Fungal community responses to precipitation

Understanding how fungal communities are affected by precipitation is an essential aspect of predicting soil functional responses to future climate change and the consequences of those responses for the soil carbon cycle. We tracked fungal abundance, fungal community composition, and soil carbon acr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global change biology 2011-04, Vol.17 (4), p.1637-1645
Main Authors: HAWKES, CHRISTINE V, KIVLIN, STEPHANIE N, ROCCA, JENNIFER D, HUGUET, VALERIE, THOMSEN, MEREDITH A, SUTTLE, KENWYN BLAKE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Carbon cycle
Climate change
Climatology. Bioclimatology. Climate change
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fungi
General aspects
grassland
Meteorology
northern California
Precipitation
rainfall
seasonality
Soil microorganisms
Terrestrial ecosystems
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Summary:Understanding how fungal communities are affected by precipitation is an essential aspect of predicting soil functional responses to future climate change and the consequences of those responses for the soil carbon cycle. We tracked fungal abundance, fungal community composition, and soil carbon across 4 years in long-term field manipulations of rainfall in northern California. Fungi responded directly to rainfall levels, with more abundant, diverse, and consistent communities predominating under drought conditions, and less abundant, less diverse, and more variable communities emerging during wetter periods and in rain-addition treatments. Soil carbon storage itself did not vary with rainfall amendments, but increased decomposition rates foreshadow longer-term losses of soil carbon under conditions of extended seasonal rainfall. The repeated recovery of fungal diversity and abundance during periodic drought events suggests that species with a wide range of environmental tolerances coexist in this community, consistent with a storage effect in soil fungi. Increased diversity during dry periods further suggests that drought stress moderates competition among fungal taxa. Based on the responses observed here, we suggest that there may be a relationship between the timescale at which soil microbial communities experience natural environmental fluctuations and their ability to respond to future environmental change.
ISSN:1354-1013
1365-2486
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2010.02327.x