Climate change and management effects on taxonomic and functional diversity of soil communities

Climate change and management effects on taxonomic and functional diversity of soil communitiesAuthors: Brunon Malicki1, 2, Jenni Nordén1, Carl-Fredrik Johannesson 1, Håvard Kauserud2Affiliations:1) Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Oslo, Norway 2) University of Oslo, Department of bioscience Boreal forests are crucial to the terrestrial carbon (C) stocks of the world, containing even 50% of all forest C, up to 80% of which can be located within their soils. There its cycle is regulated by a complex net of interactions between the organisms inhabiting it and the abiotic environment. Both climate change as well as anthropogenic disturbances in the form of management activities, can cause a reduction in their carbon stocks. For this reason, it is important to understand how community structure is affected by the ongoing climate change and various management activities in boreal forest soil. This kind of understanding is necessary for informed actions to mitigate the consequences of climate change. The aim of the project ForBioFunCtion is to assess the changes in boreal forest soil communities, as well as soil C fluxes that result from the activities of the soil communities, as a response to management and climate change. In order to do this, a chrono sequence has been set up in Norwegian bilberry spruce forests, including: a clear-cut, thinned middle-aged managed, mature managed as well as a near natural forest stand. Within each site, open top chambers, outfitted with heaters, will be placed, in order to stimulate an increase in temperature. Moreover, increased precipitation will be simulated by fortnightly watering. Lastly, nitrogen fertilizer or biochar will be added to experimental units within the clear-cut, thinned, middle-aged and mature managed stands. Each year, soil cores and dead wood samples will be taken from each experimental unit, and the communities inhabiting them will be analyzed with the use of next-generation sequencing and modern bioinformatics, in order to determine both the species as well as functional group composition. Moreover, mesh bags containing both plant and fungal necromass will be used for assessing the rate of litter decomposition under the different experimental conditions. The project aims to broaden the understanding of the response of soil communities to both climate change and improper forest management. This in turn could hopefully allow for creating methods of safeguarding the processes they regulate, as well as their diversity.