Abstract
Soil respiration is one of the main CO2 sources from terrestrial ecosystems. Soil respiration is therefore a major source of greenhouse gas. Knowledge of the impact of agronomic practices such as manuring on the stability, for example resistance and resilience, of heterotrophic C–CO2 respiration to disturbance is scarce. Here, we studied the stability of soil microbial heterotrophic respiration of two tropical soils from plots annually enriched or not with manure applications during more than 20 years. Stability was quantified after heating soils artificially. We hypothesized that field manuring would change the stability of the microbial community. Additionally, the impact of both manured and unmanured soils to addition of an organic cocktail was assessed under controlled conditions in order to discriminate the metabolic capacity of the microbial community, and to link the metabolic capacity up with the microbial heterotrophic soil respiration. Our results show that total respiration was not significantly different in manured and unmanured pots. Moreover, contrary to our hypothesis, manure amendment did not affect the stability (resistance, resilience) of the microbial abundance or the basal metabolism, in our experimental conditions. By contrast, the diversity of the bacterial community in heated soils was different from that in unheated soils. After heating, surviving microorganisms showed different carbon utilization efficiency, manuring stimulating the growth of different resistant communities, that is, r-strategist or K-strategist. Microbial community of manured soils developed in the presence of the organic cocktail was less resistant to heating than microbial community of unmanured plots.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Analyses performed by the ISO 9001(2008) LAMA Laboratory, Dakar, US Imago, IRD.
References
Agren GI, Wetterstedt JAM (2007) What determines the temperature response of soil organic matter decomposition? Soil Biol Biochem 39:1794–1798
Anderson TH, Domsch KH (1993) The metabolic quotient for CO2 (qCO2) as a specific activity parameter to assess the effects of environmental conditions, such as pH, on the microbial biomass of forest soils. Soil Biol Biochem 25:393–395
Banning NC, Murphy DV (2008) Effect of heat-induced disturbance on microbial biomass and activity in forest soil and the relationship between disturbance effects and microbial community structure. Appl Soil Ecol 40:109–119
Bradford MA, Davies CA, Frey SD, Maddox TR, Melillo JM, Mohan JE et al (2008) Thermal adaptation of soil microbial respiration to elevated temperature. Ecol Lett 11:1316–1327
Degens BP, Harris JA (1997) Development of a physiological approach to measuring the metabolic diversity of soil microbial communities. Soil Biol Biochem 29:1309–1320
Fang CM, Smith P, Moncrieff JB, Smith JU (2005) Similar response of labile and resistant soil organic matter pools to changes in temperature. Nature 433:57–59
Fontaine S, Mariotti A, Abbadie L (2003) The priming effect of organic matter: a question of microbial competition? Soil Biol Biochem 35:837–843
Freschet GT, Masse D, Hien E, Sall S, Chotte JL (2008) Long-term changes in organic matter and microbial properties resulting from manuring practices in an arid cultivated soil in Burkina Faso. Agric Ecosyst Environ 123:175–184
Hart SH, Classen AT, Wright RJ (2005) Long-term interval burning alters fine root and mycorrhizal dynamics in a ponderosa pine forest. J Appl Ecol 42:752–761
Herman C, Thevenet D, D’Ari R, Bouloc P (1997) The HflB protease of Escherichia coli degrades its inhibitor λ cIII. J Bacteriol 179:358–363
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. Contribution of working group II to the third assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Kamaa M, Mburu H, Blanchart E, Chibole L, Chotte JL, Kibunja C, Lesueur D (2011) Effects of organic and inorganic fertilization on soil bacterial and fungal microbial diversity in the Kabete long-term trial, Kenya. Biol Fertil Soils 47:315–321
Kuan HL, Hallet PD, Griffiths BS, Watts CW, Whitmore AP (2007) The biological and physical stability and resilience of a selection of Scottish soils to stresses. Eur J Soil Sci 58:811–821
Mando A, Ouattara B, Sédogo M, Stroosnijder L, Ouattara K, Brussaard L, Vanlauwe B (2005) Long-term effect of tillage and manure application on soil organic fractions and crop performance under Sudano-Sahelian conditions. Soil Tillage Res 80:95–101
Martin-Laurent F, Philippot L, Hallet S, Chaussod R, Germon JC, Soulas G, Catroux G (2001) DNA extraction from soils: old bias for new microbial diversity analysis methods. Appl Environ Microbiol 67:2354–2359
McGill WB, Hunt HW, Woodmansee RG, Reuss JO (1981) PHOENIX, a model of the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen in grassland soils. In: Clark FE, Rosswall T (eds) Terrestrial nitrogen cycles. Stockholm, pp 49–115
Muyzer G, de Wall E, Uitterlinden A (1993) Profiling of complex microbial populations by DGGE of PCR-amplified genes coding for 16S rRNA. Appl Environ Microbiol 59:695–700
Neary DG, Klopatek CC, DeBano LF, Folliott PF (1999) Fire effects on belowground sustainability: a review and synthesis. For Ecol Manage 122:51–71
Olsson PA, Chalot M, Baath E, Finlay RD, Söderström B (1996) Ectomycorrhizal mycelia reduce bacterial activity in a sandy soil. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 21:77–86
Orwin K, Wardle D (2004) New indices for quantifying the resistance and resilience of soil biota to exogenous disturbances. Soil Biol Biochem 36:1907–1912
Paul EA, Clark FE (1996) Soil microbiology and biochemistry. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 131–146
Pimm SL (1984) The complexity and the stability of ecosystems. Nature 307:321–326
Rabary B, Sall S, Letourmy P, Husson O, Ralambofetra E, Moussa N, Chotte JL (2008) Soil microbial properties under different direct seeding mulch-based cropping systems in Madagascar. Appl Soil Ecol 39:236–243
Sall S, Masse D, Ndour NYB, Chotte JL (2006) Does cropping modify the decomposition function and the diversity of the soil microbial community of tropical fallow soil? Appl Soil Ecol 31:219–222
Seybold CA, Herrick JE, Brejda JJ (1999) Soil resilience: a fundamental component of soil quality. Soil Sci 164:224–234
Shields JA, Paul EA, Lowe WE, Parkinson D (1973) Turnover of microbial tissues in soil under field conditions. Soil Biol Biochem 5:753–764
Steinweg JM, Plante AF, Conant RT, Paul EA, Tanaka DL (2008) Patterns of substrate utilization during long-term incubations at different temperatures. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2722–2728
Wada S, Toyota K (2007) Repeated applications of farmyard manure enhance resistance and resilience of soil biological functions against soil disinfection. Biol Fertil Soils 43:349–356
Wardle DA, Parkinson D (1990) Interactions between microclimatic variables and the soil microbial biomass. Biol Fertil Soils 9:273–280
Wertz S, Degrange V, Prosser JL, Poly F, Commeaux C, Guillaumaud N, Le Roux X (2007) Decline of soil microbial diversity does not influence the resistance and resilience of key soil microbial functional groups following a model disturbance. Environ Microbiol 9:2211–2219
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the ANR (ANR-Biodiversité-2005, Programme Microbes, Project Manager JL CHOTTE).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chotte, JL., Diouf, M.N., Assigbetsé, K. et al. Unexpected similar stability of soil microbial CO2 respiration in 20-year manured and in unmanured tropical soils. Environ Chem Lett 11, 135–142 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-012-0388-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-012-0388-9