The phylogenetic composition and structure of soil microbial communities shifts in response to elevated carbon dioxide

Abstract

One of the major factors associated with global change is the ever-increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2. Although the stimulating effects of elevated CO2 (eCO2) on plant growth and primary productivity have been established, its impacts on the diversity and function of soil microbial communities are poorly understood. In this study, phylogenetic microarrays (PhyloChip) were used to comprehensively survey the richness, composition and structure of soil microbial communities in a grassland experiment subjected to two CO2 conditions (ambient, 368 p.p.m., versus elevated, 560 p.p.m.) for 10 years. The richness based on the detected number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) significantly decreased under eCO2. PhyloChip detected 2269 OTUs derived from 45 phyla (including two from Archaea), 55 classes, 99 orders, 164 families and 190 subfamilies. Also, the signal intensity of five phyla (Crenarchaeota, Chloroflexi, OP10, OP9/JS1, Verrucomicrobia) significantly decreased at eCO2, and such significant effects of eCO2 on microbial composition were also observed at the class or lower taxonomic levels for most abundant phyla, such as Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Acidobacteria, suggesting a shift in microbial community composition at eCO2. Additionally, statistical analyses showed that the overall taxonomic structure of soil microbial communities was altered at eCO2. Mantel tests indicated that such changes in species richness, composition and structure of soil microbial communities were closely correlated with soil and plant properties. This study provides insights into our understanding of shifts in the richness, composition and structure of soil microbial communities under eCO2 and environmental factors shaping the microbial community structure.

Fungal Communities Respond to Long-Term CO 2 Elevation by Community Reassembly

“…As consequences, increased carbon input in turn significantly changed bacterial diversity, composition, and structure and increased the functional potential of bacterial communities for carbon degradation and nutrient cycling, although such effects differed across various ecosystems (6,(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). In contrast, fungal biomass and relative abundance of total microbial biomass did not change significantly under eCO 2 in this BioCON (biodiversity, CO 2 , and N deposition) experimental site (6,21).…”

Distinct responses of soil microbial communities to elevated CO2 and O3 in a soybean agro-ecosystem

“…Several previous studies showed that the microbial community composition and structure was affected by eCO 2 (Feng et al, 2010;He et al, 2010bHe et al, , 2012bDeng et al, 2012;Hayden et al, 2012), eO 3 and/or eCO 2 þ eO 3 (Phillips et al, 2002;Kasurinen et al, 2005;Kanerva et al, 2008). For example, a previous study at the BioCON site showed that eCO 2 increased plant and microbial biomass, soil pH and moisture and significantly shifted the functional and phylogentic/taxonmoic composition, structure and network interactions of soil micorbial communities (Zhou et al, 2010;He et al, 2010bHe et al, , 2012bZhou et al, 2011;Deng et al, 2012). In this study, the results support this hypothesis demonstrated by adonis and Detrended correspondence analysis analyses of all detected functional genes.…”

“…For example, no detectable effects of eCO 2 on microbial community structure, microbial activity, potential soil N mineralization or nitrification were observed at a sweetgum free-air CO 2 enrichment (FACE) experiment in TN, USA (Austin et al, 2009), whereas in a no-till wheat-soybean rotation agro-ecosystem, the community composition and structure significantly affected by eCO 2 but not by eO 3 or eCO 2 þ eO 3 (Cheng et al, 2011). Recently, more studies suggest that eCO 2 and/or eO 3 significantly alter microbial community composition, structure, functional potential/activity, interaction network and/or dynamics (Lesaulnier et al, 2008;Blagodatskaya et al, 2010;Drigo et al, 2010;Feng et al, 2010;Zhou et al, 2010Zhou et al, , 2011He et al, 2010bHe et al, , 2012bDeng et al, 2012;Drigo et al, 2013;Li et al, 2013). In addition, it has been shown that the response of soil microbial comunities to global change factors may be directly or indirectly mediated by plant genotypes/cultivars, the diversity of plant assemblages and/or other environmental factors (Talhelm et al, 2009;Singh et al, 2010;Drigo et al, 2013;Li et al, 2013).…”

Latitudinal Distribution of Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria and Archaea in the Agricultural Soils of Eastern China

“…Any significance levels lower than 0.05 were chosen (50). Mantel tests were performed to assess any correlation between AOA and AOB community structures and the measured environmental variables (51). The measured environmental variables were first normalized to zero means and unit standard deviations.…”