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Climatic conditions, soil fertility and atmospheric nitrogen deposition largely determine the structure and functioning of microbial communities in biocrust-dominated Mediterranean drylands

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Abstract

Background and aims

Nitrogen (N) deposition and climate change are a threat to the structure and function of drylands, where biocrust-dominated communities are prevalent. We aimed at evaluating the influence of N deposition, climate and edaphic properties of semiarid areas of Spain on soil microbial communities and N cycling.

Methods

We quantified soil bacteria, fungi, ammonium oxidizing bacteria and archaea, estimated the abundance of autotrophic organisms (soil pigment content) and measured a wide array of variables related to the N cycle.

Results

Local climatic conditions and soil fertility were main drivers of soil microbial communities and N cycling. In particular, cyanobacteria were favored in colder sites with lower soil fertility. Higher precipitation at high-fertility sites favored green algae. Soil N availability was negatively related to MAT. Increased N deposition (4.3–7.3 kg N ha−1 yr.−1) reduced the abundance of soil bacteria and fungi, a response partially attributed to N-driven soil acidification, whereas it favored green-algae and increased available N in soil, contributing to a net ecosystem eutrophication.

Conclusions

Changes in soil microbial community structure and nutrient cycling in response to N deposition and climate change will affect the overall functioning of semiarid Mediterranean ecosystems, which may have important implications in terms of long-term soil C sequestration.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL-2009-11015; CTM2009-12838-CO4-O3), the Comunidad de Madrid (S-0505/AMB/0335), and the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant agreement no. 242658 (BIOCOM project). FTM, MDB and ROH were supported by the BIOCOM project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Raúl Ochoa-Hueso & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

  2. Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, C/ Tulipán s/n., E-28933, Móstoles, Spain

    Raúl Ochoa-Hueso, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo & Fernando T. Maestre

  3. Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera de Utrera km. 1, 41013, Sevilla, Spain

    Antonio Gallardo

  4. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, 200 East Pine Knoll Drive, P.O. Box 15018, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA

    Matthew A. Bowker

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  1. Raúl Ochoa-Hueso
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  2. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo
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Correspondence to Raúl Ochoa-Hueso.

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Ochoa-Hueso, R., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Gallardo, A. et al. Climatic conditions, soil fertility and atmospheric nitrogen deposition largely determine the structure and functioning of microbial communities in biocrust-dominated Mediterranean drylands. Plant Soil 399, 271–282 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2695-y

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