent priming effects in more arid locations with low SOC contents. Our results provide solid evidence that SOC content plays a critical role in regulating apparent priming effects, with important implications for the improvement of C cycling models under global change scenarios. ; European UnionEuropean Union (EU) [702057]; FEDER fundsEuropean Union (EU) [AGL2017-85755-R]; CSICConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) [201740I008]; I-LINK + 2018 [LINKA20069]; "Fundacion Seneca" from Murcia Province [19896/GERM/15]; Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 under REA grant [702057]; FONDECYTComision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT)CONICYT FONDECYT [1170995]; IAI-CRN [3005]; CONICYTComision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) [PFB-23]; Millennium Scientific Initiative [P05-002]; Churchill College (University of Cambridge); Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences Program [DESC-0008168]; USGS Ecosystems Mission Area; EPA-STAR Graduate FellowshipUnited States Environmental Protection Agency [U-916251]; Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research Graduate Fellowship; Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation of Arizona Scholarship; McIntire-Stennis appropriations ; This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 702057. F.B., J.L., A.V., C.G., T.H. thank the Spanish Ministry and FEDER funds for the CICYT project AGL2017-85755-R, the CSIC projects 201740I008 and I-LINK + 2018 (LINKA20069), and funds from "Fundacion Seneca" from Murcia Province (19896/GERM/15). M.D-B. acknowledges support from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 under REA grant agreement no 702057. S.A and F.D.A were supported by FONDECYT 1170995. C.A.P is grateful to IAI-CRN 3005. C.A.P and F.D.A were supported by PFB-23 (from CONICYT) and P05-002 (from Millennium Scientific Initiative) to the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity, Chile. N.A.C is grateful to Churchill College (University of Cambridge) for financial support and to Dr. Vicki Parry for fieldwork assistance. S.R acknowledges support from the Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Sciences Program (DESC-0008168) and the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. A.A.B. and F.S. acknowledge support from Jennifer Harden and Sebastian Doetterl for prior works and information about sites along the Merced Chronosequence and from Benjamin Sulman for help during sampling. The Arizona research sites were established with the support of an EPA-STAR Graduate Fellowship (U-916251), a Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research Graduate Fellowship, an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation of Arizona Scholarship, and McIntire-Stennis appropriations to Northern Arizona University and the State of Arizona. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

The importance of soil age as an ecosystem driver across biomes remains largely unresolved. By combining a cross-biome global field survey, including data for 32 soil, plant, and microbial properties in 16 soil chronosequences, with a global meta-analysis, we show that soil age is a significant ecosystem driver, but only accounts for a relatively small proportion of the cross-biome variation in multiple ecosystem properties. Parent material, climate, vegetation and topography predict, collectively, 24 times more variation in ecosystem properties than soil age alone. Soil age is an important local-scale ecosystem driver; however, environmental context, rather than soil age, determines the rates and trajectories of ecosystem development in structure and function across biomes. Our work provides insights into the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. We propose that, regardless of soil age, changes in the environmental context, such as those associated with global climatic and land-use changes, will have important long-term impacts on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems across biomes. ; This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 702057 (CLIMIFUN). M.D.-B. is supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-025483-I), and by the BES Grant Agreement No. LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET). F.B. is grateful to the Spanish Ministry and FEDER funds for the project AGL2017–85755-R, the i-LINK+2018 (LINKA20069) from CSIC, and received funds from "Fundación Séneca" from Murcia Province (19896/GERM/15). S.R. was supported by the US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area. C.P. acknowledges support from the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2013–2016), award ref. AGL201675762-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). A.G. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science (CGL2017-88124-R). F.A. is supported by FONDECYT 11180538 and S.A. by FONDECYT 1170995. We would like to thank Peter Vitousek for his comments on a previous draft of this paper. Moreover, we thank Matt Gebert, Jessica Henley, Fernando T. Maestre, Victoria Ochoa, and Beatriz Gozalo for their help with lab analyses, and Emilio Guirado for his advice with topographic analyses. We also want to thank Osvaldo Sala, Matthew A. Bowker, Peter Vitousek, Courtney Currier, Martin Kirchmair, Victor M. Peña-Ramírez, Lynn Riedel, Julie Larson, Katy Waechter, David Buckner, and Brian Anacker for their help with soil sampling, and to the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks for allowing us to conduct these samplings. We are also grateful to the Division of Forestry and Wildlife of the State of Hawai'i and Koke'e State Park for their logistical assistance and for allowing us access to the HA sites. The Arizona research sites were established with the support of an EPA‐STAR Graduate Fellowship (U‐916251), a Merriam‐Powell Center for Environmental Research Graduate Fellowship, an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation of Arizona Scholarship, and McIntire‐Stennis appropriations to Northern Arizona University and the State of Arizona. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

The importance of soil age as an ecosystem driver across biomes remains largely unresolved. By combining a cross-biome global field survey, including data for 32 soil, plant, and microbial properties in 16 soil chronosequences, with a global meta-analysis, we show that soil age is a significant ecosystem driver, but only accounts for a relatively small proportion of the cross-biome variation in multiple ecosystem properties. Parent material, climate, vegetation and topography predict, collectively, 24 times more variation in ecosystem properties than soil age alone. Soil age is an important local-scale ecosystem driver; however, environmental context, rather than soil age, determines the rates and trajectories of ecosystem development in structure and function across biomes. Our work provides insights into the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. We propose that, regardless of soil age, changes in the environmental context, such as those associated with global climatic and land-use changes, will have important long-term impacts on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems across biomes. ; This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 702057 (CLIMIFUN). M.D.-B. is supported by a Ramón y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-025483-I), and by the BES Grant Agreement No. LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET). F.B. is grateful to the Spanish Ministry and FEDER funds for the project AGL2017–85755-R, the i-LINK+2018 (LINKA20069) from CSIC, and received funds from "Fundación Séneca" from Murcia Province (19896/GERM/15). S.R. was supported by the US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area. C.P. acknowledges support from the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2013–2016), award ref. AGL201675762-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). A.G. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science (CGL2017-88124-R). F.A. is supported by FONDECYT 11180538 and S.A. by FONDECYT 1170995. We would like to thank Peter Vitousek for his comments on a previous draft of this paper. Moreover, we thank Matt Gebert, Jessica Henley, Fernando T. Maestre, Victoria Ochoa, and Beatriz Gozalo for their help with lab analyses, and Emilio Guirado for his advice with topographic analyses. We also want to thank Osvaldo Sala, Matthew A. Bowker, Peter Vitousek, Courtney Currier, Martin Kirchmair, Victor M. Peña-Ramírez, Lynn Riedel, Julie Larson, Katy Waechter, David Buckner, and Brian Anacker for their help with soil sampling, and to the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks for allowing us to conduct these samplings. We are also grateful to the Division of Forestry and Wildlife of the State of Hawai'i and Koke'e State Park for their logistical assistance and for allowing us access to the HA sites. The Arizona research sites were established with the support of an EPA‐STAR Graduate Fellowship (U‐916251), a Merriam‐Powell Center for Environmental Research Graduate Fellowship, an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation of Arizona Scholarship, and McIntire‐Stennis appropriations to Northern Arizona University and the State of Arizona. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

The importance of soil age as an ecosystem driver across biomes remains largely unresolved. By combining a cross-biome global field survey, including data for 32 soil, plant, and microbial properties in 16 soil chronosequences, with a global meta-analysis, we show that soil age is a significant ecosystem driver, but only accounts for a relatively small proportion of the cross-biome variation in multiple ecosystem properties. Parent material, climate, vegetation and topography predict, collectively, 24 times more variation in ecosystem properties than soil age alone. Soil age is an important local-scale ecosystem driver; however, environmental context, rather than soil age, determines the rates and trajectories of ecosystem development in structure and function across biomes. Our work provides insights into the natural history of terrestrial ecosystems. We propose that, regardless of soil age, changes in the environmental context, such as those associated with global climatic and land-use changes, will have important long-term impacts on the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems across biomes. Soil age is thought to be an important driver of ecosystem development. Here, the authors perform a global survey of soil chronosequences and meta-analysis to show that, contrary to expectations, soil age is a relatively minor ecosystem driver at the biome scale once other drivers such as parent material, climate, and vegetation type are accounted for. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie GrantEuropean Union (EU) [702057]; Ramon y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [RYC2018-025483-I]; BES Grant [LRB17\1019]; Spanish MinistrySpanish Government; FEDER fundsEuropean Union (EU) [AGL2017-85755-R]; i-LINK+2018 from CSIC [LINKA20069]; Fundacion Seneca" from Murcia Province [19896/GERM/15]; US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area; Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2013-2016) [AGL201675762-R]; Spanish Ministry of ScienceSpanish Government [CGL2017-88124-R]; FONDECYTComision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT)CONICYT FONDECYT [1170995, 11180538]; EPASTAR Graduate FellowshipUnited States Environmental Protection Agency [U-916251]; Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research Graduate Fellowship; Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation of Arizona Scholarship; McIntire-Stennis appropriations to Northern Arizona University; State of Arizona ; This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 702057 (CLIMIFUN). M.D.-B. is supported by a Ramon y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-025483-I), and by the BES Grant Agreement No. LRB17\1019 (MUSGONET). F.B. is grateful to the Spanish Ministry and FEDER funds for the project AGL2017-85755-R, the i-LINK+2018 (LINKA20069) from CSIC, and received funds from "Fundacion Seneca" from Murcia Province (19896/GERM/15). S.R. was supported by the US Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area. C.P. acknowledges support from the Spanish State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation (2013-2016), award ref. AGL201675762-R (AEI/FEDER, UE). A.G. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science (CGL2017-88124-R). F.A. is supported by FONDECYT 11180538 and S.A. by FONDECYT 1170995. We would like to thank Peter Vitousek for his comments on a previous draft of this paper. Moreover, we thank Matt Gebert, Jessica Henley, Fernando T. Maestre, Victoria Ochoa, and Beatriz Gozalo for their help with lab analyses, and Emilio Guirado for his advice with topographic analyses. We also want to thank Osvaldo Sala, Matthew A. Bowker, Peter Vitousek, Courtney Currier, Martin Kirchmair, Victor M. Pena-Ramirez, Lynn Riedel, Julie Larson, Katy Waechter, David Buckner, and Brian Anacker for their help with soil sampling, and to the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks for allowing us to conduct these samplings. We are also grateful to the Division of Forestry and Wildlife of the State of Hawai'i and Koke'e State Park for their logistical assistance and for allowing us access to the HA sites. The Arizona research sites were established with the support of an EPASTAR Graduate Fellowship (U-916251), a Merriam-Powell Center for Environmental Research Graduate Fellowship, an Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation of Arizona Scholarship, and McIntire-Stennis appropriations to Northern Arizona University and the State of Arizona. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

Belowground organisms play critical roles in maintaining multiple ecosystem processes, including plant productivity, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Despite their importance, however, we have a limited understanding of how and why belowground biodiversity (bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates) may change as soils develop over centuries to millennia (pedogenesis). Moreover, it is unclear whether belowground biodiversity changes during pedogenesis are similar to the patterns observed for aboveground plant diversity. Here we evaluated the roles of resource availability, nutrient stoichiometry, and soil abiotic factors in driving belowground biodiversity across 16 soil chronosequences (from centuries to millennia) spanning a wide range of globally distributed ecosystem types. Changes in belowground biodiversity during pedogenesis followed two main patterns. In lower-productivity ecosystems (i.e., drier and colder), increases in belowground biodiversity tracked increases in plant cover. In more productive ecosystems (i.e., wetter and warmer), increased acidification during pedogenesis was associated with declines in belowground biodiversity. Changes in the diversity of bacteria, fungi, protists, and invertebrates with pedogenesis were strongly and positively correlated worldwide, highlighting that belowground biodiversity shares similar ecological drivers as soils and ecosystems develop. In general, temporal changes in aboveground plant diversity and belowground biodiversity were not correlated, challenging the common perception that belowground biodiversity should follow similar patterns to those of plant diversity during ecosystem development. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that ecological patterns in belowground biodiversity are predictable across major globally distributed ecosystem types and suggest that shifts in plant cover and soil acidification during ecosystem development are associated with changes in belowground biodiversity over centuries to millennia. ; European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant [702057]; US National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [EAR1331828, DEB 1556090] ; This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement 702057. N.F. was supported through grants from the US National Science Foundation (EAR1331828, DEB 1556090). Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government. An extended version of the acknowledgments is provided in SI Appendix. ; Public domain authored by a U.S. government employee