TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term elevated precipitation induces grassland soil carbon loss via microbe-plant–soil interplay
AU - Wang, Mengmeng
AU - Sun, Xin
AU - Cao, Baichuan
AU - Chiariello, Nona R.
AU - Docherty, Kathryn M.
AU - Field, Christopher B.
AU - Gao, Qun
AU - Gutknecht, Jessica L.M.
AU - Guo, Xue
AU - He, Genhe
AU - Hungate, Bruce A.
AU - Lei, Jiesi
AU - Niboyet, Audrey
AU - Le Roux, Xavier
AU - Shi, Zhou
AU - Shu, Wensheng
AU - Yuan, Mengting
AU - Zhou, Jizhong
AU - Yang, Yunfeng
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Global climate models predict that the frequency and intensity of precipitation events will increase in many regions across the world. However, the biosphere-climate feedback to elevated precipitation (eP) remains elusive. Here, we report a study on one of the longest field experiments assessing the effects of eP, alone or in combination with other climate change drivers such as elevated CO2 (eCO2), warming and nitrogen deposition. Soil total carbon (C) decreased after a decade of eP treatment, while plant root production decreased after 2 years. To explain this asynchrony, we found that the relative abundances of fungal genes associated with chitin and protein degradation increased and were positively correlated with bacteriophage genes, suggesting a potential viral shunt in C degradation. In addition, eP increased the relative abundances of microbial stress tolerance genes, which are essential for coping with environmental stressors. Microbial responses to eP were phylogenetically conserved. The effects of eP on soil total C, root production, and microbes were interactively affected by eCO2. Collectively, we demonstrate that long-term eP induces soil C loss, owing to changes in microbial community composition, functional traits, root production, and soil moisture. Our study unveils an important, previously unknown biosphere-climate feedback in Mediterranean-type water-limited ecosystems, namely how eP induces soil C loss via microbe-plant–soil interplay.
AB - Global climate models predict that the frequency and intensity of precipitation events will increase in many regions across the world. However, the biosphere-climate feedback to elevated precipitation (eP) remains elusive. Here, we report a study on one of the longest field experiments assessing the effects of eP, alone or in combination with other climate change drivers such as elevated CO2 (eCO2), warming and nitrogen deposition. Soil total carbon (C) decreased after a decade of eP treatment, while plant root production decreased after 2 years. To explain this asynchrony, we found that the relative abundances of fungal genes associated with chitin and protein degradation increased and were positively correlated with bacteriophage genes, suggesting a potential viral shunt in C degradation. In addition, eP increased the relative abundances of microbial stress tolerance genes, which are essential for coping with environmental stressors. Microbial responses to eP were phylogenetically conserved. The effects of eP on soil total C, root production, and microbes were interactively affected by eCO2. Collectively, we demonstrate that long-term eP induces soil C loss, owing to changes in microbial community composition, functional traits, root production, and soil moisture. Our study unveils an important, previously unknown biosphere-climate feedback in Mediterranean-type water-limited ecosystems, namely how eP induces soil C loss via microbe-plant–soil interplay.
KW - elevated precipitation
KW - microbial functional trait
KW - resource acquisition
KW - soil carbon loss
KW - viral shunt
KW - water-limited ecosystems
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U2 - 10.1111/gcb.16811
DO - 10.1111/gcb.16811
M3 - Article
C2 - 37317051
AN - SCOPUS:85161813002
SN - 1354-1013
VL - 29
SP - 5429
EP - 5444
JO - Global change biology
JF - Global change biology
IS - 18
ER -
