In boreal peatlands, the aboveground (plant) and belowground (microbial) communities are acutely linked because the whole soil profile is partially decomposed plant matter (peat), and dictates the nutrients available to the belowground system. We characterized the aboveground and belowground communities in two boreal peatlands: a Sphagnum-dominated fen and a Carex-dominated fen. We link the plant and microbial communities by observing plant, litter and peat carbon and nitrogen values. The Sphagnum-dominated fen had greater plant diversity but provided low quality litter inputs (high carbon:nitrogen) that formed peat and that corresponded with greater fungi:bacteria and Gram-positive:Gram-negative bacteria microbial community compared to the Carex-dominated fen. The higher quality plant inputs in the Carex-dominated fen supported a 5 × greater microbial biomass that was also 2 × more active (as measure by CO₂ production). In this approach we highlight that peatlands and their component plant and microbial communities play-out along a common resource-spectrum that dictates ‘fast’ vs ‘slow’ carbon and nutrient cycling (i.e., a plant–soil interaction spectrum) that can, in turn, affect carbon storage potential. As peatland plant community composition is predicted to shift and decomposition rates are expected to increase under climate change, our work highlights the importance of understanding plant–soil microbial interactions.

在北方的泥炭地中，地上（植物）和地下（微生物）群落之间存在着紧密的联系，因为整个土壤剖面都部分分解了植物（豌豆），并决定了地下系统可利用的养分。我们对两个北方泥炭地的地上和地下社区进行了特征描述：以泥炭藓为主的和以草苔为主的。我们通过观察植物，凋落物和泥炭的碳和氮值，将植物和微生物群落联系起来。所述泥炭藓-dominated芬具有更大的植物多样性但提供低质量的垫料输入（高碳：氮）相比，革兰氏阴性菌微生物群落：所形成的泥炭，并且具有更大的真菌对应：细菌和革兰氏阳性苔主导的芬 在以Carex为主的fen中，较高质量的植物投入物支持的微生物生物量增加了5倍，而活性也增加了2倍（以CO _2的生产量来衡量）。在这种方法中，我们强调泥炭地及其组成植物和微生物群落沿共同的资源谱发挥作用，该资源谱指示“快速”与“缓慢”的碳和养分循环（即植物-土壤相互作用谱）可以反过来，影响碳储存潜力。在气候变化下，泥炭地植物群落组成预计会发生变化，分解速率预计会增加，因此我们的工作凸显了理解植物-土壤微生物相互作用的重要性。