scholarly journals Microbial trait-based approaches for agroecosystems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha M.B. Krause ◽  
Stefan Bertilsson ◽  
Hans-Peter Grossart ◽  
Paul L.E. Bodelier ◽  
Peter van Bodegom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Strong Interactions ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Soil Biodiversity ◽  
Gas Emissions

Conventional agricultural practices negatively impact soil biodiversity, carbon stocks, and greenhouse gas emissions in ways that make them unsustainable for supporting future supply of food and fiber. Better management of agrobiodiversity will likely play a critical role in transitioning towards more sustainable practices. In particular, innovation and developments targeting the aboveground and belowground components of agroecosystems should be informed by frameworks and approaches that harness the –in particular functional– diversity of complex microbial communities. Here, we review and discuss microbial trait-based approaches that will help us understand and steer agroecosystem functioning in the face of global change. We highlight how trait-based approaches can improve agricultural practices related to soil functioning (e.g. soil fertility and aggregation); climate regulation (e.g. carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation to climate change; plant health; and reduction of contaminant-related hazards for human health. We also consider how microbial trait-based approaches can be used as a tool to improve cultivated plant performance through artificial selection and microbiome engineering. Last, we discuss the inherent obstacles associated with the development and implementation of trait-based approaches owing to strong interactions within microbial communities and linkages between plants and the soil environment. Despite these obstacles, microbial trait-based approaches hold promise for the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems needed to feed and nourish a rapidly growing human population.

scholarly journals Temporal and spatial dynamics of peat microbiomes in drained and rewetted soils of three temperate peatlands

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haitao Wang ◽  
Micha Weil ◽  
Dominik Zak ◽  
Diana Münch ◽  
Anke Günther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Community Composition ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Structural Equation Models ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Salt Water ◽  
Microbial Community Composition ◽  
Gas Emissions

AbstractBackgroundDrainage of high-organic peatlands for agricultural purposes has led to increased greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity. In the last decades, rewetting of peatlands is on the rise worldwide, to mitigate these negative impacts. However, it remains still questionable how rewetting would influence peat microbiota as important drivers of nutrient cycles and ecosystem restoration. Here, we investigate the spatial and temporal dynamics of the diversity, community composition and network interactions of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and the influence of rewetting on these microbial features in formerly long-term drained and agriculturally used fens. Peat-soils were sampled seasonally from three drained and three rewetted sites representing the dominating fen peatland types of glacial landscapes in Northern Germany, namely alder forest, costal fen and percolation fen.ResultsCostal fens as salt-water impacted systems showed a lower microbial diversity and their microbial community composition showed the strongest distinction from the other two peatland types. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic community compositions showed a congruent pattern which was mostly driven by peatland type and rewetting. Rewetting decreased the abundances of fungi and prokaryotic decomposers, while the abundance of potential methanogens was significantly higher in the rewetted sites. Rewetting also influenced the abundance of ecological clusters in the microbial communities identified from the co-occurrence network. The microbial communities changed only slightly with depth and over time. According to structural equation models rewetted conditions affected the microbial communities through different mechanisms across the three studied peatland types.ConclusionsOur results suggest that rewetting strongly impacts the structure of microbial communities and, thus, important biogeochemical processes, which may explain the high variation in greenhouse gas emissions upon rewetting of peatlands. The improved understanding of functional mechanisms of rewetting in different peatland types lays the foundation for securing best practices to fulfil multiple restoration goals including those targeting on climate, water, and species protection.

scholarly journals Linking nitrogen load to the structure and function of wetland soil and rhizosphere microbial communities

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric R Hester ◽  
Sarah F. Harpenslager ◽  
Josepha MH van Diggelen ◽  
Leon L Lamers ◽  
Mike SM Jetten ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
N Fertilization ◽  
Wetland Soil ◽  
N Availability ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
16S Rrna Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
N Input

AbstractWetland ecosystems are important reservoirs of biodiversity and significantly contribute to emissions of the greenhouse gases CO2, N2O and CH4. High anthropogenic nitrogen (N) inputs from agriculture and fossil fuel combustion have been recognized as a severe threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning such as control of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore it is important to understand how increased N input into pristine wetlands affects the composition and activity of micro-organisms, especially in interaction with dominant wetland plants. In a series of incubations analyzed over 90 days, we disentangle the effects of N fertilization on the microbial community in bulk soil and the rhizosphere ofJuncus acutiflorus, a common and abundant graminoid wetland plant. We observed an increase in greenhouse gas emissions when N is increased in incubations withJ. acutiflorus, changing the system from a greenhouse gas sink to a source. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and metagenomics, we determined that the bacterial orders Opitutales, Subgroup-6 Acidobacteria and Sphingobacteriales significantly responded to high N availability and we hypothesize that these groups are contributing to the increased greenhouse gas emissions. These results indicated that increased N input leads to shifts in microbial activity within the rhizosphere, severely altering N cycling dynamics. Our study provides a framework for connecting environmental conditions of wetland bulk and rhizosphere soil to the structure and metabolic output of microbial communities.

No evidence that earthworms increase soil greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 and N2O) in the presence of plants and soil-moisture fluctuations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Ganault ◽  
Johanne Nahmani ◽  
Yvan Capowiez ◽  
Isabelle Bertrand ◽  
Bruno Buatois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Status ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Gas Emissions

<p>Accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss calls for agricultural practices that can sustain productivity with lower greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining biodiversity. Biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices have been shown to increase earthworm populations, but according to a recent meta-analyses, earthworms could increase soil CO<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub>O emissions by 33 and 42%, respectively. However, to date, many studies reported idiosyncratic and inconsistent effects of earthworms on greenhouse gases, indicating that the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we report the effects of earthworms (anecic, endogeic and their combination) with or without plants on CO<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub>O emissions in the presence of soil-moisture fluctuations from a mesocosms experiment. The experimental set-up was explicitly designed to account for the engineering effect of earthworms (i.e. burrowing) and investigate the consequences on soil macroporosity, soil water dynamic, and microbial activity. We found that plants reduced N<sub>2</sub>O emissions by 19.80% and that relative to the no earthworm control, the cumulative N<sub>2</sub>O emissions were 17.04, 34.59 and 44.81% lower in the anecic, both species and endogeic species, respectively. CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were not significantly affected by the plants or earthworms but depended on the interaction between earthworms and soil water content, an interaction that was also observed for the N<sub>2</sub>O emissions. Soil porosity variables measured by X-ray tomography suggest that the earthworm effects on CO<sub>2</sub> and N<sub>2</sub>O emissions were mediated by the burrowing patterns affecting the soil aeration and water status. N<sub>2</sub>O emissions decreased with the volume occupied by macropores in the deeper soil layer, whereas CO<sub>2</sub> emissions decreased with the macropore volume in the top soil layer. This study suggests that experimental setups without plants and in containers where the earthworm soil engineering effects via burrowing and casting on soil water status are minimized may be responsible, at least in part, for the reported positive earthworm effects on greenhouse gases.</p>

scholarly journals The RothC Model to Complement Life Cycle Analyses: A Case Study of an Italian Olive Grove

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 569
Author(s):  
Valentina Fantin ◽  
Alessandro Buscaroli ◽  
Patrizia Buttol ◽  
Elisa Novelli ◽  
Cristian Soldati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Olive Oil ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Lazio Region ◽  
Rothc Model

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a fundamental role in soil health, and its storage in soil is an important element to mitigate climate change. How to include this factor in Life Cycle Assessment studies has been the object of several papers and is still under discussion. SOC storage has been proposed as an additional environmental information in some applications of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). In the framework of wider activity aimed at producing the PEF of olive oil, the RothC model was applied to an olive cultivation located in Lazio region (Italy) to calculate the SOC storage and assess four scenarios representing different agricultural practices. RothC applicability, possible use of its results for improving product environmental performance, and relevance of SOC storage in terms of CO2eq compared to greenhouse gas emissions of the life-cycle of olive oil are discussed in this paper. According to the results, in all scenarios, the contribution in terms of CO2eq associated with SOC storage is remarkable compared to the total greenhouse gas emissions of the olive oil life-cycle. It is the opinion of the authors that the calculation of the SOC balance allows a more proper evaluation of the agricultural products contribution to climate change, and that the indications of the scenarios analysis are useful to enhance the environmental performance of these products. The downside is that the application of RothC requires additional data collection and expertise if compared to the execution of PEF studies.

scholarly journals Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices in Ethiopia: Implications of Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Review Paper

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wakshum Shiferaw
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Organic Fertilizers ◽  
Soil Fertility Management ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Potential ◽  
Ghg Reduction

This paper aimed to assess climate-smart agricultural practices in Ethiopia, discuss the contribution of climate-smart agricultural practices for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, and examine determinant factors of climate-smart agricultural practices in mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Conservation agriculture, integrated soil fertility management, agroforestry, crop diversification, and improved livestock feed and feeding practices are among the best climate-smart agricultural practices in Ethiopia. Combination of the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices such as no-tillage increased crop diversity and retaining crop residue on-farm have a mitigation potential of increased SOC in non-flooded crops that change in a significant ton of CO2e ha-1 year-1. In addition, a mitigation potential of CH4 in reduced irrigation of paddy rice farms was also changed in ton CO2e ha-1 year-1. It was found that productivity enhancing interventions in the tropics could reduce emission intensity in dairy systems by up to 0.9 t CO2e per milk. Agroforestry practices and the addition of organic fertilizers on the farm increased mitigation potential of 784093 t CO2e and 193050 t CO2e biomass of carbon and SOC per year respectively. Adoptions of climate-smart agricultural practices are affected by different factors such as farming factors, technology inaccessibility, environmental factors, policy design and social expertise, negative attitudes and motivations of farmers, farmers’ socio-demographic factors, and farmers' socioeconomic factors. To reverse the situation, preparation of targeted climate-smart agricultural practices to areas that are likely to provide the greatest GHG reduction potential and demonstration of these practices to other areas should be encouraged so that other farmers will learn for similar agro-ecologies.

scholarly journals Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Ukrainian Involvement in the Global Ecological Challenge

2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Natalia Vasylieva
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Gas Emission ◽  
Enteric Fermentation ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Basic Source

Greenhouse gas emission is a global ecological challenge since it affects climate change and complicates providing food security. Each country ought to care about mitigating Greenhouse gas emissions including CH4 and N2O originated from agriculture. In this context, first, the performed research focused on Ukrainian ranking among the world Greenhouse gas emitters offering a multi-criteria evaluation of total Greenhouse gas quantities in CO2 equivalent, those ones per capita and per km2 of countries’ land territories. These indictors were also applied to visual comparing involvement of Ukrainian economy and its agriculture in the international Greenhouse gas emissions. Second, to explore agricultural Greenhouse gas emission at the domestic level we studied regional contributions by basic source categories such as enteric fermentation, manure management, and synthetic fertilizers. The proposed horizontal and vertical analyses allow clarifying regional management priorities in reducing Greenhouse gas emissions. Third, for this purpose the conducted investigation specified the EU Member States which match Ukrainian condition by shares of Greenhouse gas emissions and outputs in animal and crop sectors. The found patterns will be the most reliable vectors of adopting effective agricultural practices beneficial for the environment protection and mitigating influence over climate change.

How do tropical peatland greenhouse gas emissions respond in the immediate aftermath of a fire?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Smith ◽  
Stephanie Evers ◽  
Massimo Lupascu ◽  
Hayli Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Communities ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Tropical Peatland ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Fire Effect ◽  
Forest Clearance

<p>Southeast Asia is a region where forest clearance, drainage of peatlands for agriculture, and ongoing use of fire to ‘manage’ land leads to extensive emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and significant disturbance to peatland soils. While recent campaigns investigating tropical peatland fire emissions have improved our knowledge and understanding of ‘direct’ greenhouse gas emissions during fires, there remains a significant gap in our knowledge of the immediate post-fire impacts on peat respiration and methanogenesis. Ongoing research shows that peatland microbial communities (responsible for respiration), including methanogens and methanotrophs (responsible for controlling net methane emissions), are considerably altered following fire disturbance. As such, we hypothesise that peatland fires will lead to significant alterations to GHG emissions, compared to sites that have not burned. Further, we also hypothesise that the magnitude of this post-fire effect will be predictably interrelated to different forms of peatland degradation and land-use history.</p><p>Here we present results from seven fire locations (recently burnt) and their corresponding neighbouring control sites (not recently burnt), three of our fire locations were associated with forest clearance fires, while the other four locations were slash fires on oil palm plantations. We characterize the post-fire disturbance emissions of carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) and methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) in situ, in the immediate aftermath of a fire (within days or weeks), and in the subsequent months following a fire at our burn sites. For comparison, we also measure CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub> emissions from neighbouring control sites that remained unburnt. We find substantial, significant differences in CH<sub>4</sub> emissions between the burn sites and control sites for all seven of our measurement locations. We suggest a number of mechanisms responsible for this post-fire effect, including disturbance to the methanotroph microbial communities at the burn sites, as well as reduced elevation at the burn sites, leading to higher water tables.</p>

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