Impact of droughts and heavy rainfall on soil microbial communities in a beech forest

Wien

2014

S. 31

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

200190223

Soil represents a major habitat for microorganisms that are involved in biogeochemical cycles, nutrient cycling, and decomposition, and are highly sensitive to environmental changes. Climate change alters the incidence and duration of weather conditions like drought and rainfall, influencing soil stoichiometry that is a major driver of microbial processes. To determine the response of microbial communities to drought and rewetting cycles, their structure and function are assayed in a temperate beech forest located in the Rosalien Mountains in Austria at about 640 m above sea level with a mean annual temperature of 6.5° C and a precipitation of 796 mm, respectively. Climate manipulation experiments are conducted by means of roofs and an irrigation system. The dominant soil type at the site is podzolic cambisol and dominant tree species: Common beech (Fagus sylvatica), Norway spruce (Picea abies), and Silver fir (Abies alba). Changes in community structure will be first determined by the phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and most pronounced changes further subjected to metaproteomics. This will link microbial diversity and functionality and determine functional proteins and enzymes responsible for the present microbial processes. Metaproteomic, assigns function to a certain microbial community by isolation and identification of expressed proteins. Finally, the outcomes will be correlated to greenhouse gas fluxes monitored for the whole duration of the experiment. Our expectation is to see shifts in microbial community structures that will promote functional changes with an increase in the less sensitive and the most adaptable microorganisms. This will ultimately lead to changes in biogeochemical processes including changes in greenhouse gas fluxes.