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Temporal variation of rhizodeposit-C assimilating microbial communities in a natural wetland

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to apply phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA)-based stable isotope probing to assess the temporal variation of active microorganisms associated with rhizosphere-C flow in a natural wetland. We applied 13CO2 pulse labeling at three different times throughout the vegetation period: spring (April), early summer (June), and early autumn (October). Soil redox potentials (Eh) at 10 cm depth ranged from moderately reduced (October) to oxidized conditions (June). Based on combined PLFA relative abundance and 13C enrichment results, we suggest that gram-negative bacteria play a main role in rhizodeposit-C uptake in these wetland ecosystems, especially when reduced soil conditions prevail in October. Arbuscular and saprotrophic fungi also take up a significant proportion of the belowground allocated C, though mostly in the summer period. Gram-positive bacteria showed only a minor reliance on rhizodeposit-C throughout the year. It is concluded that rhizodeposit-C-assimilating microbial communities are heterogeneous and temporal variable entities with groups that are capable of adapting differently to seasonally varying environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the special research fund (BOF) of the Ghent University. Dries Huygens is a postdoctoral fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research—Flanders (FWO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Isotope Bioscience Laboratory—ISOFYS, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, Belgium

    Wajira K. Balasooriya, Dries Huygens, Dries Roobroeck & Pascal Boeckx

  2. Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile

    Dries Huygens

  3. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Karolien Denef

  4. Laboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, Ghent, Belgium

    Niko E. C. Verhoest

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  1. Wajira K. Balasooriya
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  2. Dries Huygens
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  3. Karolien Denef
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  4. Dries Roobroeck
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  5. Niko E. C. Verhoest
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  6. Pascal Boeckx
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Correspondence to Dries Huygens.

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Balasooriya, W.K., Huygens, D., Denef, K. et al. Temporal variation of rhizodeposit-C assimilating microbial communities in a natural wetland. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 333–341 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0729-7

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