Warmer winters result in reshaping of the European beech forest soil microbiome (bacteria, archaea and fungi) - With potential implications for ecosystem functioning

Mathilde Borg Dahl*, Juergen Kreyling, Sebastian Petters, Haitao Wang, Martin Steen Mortensen, Lorrie Maccario, Søren J. Sørensen, Tim Urich, Robert Weigel

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

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Abstract

In temperate regions, climate warming alters temperature and precipitation regimes. During winter, a decline in insulating snow cover changes the soil environment, where especially frost exposure can have severe implications for soil microorganisms and subsequently for soil nutrient dynamics. Here, we investigated winter climate change responses in European beech forests soil microbiome. Nine study sites with each three treatments (snow exclusion, insolation, and ambient) were investigated. Long-term adaptation to average climate was explored by comparing across sites. Triplicated treatment plots were used to evaluate short-term (one single winter) responses. Community profiles of bacteria, archaea and fungi were created using amplicon sequencing. Correlations between the microbiome, vegetation and soil physicochemical properties were found. We identify core members of the forest-microbiome and link them to key processes, for example, mycorrhizal symbiont and specialized beech wood degraders (fungi) and nitrogen cycling (bacteria, archaea). For bacteria, the shift of the microbiome composition due to short-term soil temperature manipulations in winter was similar to the community differences observed between long-term relatively cold to warm conditions. The results suggest a strong link between the changes in the microbiomes and changes in environmental processes, for example, nitrogen dynamics, driven by variations in winter climate.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftEnvironmental Microbiology
Vol/bind25
Udgave nummer6
Antal sider18
ISSN1462-2912
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2023

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This study was funded by the German Science Foundation (RW: KR 3309/9‐1, MD: BO 5559/1‐1 as well as the DFG research training group RTG 2010). The authors kindly thank the regional forest management (Forst Brandenburg including the Landeskompetenzzentrum Forst Eberswalde, Landesforst Mecklenburg‐Vorpommern, forest management of the University of Greifswald, National Forest Holding of Poland's State Forests in Szczecin, Gdańsk, and Toruń) for granting access, assistance with site selection and help during the setup of the experiment and during sampling. The field work in Poland was also funded by the Forest Research Institute in Poland, and we are very grateful to Marcin Klisz for his great help in organizing and conducting the project there. The authors also thank Ilka Beil and Alexander Kolb for help during soil sampling. The authors thank the Biocomputing Core Facility from the department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen for providing computing power for amplicon analyses. Finally, we thank Alexander Brandt who extracted the soil samples and performed first‐PCR as part of his bachelor's degree. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. RESPONSE

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology published by Applied Microbiology International and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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