Community shifts and carbon translocation within metabolically-active rhizosphere microorganisms in grasslands under elevated CO<sub>2</sub>
Abstract. The aim of this study was to identify the microbial communities that are actively involved in the assimilation of rhizosphere-C and are most sensitive in their activity to elevated atmospheric CO2 in grassland ecosystems. For this, we analyzed 13C signatures in microbial biomarker phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) from an in situ 13CO2 pulse-labeling experiment in the Gießen Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment grasslands (GiFACE, Germany) exposed to ambient and elevated (i.e. 50% above ambient) CO2 concentrations. Carbon-13 PLFA measurements at 3 h, 10 h and 11 months after the pulse-labeling indicated a much faster transfer of newly produced rhizosphere-C to fungal compared to bacterial PLFA. After 11 months, the proportion of 13C had decreased in fungal PLFA but had increased in bacterial PLFA compared to a few hours after the pulse-labeling. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of the rapidly assimilated rhizosphere-C was still present in fungal PLFA after 11 months. These results demonstrate the dominant role of fungi in the immediate assimilation of rhizodeposits in grassland ecosystems, while also suggesting a long-term retention of rhizosphere-C in the fungal mycelium as well as a possible translocation of the rhizosphere-C from the fungal to bacterial biomass. Elevated CO2 caused an increase in the relative abundance of root-derived PLFA-C in the saprotrophic fungal PLFA 18:2ω6,9 as well as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal PLFA 16:1ω5, but a decrease in the saprotrophic fungal biomarker PLFA 18:1ω9. This suggests enhanced rhizodeposit-C assimilation only by selected fungal communities under elevated CO2.