Soil functional operating range linked to microbial biodiversity and community composition using denitrifiers as model guild

Soil microorganisms are key players in biogeochemical cycles. Yet, there is no consistent view on the significance of microbial biodiversity for soil ecosystem functioning. According to the insurance hypothesis, declines in ecosystem functioning due to reduced biodiversity are more likely to occur u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-12, Vol.7 (12), p.e51962-e51962
Main Authors: Hallin, Sara, Welsh, Allana, Stenström, John, Hallet, Stephanie, Enwall, Karin, Bru, David, Philippot, Laurent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural Science
Agriculture
Analysis
Bacteria
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Biodiversity
Biogeochemical cycles
Biological diversity
Biology
Carbon
Communities
Community composition
Community ecology
Denitrification
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Environment
Environmental changes
Environmental conditions
Environmental Sciences
Fertilization
Genotype
Genotypes
Hypotheses
Jordbruksvetenskap
Life Sciences
Metagenome - genetics
Microbial activity
Microorganisms
Miljövetenskap
Mitochondrial DNA
Models, Theoretical
Nitrogen
Nitrogen cycle
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Salts
Salts - chemistry
Soil - chemistry
Soil conditions
Soil Microbiology
Soil microorganisms
Soil temperature
Soils
Studies
Sweden
Temperature
Vegetal Biology
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Summary:Soil microorganisms are key players in biogeochemical cycles. Yet, there is no consistent view on the significance of microbial biodiversity for soil ecosystem functioning. According to the insurance hypothesis, declines in ecosystem functioning due to reduced biodiversity are more likely to occur under fluctuating, extreme or rapidly changing environmental conditions. Here, we compare the functional operating range, a new concept defined as the complete range of environmental conditions under which soil microbial communities are able to maintain their functions, between four naturally assembled soil communities from a long-term fertilization experiment. A functional trait approach was adopted with denitrifiers involved in nitrogen cycling as our model soil community. Using short-term temperature and salt gradients, we show that the functional operating range was broader and process rates were higher when the soil community was phylogenetically more diverse. However, key bacterial genotypes played an important role for maintaining denitrification as an ecosystem functioning under certain conditions.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0051962