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Ecological memory of recurrent drought modifies soil processes via changes in soil microbial community.
- Source :
-
Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2021 Sep 06; Vol. 12 (1), pp. 5308. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Sep 06. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Climate change is altering the frequency and severity of drought events. Recent evidence indicates that drought may produce legacy effects on soil microbial communities. However, it is unclear whether precedent drought events lead to ecological memory formation, i.e., the capacity of past events to influence current ecosystem response trajectories. Here, we utilize a long-term field experiment in a mountain grassland in central Austria with an experimental layout comparing 10 years of recurrent drought events to a single drought event and ambient conditions. We show that recurrent droughts increase the dissimilarity of microbial communities compared to control and single drought events, and enhance soil multifunctionality during drought (calculated via measurements of potential enzymatic activities, soil nutrients, microbial biomass stoichiometry and belowground net primary productivity). Our results indicate that soil microbial community composition changes in concert with its functioning, with consequences for soil processes. The formation of ecological memory in soil under recurrent drought may enhance the resilience of ecosystem functioning against future drought events.<br /> (© 2021. The Author(s).)
- Subjects :
- Acidobacteria classification
Acidobacteria genetics
Acidobacteria isolation & purification
Actinobacteria classification
Actinobacteria genetics
Actinobacteria isolation & purification
Altitude
Austria
Bacteroidetes classification
Bacteroidetes genetics
Bacteroidetes isolation & purification
Biomass
Carbon analysis
Chloroflexi classification
Chloroflexi genetics
Chloroflexi isolation & purification
Grassland
Humans
Nitrogen analysis
Phosphorus analysis
Planctomycetales classification
Planctomycetales genetics
Planctomycetales isolation & purification
Proteobacteria classification
Proteobacteria genetics
Proteobacteria isolation & purification
Sulfur analysis
Verrucomicrobia classification
Verrucomicrobia genetics
Verrucomicrobia isolation & purification
Droughts statistics & numerical data
Microbiota physiology
Soil chemistry
Soil Microbiology
Water analysis
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 2041-1723
- Volume :
- 12
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Nature communications
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 34489463
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25675-4