Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment
IntroductionClimate change and plant biodiversity loss have large impacts on terrestrial ecosystem function, with the soil microbiome being primary mediators of these effects. The soil microbiome is a complex system, consisting of multiple functional groups with contrasting life histories. Most stud...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiomes |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frmbi.2025.1460319/full |
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| author | Haley M. Burrill Haley M. Burrill Susan M. Magnoli James D. Bever |
| author_facet | Haley M. Burrill Haley M. Burrill Susan M. Magnoli James D. Bever |
| author_sort | Haley M. Burrill |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionClimate change and plant biodiversity loss have large impacts on terrestrial ecosystem function, with the soil microbiome being primary mediators of these effects. The soil microbiome is a complex system, consisting of multiple functional groups with contrasting life histories. Most studies of climate forces and plant biodiversity effects on microbiome consider the perturbations and the microbial functional groups in isolation preventing us from understanding the full picture of the relative and differential impacts of perturbations on microbial functional groups.MethodsWe measured changes in multiple microbial communities with different functionality, including plant mutualists and pathogens, after three growing seasons in a full-factorial experiment manipulating precipitation (50%, 150% of ambient), plant diversity, and plant composition. Using amplicon sequencing to characterize the response of fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, bacteria and oomycetes, and we found that composition of all microbial groups differentiated strongly between precipitation treatments.ResultsOomycete and bacterial diversity increased with 150% precipitation, while AM and saprotroph fungal diversity decreased. Microbial differentiation in response to plant family and plant species composition was stronger after the third growing season than observed after year one. However, microbial response to plant species richness was weaker in year three. Microbiome response to plant composition was largely independent of the response to precipitation, except for oomycetes, which had greater response to plant composition in high precipitation.DiscussionThese findings build upon prior findings that these microbial community members differentially respond to plant community compositional treatments, by measuring the response over 3 years and with the addition of precipitation treatments. We find that both changes in climate and plant composition can drive major differences in soil microbiome composition, which can feed back on plant community structure and alter ecosystem function. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-4236262313894f55b2baef2030628e97 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2813-4338 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Microbiomes |
| spelling | doaj-art-4236262313894f55b2baef2030628e972025-01-31T06:40:16ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiomes2813-43382025-01-01410.3389/frmbi.2025.14603191460319Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experimentHaley M. Burrill0Haley M. Burrill1Susan M. Magnoli2James D. Bever3Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United StatesKansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United StatesLaboratoire d’Écologie Alpine, The National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Gières, FranceKansas Biological Survey and Center for Ecological Research, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, United StatesIntroductionClimate change and plant biodiversity loss have large impacts on terrestrial ecosystem function, with the soil microbiome being primary mediators of these effects. The soil microbiome is a complex system, consisting of multiple functional groups with contrasting life histories. Most studies of climate forces and plant biodiversity effects on microbiome consider the perturbations and the microbial functional groups in isolation preventing us from understanding the full picture of the relative and differential impacts of perturbations on microbial functional groups.MethodsWe measured changes in multiple microbial communities with different functionality, including plant mutualists and pathogens, after three growing seasons in a full-factorial experiment manipulating precipitation (50%, 150% of ambient), plant diversity, and plant composition. Using amplicon sequencing to characterize the response of fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, bacteria and oomycetes, and we found that composition of all microbial groups differentiated strongly between precipitation treatments.ResultsOomycete and bacterial diversity increased with 150% precipitation, while AM and saprotroph fungal diversity decreased. Microbial differentiation in response to plant family and plant species composition was stronger after the third growing season than observed after year one. However, microbial response to plant species richness was weaker in year three. Microbiome response to plant composition was largely independent of the response to precipitation, except for oomycetes, which had greater response to plant composition in high precipitation.DiscussionThese findings build upon prior findings that these microbial community members differentially respond to plant community compositional treatments, by measuring the response over 3 years and with the addition of precipitation treatments. We find that both changes in climate and plant composition can drive major differences in soil microbiome composition, which can feed back on plant community structure and alter ecosystem function.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frmbi.2025.1460319/fullmicrobiomefungiplant soil interactionsbiodiversityclimate change |
| spellingShingle | Haley M. Burrill Haley M. Burrill Susan M. Magnoli James D. Bever Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment Frontiers in Microbiomes microbiome fungi plant soil interactions biodiversity climate change |
| title | Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment |
| title_full | Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment |
| title_fullStr | Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment |
| title_short | Soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment |
| title_sort | soil microbiome composition is highly responsive to precipitation and plant composition manipulations in a field biodiversity experiment |
| topic | microbiome fungi plant soil interactions biodiversity climate change |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frmbi.2025.1460319/full |
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