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223 results for “soil functioning”
Data from: Diversity and functionality of soil fauna
<p>The goal of this study was to assess the recovery of soil micro-arthropods in different periods, in heathlands. </p> <p><br> Study area and sampling strategy <br> All studied plots were located in the Veluwe area, a large nature area central in the Netherlands, consisting of extended forests and heathlands. The area has a humid Atlantic climate with an average temperature of 3.1 °C in January and 17.9 °C in July and an annual precipitation of 950 mm more or less spread evenly over the year (data from a 30-year period). For our research we needed detailed management information, which was obtained from two nature management organizations: National Park De Hoge Veluwe (52°05’N, 5°50’E) and the municipality of Nunspeet (52°23’N, 5°47’E). Both organizations keep detailed records on heathland management making it possible to select plots that have been sod-cut only once in a given year, without additional management ever since. <br> At the Hoge Veluwe area we selected 5 plots (uncut and cut 40, 7and 2 years before sampling) and at the Nunspeet area we selected 10 plots (uncut and cut 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 18, 16, 12 years before sampling. Soil type on all plots is a spodic dystrudept (Soil Survey Staff, 1999), developed on the gentle slope of push moraine ridges with some cover sand on top. The parent material is coarse sandy with 13-18% of loam in the deeper soil layers. Topsoil has been extensively leached, creating a more spodic tophorizon, resembling the one of an orthod. Humus form is originally moderlike, but contains also larger proportions of amorphous organic compounds leaching into the B-horizon as seen in orthods. Organic matter in the topsoil (0-10 cm.) is 5.5 ± 2.5%, pH[NaCl] is 3.6 ± 0.7 on average over all plots. </p> <p>Soil micro-arthropod and soil chemical sampling<br> All plots were sampled on 8 March 2019, taking four cores per plot. Cores were 5 cm Ø and 5 cm deep mineral soil plus upper litter. Cores were taken in the middle of the plots, 1 m apart of each other. Cores were extracted on a Tullgren funnel for 7 days. During that period temperature was increased from 35 to 45 °C. Ethanol 70% was used as preservative and micro-arthropods obtained were put into lactic acid 40% for clarification and identification (Siepel and van de Bund 1988). All micro-arthropods from the Tullgren funnel were identified at the species level using appropriate keys. Nomenclature and identification for the main groups is according to Weigmann (2006) for Oribatida, Karg (1993) for Gamasina and Karg (1989) for Uropodina.<br> The soil core samples were taken to measure environmental variables after extraction of the soil micro-arthropods. These air-dried soil samples were sieved to 1 mm. Soil chemistry variables used in our analysis included soil organic matter, soil total nitrogen, moisture, pH [NaCl], available phosphorus (P-Olsen). The pH of the solution was measured immediately using a combined pH electrode after mixing fresh soil with NaCl solution. The soil phosphorus (P-Olsen) was determined using extraction with sodium bicarbonate (Olsen et al., 1954).</p> <p><br> We have two data files: <br> sod cutting environment factor.csv<br> sod cutting microarthropods.csv</p> <p>Explanation of the variables in the datasets:<br> Area: Nunspeet, Hoge Veluwe<br> year: sod cutting happened in which year<br> Feeding: B, FB, FG, HG, OHF, H, HB, HG,O, P</p> <p>B: browsers<br> FB:Fungivorous browsers<br> FG:Fungivorous grazers<br> HG:Herbofungivorous grazers<br> OHF: Opportunistic Herbofungivorous<br> H: herbofungivores<br> HB: Herbivorous browsers<br> HG: Herbivorous grazers<br> O: Omnivores<br> P: Predators</p> <p>pH: The pH of the solution was measured immediately using a combined pH electrode after mixing fresh soil with NaCl solution. <br> moisture %: percentage moisture of the soil sample <br> org matter %: percentage organic matter of the soil sample<br> N (mg/g): total nitrogen concentration of the soil sample<br> C (mg/g): total carbon concentration of the soil sample<br> mol P per kgram dry soil: The soil phosphorus (P-Olsen) was determined using extraction with sodium bicarbonate (Olsen et al., 1954).<br> C/N ratio: ratio of total carbon to total nitrogen in the soil sample</p>
Dataset for: Relative contribution of high and low elevation soil microbes and nematodes to ecosystem functioning
<ol> <li><span>Ecosystem productivity is largely dependent on soil nutrient cycling which, in turn, is driven by decomposition rates governed by locally-adapted belowground microbial and invertebrate communities. How climate change will impact soil biota and the correlated ecosystem functioning, however, remains largely an open question.</span></li> <li><span>To address this challenge, we first characterized the functional identity of soil microbial and nematode communities originated from the foothills or in the sub-alpine soils of the Alps, and then, using a full-factorial reciprocal transplant common garden experiment at two elevations, we asked whether soil biota from low elevation were more prone in generating nutrient cycling than high elevation soil biota. Specifically, we separately transplanted soil microbial and nematode to community from low and high elevation in their home or opposite elevation in pots added with a common plant community. </span></li> <li><span>We found evidence for ecotypic and functional differentiation of the microbial and nematode communities growing in. We also observed a decrease in microbial diversity and activity at high elevation, and additionally, through nematodes' functional characterization, we found increased fungal-dominated energy channels at high elevation. </span></li> <li><span>Moreover, while we found little effect of soil biodiversity change based on elevation of origin on plant productivity, soils inoculated with microbes originating from low elevation respired more than those originating at high elevation. This observation correlates well with the observed faster carbon degradation rates by the low-elevation microbial communities. </span></li> <li><span>Climate change can reshuffle soil invertebrate communities depending on organism-specific variation in range expansion, ultimately affecting soil fertility and vegetation productivity.</span></li> </ol>
Data from: No evidence of foliar disease impact on crop root functional strategies and soil microbial communities: What does this mean for organic coffee?
<p><span>Global climate change is increasing pest and pathogen pressures on plant communities, deteriorating optimal plant functioning. In plant communities, root functional trait expression and microbial communities are important indicators of plant functioning belowground, and, when confronted with pathogens aboveground, can simultaneously reflect plant defence strategies. Yet, while research is continuing to emerge on the response of root functional traits and microbial processes to pathogens aboveground, little work has investigated these interactions in tree-crops, or the role organic amendments play in moderating these relationships. The main objective of this study is to disentangle the dynamic effects of pathogens and amendments on root functional traits (i.e., specific root length and area, root diameter, root length density, root nitrogen, and root carbon to nitrogen ratio) and root endophytic fungal communities. As a model, we use <em>Coffea arabica </em>(coffee) variety Caturra along a gradient of Coffee Leaf Rust – a foliar disease prominent in coffee systems – under contrasting but widespread amendment regimes in biodiverse agroforestry systems. We found that root trait expression varies along established conservation and collaboration gradients, where fungal endophyte community composition varies significantly as a function of root traits. Belowground resource acquisition strategies do not change with foliar disease incidence, suggesting they may be decoupled. Rather, amendment regimes </span>differentially shape root trait expression and microbial communities<span>, where coffee plants under organic amendments, regardless of foliar disease incidence, expressed greater acquisitive traits and enhanced collaboration with symbiotic fungi. </span>This is an important first step in disentangling the dynamic inter-relationships between plant traits, endophytes, and pathogens, generating new questions on the role of amendments in sustainable pathogen management in biodiverse agroecosystems.</p> <p> </p>
Scale dependence in functional equivalence and difference in the soil microbiome
<p>Climatic history can shape the functioning of soil microbial communities and thus rates of ecosystem processes such as organic matter decomposition. For example, broad spatial scale differences in climatic history, such as contrasting precipitation regimes, have been shown to generate unique microbial functional responses to contemporary moisture conditions. Yet it is an open question as to whether local differences in soil microclimate similarly influence the functional potential of decomposer communities. Here, we use a multi-scale approach within and among two temperate forest field sites to investigate this question. Soils from fifty-four microsites, that vary in their soil moisture climate-regimes, were used as inocula for a common leaf litter (<em>Quercus rubra</em>) in a controlled, laboratory microcosm study. Microcosms were placed under dry, mesic and wet lab-moisture conditions and the rate of carbon (C) mineralization of the litter was measured over 202 days. Our results reveal differences in decomposition rates under controlled conditions that highlight broad-scale functional differences between the soil communities at each site. Specifically, we found that C mineralization differed by as much as two-fold for soil communities when compared between the sites. Our results also show that functional differences of soil communities are observable within one site but not the other. In the site where local-scale functional legacies were apparent, the historical soil moisture microclimate-regimes generated as much as an 89% change in C mineralization rates of the leaf litter under the same contemporary, lab-imposed moisture conditions. A similar pattern was not observable in the other site; instead, laboratory moisture conditions explained almost all variation in C mineralization. Our findings confirm those from prior studies where regional-scale moisture-regime differences shape microbial function, and extends this prior work by providing evidence that pronounced local-scale differences in soil moisture microclimate-regimes can generate microbial functional legacies.</p>
Even short-term revegetation complicates soil food webs and strengths their links with ecosystem functions
<p>Degradation of dryland ecosystems is a worldwide problem caused by climate change and human activities. To restore these degraded ecosystems, governments have implemented projects that often include revegetation, but we still lack an understanding of how soil food webs and ecosystem functions are affected by revegetation. By conducting a large-scale revegetation experiment under two degradation intensities (low and high) on the Inner Mongolian degraded grassland, we tested the effects of revegetation on primary producers (plants), key components of soil food webs (bacteria, fungi, and nematodes), and ecosystem functions (soil C and N mineralization). After 4 years, revegetation greatly increased the biomass of plants and soil bacteria and fungi but had less effects on soil nematode functional groups. Revegetation increased vegetation and bacterial diversities and soil C and N mineralization rates, altered the structures of vegetation and soil microbial communities, but did not affect fungal or nematode diversity. The stronger effects of revegetation on plants, soil bacteria, soil fungi, and soil nematodes in plots with low degradation intensity than in plots with high degradation intensity indicated that future revegetation efforts should consider the degree of degradation. Revegetation also increased the interactions among plants, soil food webs, and ecosystem functions, indicating that the revegetation-induced changes in soil food webs could facilitate the recovery of soil nutrients and vegetation productivity in degraded grasslands. Synthesis and applications. Overall, the effects of revegetation were stronger on plants (primary producers) and soil microorganisms (intermediate trophic levels) than on soil nematodes (higher trophic levels), and even short-term revegetation increased the complexity of soil food webs and strengthened their relationships with soil functions in degraded grasslands. These results highlight the effects of restoration on multiple trophic levels in degraded drylands, and suggest that some aspects of plant-soil interactions in global drylands could be rapidly improved by appropriate restoration.</p>
No evidence that conifer biochar impacts soil functioning by serving as microbial refugia in boreal soils
<p><span>It is well established that application of biochar to soils can promote soil fertility, which ultimately may enhance plant growth. While many mechanisms have been proposed to explain this, one specific mechanism, the "microbial refugia hypothesis" suggests that biochar may provide physical protection for soil microbe from soil micro-fauna that otherwise exert top-down control on microbial biomass and activity. We tested the microbial refugia hypothesis by incubating two boreal soils with and without biochar derived from a wood mixture of boreal tree species (<em>Picea abies </em>and <em>Pinus sylvestris</em>), and with and without soil nematodes. We measured phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) as a relative measure of microbial biomass, and several variables indicative of microbial activity, including extractable nutrient concentrations (NH<sub>4</sub>+, NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>, and PO<sub>4</sub><sup>-</sup>), heterotrophic N<sub>2</sub>-fixation, and soil respiration. Contrary to our expectations, we found that biochar by itself did not stimulate microbial biomass or activity. Further, we found that nematode addition to soil stimulated rather than depressed the biomass of several bacterial PLFA groups. Finally, interactive effects between the nematode treatment and biochar never worked in a way that supported the microbial refugia hypothesis. Our findings suggests that a typical boreal biochar applied to boreal soils may not have the same stimulatory effect on microbial biomass and activity that has been shown in some other ecosystems, and that enhanced plant growth in response to biochar addition sometimes observed in boreal environments is likely due to other mechanisms, such as direct nutrient supply from biochar, or amelioration of soil pH.</span></p>
Afforestation can lower microbial diversity and functionality in deep soil layers in a semiarid region
<p>Afforestation is an effective approach to rehabilitate degraded ecosystems, but often depletes deep soil moisture. Presently, it is not known how an afforestation-induced decrease in moisture affects soil microbial community and functionality, hindering our ability to understand the sustainability of the rehabilitated ecosystems. To address this issue, we examined the impacts of 20 years of afforestation on soil bacterial community, co-occurrence pattern and functionalities along vertical profile (0-500 cm depth) in a semiarid region of China's Loess Plateau. We showed that the effects of afforestation with a deep-rooted legume tree on cropland were greater in deep than that of in top layers, resulting in decreased bacterial beta diversity, more responsive bacterial taxa and functional groups, increased homogeneous selection, and decreased network robustness in deep soils (120-500 cm). Organic carbon and nitrogen decomposition rates and multifunctionality also significantly decreased by afforestation, and microbial carbon limitation significantly increased in deep soils. Moreover, changes in microbial community and functionality in deep layer was largely related to changes in soil moisture. Such negative impacts on deep soils should be fully considered for assessing afforestation's eco-environment effects and for the sustainability of ecosystems because deep soils have important influence on forest ecosystems in semiarid and arid climates. </p>
Leveraging functional traits of cover crops to coordinate crop productivity and soil health
<p><span>1. Plants act as ecosystem engineers playing fundamental roles in steering their surroundings, including soil abiotic and biotic conditions, soil organisms, and the complex soil food web they comprise. Trait-based approaches have been considered a 'Holy Grail' in linking plants to ecosystem functions, but the mechanistic relationship between plant traits and the soil food web as an indicator of soil health remains poorly understood.</span></p> <p><span>2. We examined this relationship for 16 cover crop species differing in leaf and root traits in a field experiment where corn (Zea mays) was the main crop. Based on functional traits, the cover crop species were categorized into two ecological strategies at either end of the resource acquisitive-conservative spectrum. We investigated the effects of cover crop ecological strategies on corn productivity and soil health. We used soil nematodes as an indicator of soil health and analyzed soil physico-chemical properties and microbial community activities.</span></p> <p><span>3. We found that acquisitive cover crops supported higher soil resource availability, bacterial energy channels in the soil food web, and greater corn productivity than conservative cover crops. In contrast, conservative cover crops supported higher abundances of fungivores and omni-carnivores than acquisitive cover crop, which reflected a more structured and complex soil food web, implying a healthier soil ecosystem. Conservative cover crops also increased corn productivity compared to the no cover crop control treatment.</span></p> <p><span>4. Synthesis and applications. Collectively, this work shows that cover crops with distinct ecological strategies had their own strengths to enhance ecosystem functions: acquisitive and conservative cover crops improved crop productivity and soil health, respectively. These results indicates that farmers and policy makers can make trait-based choices in selecting cover crop best serving the local needs. This points to a win-win solution for food production and ecosystem sustainability.</span></p>
The functional role and diversity of soil nematodes are stronger at high elevation in the lesser Himalayan mountain ranges
<p>Soil nematodes are a foremost component of terrestrial biodiversity, they display the whole gamut of trophic guilds and life strategies, and by their activity, affect major ecosystem process, such as organic matter degradation and carbon cycling. Based on nematodes' functional types, nematode community indices have been developed, and can be used to link variation in nematodes community composition and ecosystem processes. Yet, the use of these indices has been mainly restricted to anthropogenic stresses. In this study, we propose to expand the use of nematodes' derived ecological indices in order to link soil and climate properties with soil food webs, and ecosystem processes that all vary along steep elevation gradients. For this purpose, we explored how elevation affects the trophic and functional diversity of nematode communities sampled every 300 m, from about 1000 m to 3700 m above sea level, across four transects in the lesser Himalayan range of Jammu and Kashmir. We found that (1) the trophic and functional diversity of nematodes increases with elevation; (2) differences in nematodes communities generate habitat-specific functional diversity; (3) the maturity index (MI), increases with elevation, while the enrichment index decreases, indicating less mature and less productive ecosystems, enhanced fungal-based energy flow, and a predominant role of nematodes in generating carbon influxes at high elevation sites. We thus confirm that the functional contribution of soil nematodes to belowground ecosystem processes, including carbon and energy flow, is stronger at high elevation. Overall, this study highlights the central importance of nematodes in sustaining soil ecosystems and brings insights into their functional role, particularly in alpine and arctic soils.</p>
DRAM raw annotations for "Cover Crop Root Exudates Impact Soil Microbiome Functional Trajectories in Agricultural Soils" Seitz et al 2024
<p>Additional File 5: <span>Raw DRAM MAG annotations. </span></p>
Structural and functional dynamics of soil microbes following bark beetle infestation
<p>Provided are the bacterial and fungal phyloseq objects for Structural and functional dynamics of soil microbes following spruce beetle infestation". Authored by: Gordon Custer, Dr. Linda van Diepen, and Dr. William Stump. All of the University of Wyoming</p>
Calcium-rich parent materials enhance multiple soil functions and bacterial network complexity
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Plant community composition and traits modulate the impacts of drought intensity on soil microbial community composition and function
<p>Terrestrial ecosystems are increasingly threatened by extreme drought events. Soil microbial communities are central to terrestrial ecosystem function via their role in regulating biogeochemical cycling. Consequently, the impact of increasingly intense drought events on soil microbial communities will have knock-on effects for how ecosystems cope with climate change. In an outdoor grassland mesocosm experiment, we determined how increasing drought intensity affects bacterial and fungal community composition, and functioning, during and after drought. We also tested whether plant community resource acquisition strategy (fast- versus slow-strategy plant communities), plant community composition, and plant functional traits mediate soil microbial responses to increasing drought intensity. We found that increasing drought intensity markedly shifted bacterial and fungal community composition, and these effects persisted until the end of the experiment (two months after re-wetting). Bacterial and fungal communities that experienced severe droughts did not return to baseline composition, while those that experienced a mild drought did. Microbial community functioning (potential extracellular enzyme activity) was reduced at peak drought and shortly after re-wetting. While drought intensity effects on bacterial or fungal communities were insensitive to plant community resource acquisition strategy, functional group abundance (aboveground biomass of grass or forb plant species) composition (grass:forb ratio) and leaf traits (leaf dry matter content and leaf nitrogen concentration) explained significant variation in bacterial and fungal community composition during and after drought. Notably, plant community leaf dry matter content and soil nitrogen were the key factors mediating the effect of increasing drought intensity on microbial indicator taxa (ASVs). We conclude that increasing drought intensity affects grassland soil microbial communities during and after drought, and this impact is influenced by plant community composition and functional traits.</p>
Data from: Forest management adaptation to climate change: a Cornelian dilemma between drought resistance and soil macro-detritivore functional diversity
1. Global warming induces new constraints on forest ecosystems and requires forest management adaptation. The reduction in stand density is currently debated as a potential tool to face increasing summer drought risk by improving forest resistance to climate change-induced tree mortality. However, few studies have yet assessed the impacts of this management change on soil biodiversity. 2. We conducted a large-scale, multi-site assessment of the response of soil macro-detritivore assemblages and soil functioning to experimental manipulations of stand density. A total of 33 stands were studied covering a wide gradient of stand density, that is stand basal area from 2·5 to 43·7 m2 ha−1, stand age, that is 18–171 years old, and local abiotic context. 3. We observed contrasting responses as a function of both taxonomic and functional groupings. Exploratory analysis using causal diagrams, that is path analysis, highlights that these changes were mainly related to alterations in understorey vegetation, microclimatic and soil pH conditions. The response of soil macro-detritivore assemblages to stand density manipulation was consistent over the gradient of stand ages. 4. Among the litter-dwelling macro-detritivores, millipede abundance and diversity decreased with stand density reduction, while woodlice and epigeic earthworms were unaffected. Further, a shift in soil-dwelling earthworm community composition was observed in mull stands. Endogeic earthworm abundance showed a sharp increase with stand density reduction, which translated into an increase in soil respiration. In contrast, anecic earthworm abundance decreased and was strongly associated with a decline of the rate of forest floor turnover. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our study provides strong evidence that reductions of stand density will have substantial impacts on soil macro-detritivore assemblages and cascading effects on soil functioning, particularly in mull stands. Managing stand density of oak forests at an intermediate level, that is 25 m2 ha−1, appears to be best to optimize the trade-off between improving forest resistance to climate change and ensuring the conservation of functional diversity to preserve forest ecosystem functioning and stability.
Data from: Reducing soil erosion by improving community functional diversity in semi-arid grasslands
1. Great efforts have been made to control soil erosion by restoring plant communities in degraded ecosystems world-wide. However, soil erosion has not been substantially reduced mainly because current restoration strategies lead to large areas of mono-specific vegetation, which are inefficient in reducing soil erosion because of their simple canopy and root structure. Therefore, an advanced understanding of how community functional composition affects soil erosion processes, as well as an improved restoration scheme to reduce soil erosion, is urgently needed. 2. We investigated the effect of community functional composition on soil erosion in restored semi-arid grasslands on the Loess Plateau of China. Community functional composition of 16 restored grasslands was quantified by community-weighted mean (CWM) and functional diversity (FD) trait values, which were calculated from nine plant functional traits of thirteen locally dominant plant species. Species richness and evenness were also measured. Soil erosion rates were measured using standard erosion plots. The multimodel inference approach was used to estimate the direction and the relative importance of these biodiversity indices in reducing soil erosion. 3. A robust and strong negative effect of functional divergence (FDiv) on soil erosion was found. The prevalence of particular trait combinations can also decrease soil erosion. The greatest control over soil erosion was exerted when the community mean root diameter was small and the root tensile strength was great. 4. Synthesis and applications: These findings imply that community functional diversity plays an important role in reducing soil erosion in semi-arid restored grasslands. This means that current restoration strategies can be greatly improved by incorporating community functional diversity into restoration design. We propose a trait-based restoration framework for reducing soil erosion, termed 'SSM' (Screening–Simulating–Maintaining). SSM aims to translate the target of community functional diversity into community assemblages that can be manipulated by practitioners. Based on this framework, a comprehensive procedure, highlighting functional diversity as the primary concern in determining optimal community assemblages, was developed to meet the pressing need for more effective restoration strategies to reduce soil erosion.
Relationships between plant-soil feedbacks and functional traits
<p>Plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) and functional traits are two active but not well theoretically integrated areas of research. However, PSF and traits are both affected by life history evolution, so the two should theoretically be related.</p> <p>We provide a conceptual framework to link plant functional traits to two types of PSF metrics, and hypothesize that individual PSF (plant performance in conspecific versus heterospecific soil) should be related to the fast-slow trait spectrum, while pairwise PSF (the sum of the individual feedbacks for two species growing in each other's soils) should be related to trait dissimilarity. We performed meta-analyses to test these hypotheses by compiling two datasets, one dataset consisting of individual PSF values and plant trait values (specific leaf area, SLA; leaf N concentration, LNC; specific root length, SRL; fine root diameter, FRD; plant height; seed mass), and the second consisting of pairwise PSF values and trait dissimilarity.</p> <p>Our meta-analyses showed that individual PSF values were more negative in faster-growing species with greater SLA, LNC and SRL, supporting the growth-defence trade-off hypothesis. Plant height was positively correlated with individual PSF, perhaps because large, long-lived plants defend against pathogens better than smaller, shorter-lived plants. We also found that larger-seeded species had more positive or less negative PSF, likely reflecting greater tolerance of soil pathogens. The direction of relationships between trait dissimilarity and pairwise PSF varied with trait identity. Dissimilarities in SRL and FRD were negatively correlated with pairwise PSF, while height dissimilarity was positively correlated with pairwise PSF. The contrasting relationships may reflect distinct links between trait dissimilarity and niche and fitness differences.</p> <p>Synthesis. Our results demonstrate how an integration of PSF and trait-based approaches can advance plant community ecology.</p>
Data from: Reconstructing the microbial diversity and function of pre-agricultural tallgrass prairie soils in the United States
Native tallgrass prairie once dominated much of the midwestern United States, but this biome and the soil microbial diversity that once sustained this highly productive system have been almost completely eradicated by decades of agricultural practices. We reconstructed the soil microbial diversity that once existed in this biome by analyzing relict prairie soils and found that the biogeographical patterns were largely driven by changes in the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia, a poorly studied bacterial phylum that appears to dominate many prairie soils. Shotgun metagenomic data suggested that these spatial patterns were associated with strong shifts in carbon dynamics. We show that metagenomic approaches can be used to reconstruct below-ground biogeochemical and diversity gradients in endangered ecosystems; such information could be used to improve restoration efforts, given that even small changes in below-ground microbial diversity can have important impacts on ecosystem processes.
The trajectories of vegetative structure and soil microbial function diverged across a fire chronosequence of the boreal forests in Northeast China
<p>The role of boreal forest to ameliorate the effect of global climate change largely depends on the regeneration of postfire forests in northeast China. The postfire recovery of boreal forest can be evaluated by the aboveground vegetative structure and soil microbial function. In present study, a 50-year fire chronosequence was established, and the biomass of forbs, shrub and woody plant was separately weighted to assess their contribution to the whole community with the year since fire (YSF). Simultaneously, soil biophysical properties were measured for stands in different time period after fire. Soil microbial functions, i.e., growth efficiency (GE) and carbon use efficiency (CUE), were calculated basing on ecoenzymatic and soil nutrient stoichiometry. In terms of vegetative structure, forbs' proportion decreased from 75% to 1.5%, but the proportion of woody plant increased from 0.04% to 70% across this fire chronosequence. In contrast, soil microbial function reached the highest value in 15 YSF and then began to decrease. As an important variable, soil metal content, particularly the calcium content, showed a positive correlation with woody plant biomass and a negative with soil microbial function. Furthermore, soil metal content was significantly increased in the late stage of this fire chronosequence. Overall, the present work highlighted that the time period of 15 YSF and 31 YSF was a hallmark stage for aboveground vegetative structure and soil microbial function to change in different trends, and the calcium content may partly account for these two divergent trajectories.</p>
Functional diversity of experimental annual plant assemblages drives plant responses to biological soil crusts in gypsum systems
<p>1. Biological soil crusts (BSC) are complex biotic aggregates comprised of lichens, cyanobacteria, algae, and other microorganism that are known to differently affect plant development along life cycle by selecting plant functional traits based on species-specific effects. In addition, functional differences between interacting species should modulate their response ability to other environmental factors. Thus, it should be expected that the effects of the BSC on plants will be significantly determined by the own functional diversity in the community.</p> <p>2. To understand the multiple effects of BSC and the extent to which the functional diversity of interacting plant species can modulate their effects on the development of coexisting species, we applied an experimental approach by manipulating the initial functional diversity of the entire annual plant community and BSC conditions in a common garden trial. We crossed three sorts of assemblages built on the basis of plant stature (combinations of only large, or only small, or diverse sized plant species in pots) with three lichen-dominated BSC disturbance scenarios (intact, or tiny mechanically disaggregated, or absent portions of BSC).</p> <p>3. Biological soil crusts strongly affected the establishment and development of gypsophilous annual plants in a complex, multifaceted manner, which shifted throughout the plant life cycle. We demonstrated that lichen-dominated BSC could act as a major physical barrier to the establishment of annual plants at a heterogeneous fine spatial scale. Such a restrictive effect was particularly marked in presence of intact BSC. However, after annual plants overcame the restrictions imposed by BSC, the same biotic layer facilitated plant growth and fitness, regardless of its physical integrity, resulting in larger plants producing more fruits.</p> <p>4. Importantly, our results suggest that the functional diversity structure of the community may also drive growth and fitness of coexisting species by activating alternative coexistence mechanisms such as niche partitioning or competition symmetry. This study highlights the importance of plant neighbourhood features for the performance of interacting species, and confirms a novel, experimental way to explore the effects of community diversity on plants for the interpretation of assembly mechanisms.</p>
Changes in microbial community structure and functioning with elevation are linked to local soil characteristics as well as climatic variables
<p>Mountain forests are important carbon stocks but are threatened by increased insect outbreaks and climate driven forest conversion. Soil microorganisms play an eminent role in nutrient cycling in forests and form the basis of soil food webs. Uncovering the driving factors shaping microbial communities and functioning at mountainsides worldwide is of importance to better understand their dynamics at local and global scales. We investigated microbial communities and their drivers along an elevational gradient of primary forests at Changbai Mountain, China. We analysed substrate-induced respiration and phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) in litter and two soil layers at seven sites. In the litter layer the increase in microbial biomass (Cmic) as well as in stress indicator ratios with elevation were negatively correlated with Ca concentrations indicating increased nutritional stress in high microbial biomass communities at sites with lower Ca availability. PLFA profiles in litter separated low and high elevations, this was less pronounced in soil, suggesting that leaflitter functions as buffer for soil microbial communities. Annual variations in temperature correlated with PLFA profiles in all layers, while annual variations in precipitation correlated with PLFA profiles in upper soil only. Furthermore, the availability of resources, soil moisture, Ca concentrations and pH structured the microbial communities. Pronounced changes in Cmic and stress indicator ratios in the litter layer between pine dominated (800 – 1100 m) and spruce dominated (1250 – 1700 m) forests indicated a shift in the structure and functioning of microbial communities between forest types. The study highlights strong changes in microbial community structure and functioning along elevational gradients, but also shows that these changes and their driving factors vary between layers. Besides annual variations in temperature and precipitation, carbon accumulation and nitrogen acquisition shape changes in microbial communities with elevation at Changbai Mountain.</p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.