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- Title
Experimental drought reduces the transfer of recently fixed plant carbon to soil microbes and alters the bacterial community composition in a mountain meadow.
- Authors
Fuchslueger, Lucia; Bahn, Michael; Fritz, Karina; Hasibeder, Roland; Richter, Andreas
- Abstract
Drought affects plants and soil microorganisms, but it is still not clear how it alters the carbon (C) transfer at the plant-microbial interface. Here, we tested direct and indirect effects of drought on soil microbes and microbial turnover of recent plant-derived C in a mountain meadow., Microbial community composition was assessed using phospholipid fatty acids ( PLFAs); the allocation of recent plant-derived C to microbial groups was analysed by pulse-labelling of canopy sections with 13 CO2 and the subsequent tracing of the label into microbial PLFAs., Microbial biomass was significantly higher in plots exposed to a severe experimental drought. In addition, drought induced a shift of the microbial community composition, mainly driven by an increase of Gram-positive bacteria. Drought reduced belowground C allocation, but not the transfer of recently plant-assimilated C to fungi, and in particular reduced tracer uptake by bacteria. This was accompanied by an increase of 13C in the extractable organic C pool during drought, which was even more pronounced after plots were mown., We conclude that drought weakened the link between plant and bacterial, but not fungal, C turnover, and facilitated the growth of potentially slow-growing, drought-adapted soil microbes, such as Gram-positive bacteria.
- Subjects
SOIL microbiology; PLANT-microbe relationships; EFFECT of drought on plants; CARBON content of plants; MOUNTAIN meadows
- Publication
New Phytologist, 2014, Vol 201, Issue 3, p916
- ISSN
0028-646X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/nph.12569