Response of microbial communities to water stress in irrigated and drought-prone tallgrass prairie soils

This laboratory study was designed to examine the response of a postfire ascomycete community to elevated temperatures and treatment intervals corresponding to those recorded during the burning of a tallgrass prairie. Aerated steam treatment of prairie soil samples (35, 40, 55, 70, 85, or 100 °C) for intervals of 60, 100, 140, or 180 s enabled us to examine the response of individual species comprising the carbonicolous ascomycete community.Simulation of a grassland fire by aerated steam treatment of prairie soils promoted the development of 20 species of ascomycetes. Generalists such as Sporomiella subtilis Ahmed and Cain occurred at high frequencies over most of the temperature range while specialists Podospora curvispora (Cain) Cain, Sordaria macrospora Awd., and Leptosphaeria sp. were important at only one temperature. Species diversity, richness, and number of species per sample were significantly affected by the temperature of the steam treatment. The temperature–treatment interval combination allowing for the greatest expression of diversity in the carbonicolous ascomycete community was 55 °C for 60 s. Since a grassland fire does not uniformly heat the soil surface, the environmental patchiness created by this physical perturbation may be an important factor in determining the composition of the carbonicolous ascomycete community in prairies.

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Effects of available P and N:P ratios on non-symbiotic dinitrogen fixation in tallgrass prairie soils

Oecologia ◽

10.1007/bf00378663 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 79 (4) ◽

pp. 471-474 ◽

Cited By ~ 92

Author(s):

K. A. Eisele ◽

D. S. Schimel ◽

L. A. Kapustka ◽

W. J. Parton

Keyword(s):

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

Dinitrogen Fixation ◽

Available P ◽

Prairie Soils ◽

N:P Ratios

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Reconstructing the Microbial Diversity and Function of Pre-Agricultural Tallgrass Prairie Soils in the United States

Science ◽

10.1126/science.1243768 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 342 (6158) ◽

pp. 621-624 ◽

Cited By ~ 269

Author(s):

N. Fierer ◽

J. Ladau ◽

J. C. Clemente ◽

J. W. Leff ◽

S. M. Owens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Microbial Diversity ◽

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

The United States ◽

Prairie Soils ◽

And Function

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Different behavioral patterns of the earthworms Octolasion tyrtaeum and Diplocardia spp. in tallgrass prairie soils: potential influences on plant growth

Biology and Fertility of Soils ◽

10.1007/s003740100370 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 49-56 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Mac Callaham ◽

John Blair ◽

Paul Hendrix

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

Behavioral Patterns ◽

Prairie Soils ◽

Octolasion Tyrtaeum

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Temporal Changes of Virus-Like Particle Abundance and Metagenomic Comparison of Viral Communities in Cropland and Prairie Soils

mSphere ◽

10.1128/msphere.01160-20 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Carolyn R. Cornell ◽

Ya Zhang ◽

Joy D. Van Nostrand ◽

Pradeep Wagle ◽

Xiangming Xiao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Carbon Mineralization ◽

Soil Microbial Communities ◽

Microbial Abundance ◽

Soil Environment ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Prairie Soils ◽

Virus Like Particle ◽

Viral Communities

Conversion of land alters the physiochemical and biological environments by not only changing the aboveground community, but also modifying the soil environment for viruses and microbes. Soil microbial communities are critical to nutrient cycling, carbon mineralization, and soil quality; and viruses are known for influencing microbial abundance, community structure, and evolution.

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How can the First ISLSCP Field Experiment contribute to present-day efforts to evaluate water stress in JULESv5.0?

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-12-3207-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (7) ◽

pp. 3207-3240 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Karina E. Williams ◽

Anna B. Harper ◽

Chris Huntingford ◽

Lina M. Mercado ◽

Camilla T. Mathison ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Stress ◽

Field Experiment ◽

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

Land Surface ◽

Carbon Assimilation ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Area Index ◽

Wide Range ◽

Dry Spell ◽

Depth Analysis

Abstract. The First International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE), Kansas, US, 1987–1989, made important contributions to the understanding of energy and CO2 exchanges between the land surface and the atmosphere, which heavily influenced the development of numerical land-surface modelling. Now, 30 years on, we demonstrate how the wealth of data collected during FIFE and its subsequent in-depth analysis in the literature continue to be a valuable resource for the current generation of land-surface models. To illustrate, we use the FIFE dataset to evaluate the representation of water stress on tallgrass prairie vegetation in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) and highlight areas for future development. We show that, while JULES is able to simulate a decrease in net carbon assimilation and evapotranspiration during a dry spell, the shape of the diurnal cycle is not well captured. Evaluating the model parameters and results against this dataset provides a case study on the assumptions in calibrating “unstressed” vegetation parameters and thresholds for water stress. In particular, the responses to low water availability and high temperatures are calibrated separately. We also illustrate the effect of inherent uncertainties in key observables, such as leaf area index, soil moisture and soil properties. Given these valuable lessons, simulations for this site will be a key addition to a compilation of simulations covering a wide range of vegetation types and climate regimes, which will be used to improve the way that water stress is represented within JULES.

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Revisiting the First ISLSCP Field Experiment to evaluate water stress in JULESv5.0

10.5194/gmd-2018-210 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Karina E. Williams ◽

Anna B. Harper ◽

Chris Huntingford ◽

Lina M. Mercado ◽

Camilla T. Mathison ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Stress ◽

Field Experiment ◽

Tallgrass Prairie ◽

Land Surface ◽

Carbon Assimilation ◽

Model Parameters ◽

Area Index ◽

Wide Range ◽

Dry Spell ◽

Depth Analysis

Abstract. The First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE), Kansas, US, 1987–1989, made important contributions to the understanding of energy and CO2 exchanges between the land-surface and the atmosphere, which heavily influenced the development of numerical land-surface modelling. Thirty years on, we demonstrate how the wealth of data collected at FIFE and its subsequent in-depth analysis in the literature continues to be a valuable resource for the current generation of land-surface models. To illustrate, we use the FIFE dataset to evaluate the representation of water stress on tallgrass prairie vegetation in the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) and highlight areas for future development. We show that, while JULES is able to simulate a decrease in net carbon assimilation and evapotranspiration during a dry spell, the shape of the diurnal cycle is not well captured. Evaluating the model parameters and results against this dataset provides a case study on the assumptions in calibrating "unstressed" vegetation parameters and thresholds for water stress. In particular, the response to low water availability and high temperatures are calibrated separately. We also illustrate the effect of inherent uncertainties in key observables, such as leaf area index, soil moisture and soil properties. Given these valuable lessons, simulations for this site will be a key addition to a compilation of simulations covering a wide range of vegetation types and climate regimes, which will be used to improve the way that water stress is represented within JULES.

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