Abstract. Including information about soil microbial communities into global decomposition models is critical for predicting and understanding how ecosystem functions may shift in response to global change. Here we combined a standardised litter bag method for estimating decomposition rates, Tea Bag Index (TBI), with high-throughput sequencing of the microbial communities colonising the plant litter in the bags. Together with students of the Federal College for Viticulture and Fruit Growing, Klosterneuburg, Austria, acting as citizen scientists, we used this approach to investigate the diversity of prokaryotes and fungi colonising recalcitrant (rooibos) and labile (green tea) plant litter buried in three different soil types and during four seasons with the aim of (i) comparing litter decomposition [decomposition rates (k) and stabilisation factors (S)] between soil types and seasons, (ii) comparing the microbial communities colonising labile and recalcitrant plant litter between soil types and seasons (iii) correlating microbial diversity and taxa relative abundance patterns of colonisers with litter decomposition rates (k)and stabilisation factors (S). Stabilisation factor (S), but not decomposition rate (k), correlated with the season and was significantly lower in the summer. This finding highlights the necessity to include colder seasons in the efforts of determining decomposition dynamics in order to quantify nutrient cycling in soils accurately. With our approach, we further showed selective colonisation of plant litter by fungal and prokaryotic taxa sourced from the soil. The community structures of these microbial colonisers differed most profoundly between summer and winter, and rooibos litter was generally a stronger selector than green tea litter. Moreover, this study indicates an equal, if not higher, importance of fungal versus prokaryotic degraders for recalcitrant and labile plant litter decomposition. Our results collectively demonstrate the importance of analysing decomposition dynamics over multiple seasons and isolating the effect of the active component of the microbial community.

中文翻译：

---

使用茶包指数 (TBI) 将凋落物分解与微生物群落结构配对

摘要。将有关土壤微生物群落的信息纳入全球分解模型对于预测和理解生态系统功能如何随着全球变化而变化至关重要。在这里，我们将用于估计分解率的标准化垃圾袋方法、茶袋指数 (TBI) 与在袋子中定植植物垃圾的微生物群落的高通量测序相结合。与奥地利克洛斯特新堡联邦葡萄栽培和水果种植学院的学生一起，作为公民科学家，我们使用这种方法研究了在四个季节埋藏在三种不同土壤类型中的顽固（rooibos）和不稳定（绿茶）植物凋落物定植的原核生物和真菌的多样性，目的是 (i) 比较凋落物分解 [分解率 (k ) 和稳定因子 (S)] 在土壤类型和季节之间，(ii) 比较土壤类型和季节之间在不稳定和顽固植物凋落物上定殖的微生物群落 (iii) 将定植者的微生物多样性和分类群相对丰度模式与凋落物分解率相关联（ k) 和稳定因子 (S)。稳定因子 (S)，而不是分解率 (k)，与季节相关，并且在夏季显着较低。这一发现强调了在确定分解动力学的努力中包括寒冷季节的必要性，以便准确地量化土壤中的养分循环。通过我们的方法，我们进一步展示了来自土壤的真菌和原核生物分类群对植物凋落物的选择性定植。这些微生物定植者的群落结构在夏季和冬季之间差异最大，并且路易波士垃圾通常是比绿茶垃圾更强的选择器。此外，这项研究表明真菌与原核降解剂对于顽固和不稳定的植物凋落物分解具有同等的重要性，如果不是更高的话。我们的结果共同证明了分析多个季节的分解动态和分离微生物群落活性成分影响的重要性。