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Herbivory changes soil microbial communities and greenhouse gas fluxes in a high-latitude wetland

  • Soil Microbiology
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Abstract

Herbivory can have strong impacts on greenhouse gas fluxes in high-latitude ecosystems. For example, in the Yukon-Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta in western Alaska, migratory goose grazing affects the magnitude of soil carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes. However, the underlying drivers of this relationship are unclear, as few studies systematically tease apart the processes by which herbivores influences soil biogeochemistry. To examine these mechanisms in detail, we conducted a laboratory incubation experiment to quantify changes in greenhouse gas fluxes in response to three parameters altered by herbivores in situ: temperature, soil moisture content, and nutrient inputs. These treatments were applied to soils collected in grazing lawns and nearby ungrazed habitat, allowing us to assess how variation in microbial community structure influenced observed responses. We found pronounced differences in both fungal and prokaryotic community composition between grazed and ungrazed areas. In the laboratory incubation experiment, CO2 and CH4 fluxes increased with temperature, soil moisture, and goose fecal addition, suggesting that grazing-related changes in the soil abiotic environment may enhance soil C losses. Yet, these abiotic drivers were insufficient to explain variation in fluxes between soils with and without prior grazing. Differences in trace gas fluxes between grazed and ungrazed areas may result both from herbivore-induced shifts in abiotic parameters and grazing-related alterations in microbial community structure. Our findings suggest that relationships among herbivores and soil microbial communities could mediate carbon-climate feedbacks in rapidly changing high-latitude ecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Lindberg and his crew for logistical support during field collection of samples, R. Choi for advice on study site locations and plant identification, and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta National Wildlife Refuge for allowing us to collect soil samples.

Availability of data and materials

Upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication, all data will be archived in Dryad digital repository (www.datadryad.org).

Funding

The work was funded by the National Science Foundation awards ARC-1304523 and ARCCS-1932889, a Utah State University (USU) Research Catalyst grant, a USU Research and Graduate Studies Dissertation Enhancement, and the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, approved as journal paper 9298.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, 84322-5305, USA

    Karen M. Foley & Bonnie G. Waring

  2. Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, 84322-5230, USA

    Karen H. Beard

  3. Department of Watershed Sciences and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, 84322-5210, USA

    Trisha B. Atwood

  4. Current address: Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Bonnie G. Waring

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  1. Karen M. Foley
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  2. Karen H. Beard
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  4. Bonnie G. Waring
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Contributions

All authors designed the study; KF, BW, and KB collected samples and data in the field; KF performed sample processing and laboratory analyses; KF, BW, and TA performed statistical analyses of output data and all authors reviewed analyses for accuracy; KB arranged funding for the research; KF wrote the initial draft of the manuscript, and all authors contributed substantially to revisions.

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Correspondence to Bonnie G. Waring.

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Foley, K.M., Beard, K.H., Atwood, T.B. et al. Herbivory changes soil microbial communities and greenhouse gas fluxes in a high-latitude wetland. Microb Ecol 83, 127–136 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01733-8

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