scholarly journals Litter microbial respiration and enzymatic resistance to drought stress

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devan M. Nisson ◽  
Steven D. Allison
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Activity ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Extracellular Enzymes ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Extracellular Enzyme ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Dry Conditions

Many ecosystems are experiencing an increase in drought conditions as a consequence of climate warming and changing precipitation patterns. The stress imposed by these environmental changes can affect ecosystem processes such as the extracellular enzymatic degradation of carbon-containing leaf litter by soil microbial communities. However, the magnitude of these impacts may depend on the composition and metabolism of the microbial community. Based on the hypothesis of local adaptation, microbial communities native to warm-dry ecosystems should display a greater capacity to degrade leaf litter polymers with extracellular enzymes following exposure to warm-dry conditions. To test this hypothesis, we performed a microcosm study in which we monitored extracellular enzyme activity and respiration of microbial communities from five ecosystems along a southern California climate gradient, ranging from warmer, drier desert to wetter, cooler subalpine forest. To simulate drought and rewetting, we subjected microcosms to periods of high temperature and low moisture followed by a water pulse. We found that enzyme activity of wet-cool communities generally exceeded that of warm-dry communities across enzyme types for the five sites we considered. Additionally, we observed a significant decrease in respiration for all communities after longer durations of drought exposure. Although these findings did not align with our expectations of local adaptation, they suggest litter-inhabiting microbial communities are able to retain metabolic functioning in environmental conditions different from those of their native ecosystems. These results may imply that factors such as litter chemistry impose greater constraints than climate on community metabolic function. Overall, despite differences in local climates, microbial communities from semiarid regions may be metabolically adapted to maintain functioning in the face of drought.

scholarly journals Effects of Lime Application and Understory Removal on Soil Microbial Communities in Subtropical Eucalyptus L’Hér. Plantations

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songze Wan ◽  
Zhanfeng Liu ◽  
Yuanqi Chen ◽  
Jie Zhao ◽  
Qin Ying ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Litter Decomposition ◽  
Decomposition Rate ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Dissolved Carbon ◽  
Soil Microbial ◽  
Litter Decomposition Rate ◽  
Eucalyptus Plantations ◽  
Lime Application

Soil microorganisms play key roles in ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. Liming and/or understory removal are important forest management practices and have been widely applied to planted forests in humid subtropical and tropical regions of the world. However, few studies have explored the impacts of lime application, understory removal, and their interactive effects on soil microbial communities. We conducted a lime application experiment combined with understory removal in a subtropical Eucalyptus L’Hér. plantation. Responses of soil microbial communities (indicated by phospholipid fatty acids, PLFAs), soil physico-chemical properties, and litter decomposition rate to lime and/or understory removal were measured. Lime application significantly decreased both fungal and bacterial PLFAs, causing declines in total PLFAs. Understory removal reduced the fungal PLFAs but had no effect on the bacterial PLFAs, leading to decreases in the total PLFAs and in the ratio of fungal to bacterial PLFAs. No interaction between lime application and understory removal on soil microbial community compositions was observed. Changes in soil microbial communities caused by lime application were mainly attributed to increases in soil pH and NO3–-N contents, while changes caused by understory removal were mainly due to the indirect effects on soil microclimate and the decreased soil dissolved carbon contents. Furthermore, both lime application and understory removal significantly reduced the litter decomposition rates, which indicates the lime application and understory removal may impact the microbe-mediated soil ecological process. Our results suggest that lime application may not be suitable for the management of subtropical Eucalyptus plantations. Likewise, understory vegetation helps to maintain soil microbial communities and litter decomposition rate; it should not be removed from Eucalyptus plantations.

scholarly journals Extracellular Enzyme Activity and Microbial Diversity Measured on Seafloor Exposed Basalts from Loihi Seamount Indicate the Importance of Basalts to Global Biogeochemical Cycling

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (16) ◽  
pp. 4854-4864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myrna E. Jacobson Meyers ◽  
Jason B. Sylvan ◽  
Katrina J. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Activity ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Enzyme Activities ◽  
Leucine Aminopeptidase ◽  
Extracellular Enzyme ◽  
Basaltic Rock ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Shelf Sediments ◽  
Potential Enzyme Activity

ABSTRACTSeafloor basalts are widely distributed and host diverse prokaryotic communities, but no data exist concerning the metabolic rates of the resident microbial communities. We present here potential extracellular enzyme activities of leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) and alkaline phosphatase (AP) measured on basalt samples from different locations on Loihi Seamount, HI, coupled with analysis of prokaryotic biomass and pyrosequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The community maximum potential enzyme activity (Vmax) of LAP ranged from 0.47 to 0.90 nmol (g rock)−1h−1; theVmaxfor AP was 28 to 60 nmol (g rock)−1h−1. TheKmof LAP ranged from 26 to 33 μM, while theKmfor AP was 2 to 7 μM. Bacterial communities on Loihi basalts were comprised primarily ofAlpha-,Delta-, andGammaproteobacteria,Bacteroidetes, andPlanctomycetes. The putative ability to produce LAP is evenly distributed across the most commonly detected bacterial orders, but the ability to produce AP is likely dominated by bacteria in the ordersXanthomonadales,Flavobacteriales, andPlanctomycetales. The enzyme activities on Loihi basalts were compared to those of other marine environments that have been studied and were found to be similar in magnitude to those from continental shelf sediments and orders of magnitude higher than any measured in the water column, demonstrating that the potential for exposed basalts to transform organic matter is substantial. We propose that microbial communities on basaltic rock play a significant, quantifiable role in benthic biogeochemical processes.

Temperature Sensitivity of Intracellular and Extracellular Soil Enzyme Activities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adetunji Alex Adekanmbi ◽  
Laurence Dale ◽  
Liz Shaw ◽  
Tom Sizmur
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Activity ◽  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Temperature Sensitivity ◽  
Extracellular Enzymes ◽  
Extracellular Enzyme ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Temperature Sensitive ◽  
Intracellular Enzyme ◽  
Temperature Changes ◽  
Som Decomposition

<p>Predicting the pattern of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition as a feedback to climate change, via release of CO<sub>2</sub>, is extremely complex and has received much attention. However, investigations often do not differentiate between the extracellular and intracellular processes involved and work is needed to identify their relative temperature sensitivities. Samples were collected from a grassland soil at Sonning, UK with average daily maximum and minimum soil temperature of 15 °C and 5 °C. We measured potential activities of β-glucosidase (BG) and chitinase (NAG) (extracellular enzymes) and glucose-induced CO<sub>2 </sub>respiration (intracellular enzymes) at a range of assay temperatures (5 °C, 15 °C, 26 °C, 37<sup>  </sup>°C, and 45 °C). The temperature coefficient Q<sub>10</sub> (the increase in enzyme activity that occurs after a 10 °C increase in soil temperature) was calculated to assess the temperature sensitivity of intracellular and extracellular enzymes activities. Between 5 °C and 15 °C intracellular and extracellular enzyme activities had equal temperature sensitivity, but between 15 °C and 26°C intracellular enzyme activity was more temperature sensitive than extracellular enzyme activity and between 26 °C and 37 °C extracellular enzyme activity was more temperature sensitive than intracellular enzyme activity. This result implies that extracellular depolymerisation of higher molecular weight organic compounds is more sensitive to temperature changes at higher temperatures (e.g. changes to daily maximum summer temperature) but the intracellular respiration of the generated monomers is more sensitive to temperature changes at moderate temperatures (e.g. changes to daily mean summer temperature). We therefore conclude that the extracellular and intracellular steps of SOM mineralisation are not equally sensitive to changes in soil temperature. The finding is important because we have observed greater increases in average daily minimum temperatures than average daily mean or maximum temperatures due to increased cloud cover and sulphate aerosol emission. Accounting for this asymmetrical global warming may reduce the importance of extracellular depolymerisation and increase the importance of intracellular catalytic activities as the rate limiting step of SOM decomposition.</p>

Differences in soil microbial communities and enzyme activity due to the application of bioslurry under cultivation

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-291
Author(s):  
Motiki M Mofokeng ◽  
Johan Habig ◽  
Stephen O. Amoo ◽  
Christian P du Plooy ◽  
Phatu W Mashela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Activity ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Microbial

Soil microbial communities adapt to genetic variation in leaf litter inputs

Oikos ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 120 (11) ◽  
pp. 1696-1704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Madritch ◽  
Richard L. Lindroth
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
Soil Microbial

Bacteria but not fungi respond to soil acidification rapidly and consistently in both a spruce and beech forest

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Choma ◽  
Karolina Tahovská ◽  
Eva Kaštovská ◽  
Jiří Bárta ◽  
Michal Růžek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Community ◽  
Enzymatic Activity ◽  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Extracellular Enzymes ◽  
Soil Microbial Communities ◽  
European Beech ◽  
Beech Forest ◽  
N Deposition ◽  
N Availability ◽  
Soil Enzymatic Activity

ABSTRACT Anthropogenically enhanced atmospheric sulphur (S) and nitrogen (N) deposition has acidified and eutrophied forest ecosystems worldwide. However, both S and N mechanisms have an impact on microbial communities and the consequences for microbially driven soil functioning differ. We conducted a two-forest stand (Norway spruce and European beech) field experiment involving acidification (sulphuric acid addition) and N (ammonium nitrate) loading and their combination. For 4 years, we monitored separate responses of soil microbial communities to the treatments and investigated the relationship to changes in the activity of extracellular enzymes. We observed that acidification selected for acidotolerant and oligotrophic taxa of Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria decreased bacterial community richness and diversity in both stands in parallel, disregarding their original dissimilarities in soil chemistry and composition of microbial communities. The shifts in bacterial community influenced the stoichiometry and magnitude of enzymatic activity. The bacterial response to experimental N addition was much weaker, likely due to historically enhanced N availability. Fungi were not influenced by any treatment during 4-year manipulation. We suggest that in the onset of acidification when fungi remain irresponsive, bacterial reaction might govern the changes in soil enzymatic activity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document