Climate change has been modifying precipitation and temperature in many regions of the world, prompting changes in plant communities. It also affects soil microbial communities, indirectly influencing plant species distribution through plant-soil feedbacks. Here we report an experiment designed to test seed germination responses to global change, addressed through the interaction between increased

Bacterial communities in the organic leaf litter layer and bulk (mineral and organic) soil are sensitive to environmental change. However, despite close interactions between these communities, the leaf litter layer has historically been studied in isolation from the bulk soil. Whether bacterial response to environmental change is uniform throughout the surface soil remains unclear. Here, we simultaneously

Peatlands contain up to half of terrestrial soil organic carbon (C) while simultaneously emitting the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH4). Global change will alter C biogeochemistry in peatlands, but is hard to predict without a mechanistic understanding of the processes that control anaerobic C cycling. One of the least known anaerobic C cycling pathways in wetland systems is homoacetogenesis, the

The temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil respiration (Rs) is crucial to assess the carbon (C) budget of terrestrial ecosystems under global warming. The Q10 changes along a climatic gradient as well as its seasonal dynamics remain unclear, and the underlying microbial mechanisms are not well known. Here, the seasonal Q10 of Rs at the northern, middle, and southern sites of a natural temperate mixed

For the prediction of permafrost nitrogen (N) climate feedbacks, a better process-based understanding of the N cycle in permafrost ecosystems is urgently needed. Therefore, we characterized and quantified soil organic matter, gross soil microbial ammonification and nitrification and soil-atmosphere exchange of nitrous oxide (N2O) of boreal permafrost ecosystems on the southern edge of the Eurasian

Wildfires can represent a major disturbance to ecosystems, including soil microbial communities belowground. Furthermore, fire regimes are changing in many parts of the world, altering and often increasing fire severity, frequency, and size. The boreal forest and taiga plains ecoregions of northern Canada are characterized by naturally-occurring stand-replacing wildfires on a 40–350 year basis. We

Soil organic matter (SOM) has often been separated into operational physical fractions, such as particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM), to improve our understanding of SOM persistence. While it is generally assumed that POM and MAOM have distinct biogeochemical characteristics, it remains unresolved where and why POM and MAOM differ in their composition and relationships

Studies of tree species effects on soils have revealed a significant impact on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and the carbon (C) distribution between forest floor and mineral soil, but the underlying mechanisms including the roles of litter traits, soil properties, and microbiome remain unclear. To address this challenge, we tested the effect of six common European tree species on the quality and

Through soil profile, both chemical composition of soil organic carbon (SOC) and edaphic physiochemical properties present a vertical gradient, likely resulting in depth-specific SOC dynamics in response to climate change (e.g., global warming). We assessed temperature sensitivity of SOC decomposition (Q10) by incubating (128 days) soils sampled across five sequential layer depths (i.e., 0–10, 10–20

A plant's neighborhood context can alter its interactions with other organisms, but little is known about how these dynamics occur belowground, especially with soil microbes. Microbial communities in rhizosphere soil are influenced by many factors, including abiotic conditions and root-derived signals. In particular, root exudates have strong effects on rhizosphere assembly, respond to changes in abiotic

Revealing regional distribution and diversity of abundant and rare bacterial communities in different cropping systems are crucial to predict trends of microbial changes in farmlands and understand ecosystem functions. Here, we examined the spatial distribution patterns and calculated differences in diversity and function for abundant and rare bacterial sub-communities across 114 typical dryland farmland

The carbon cycle (C-cycle) is the most important and complex biogeochemical cycle in soil ecosystems, but our understanding of C-cycle at the community level remains limited. Biocrusts are known ecosystem engineers and represent ideal model systems for biogeochemical cycling studies. Here, metagenomic sequencing based on five repeated collections of four types of biocrusts revealed a low abundance

Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a key parameter for soil organic carbon (SOC) cycling. However, there is still lack of evidence for linkages between shifts in SOC stocks and altered microbial CUE under fertilization. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the effects of fertilization on microbial CUE and its relationships with SOC sequestration. We found that inorganic and combined

The microbiome in plant-soil systems has a significant influence in promoting plant growth. Despite this, the extent of selectivity that the plant exerts on the microbiome in the continuum between the soil and internal plant tissues is not well understood. This study analysed the root microbiome of a legume, Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall., sweet clover, and focused on dynamic shifts in the microbial

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that N2 fixation by free-living microorganisms is a quantitatively important process in arid and semiarid ecosystems and that N2 fixation per unit microbial biomass increases with increasing aridity. For this purpose, we studied soils along a precipitation gradient in Chile (ranging from 10 to 1084 mm mean annual precipitation), comprising the arid,

Belowground insect herbivory is an important interaction that can shape ecological communities above- and belowground. A key component of belowground ecosystems are the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi that associate with roots of most terrestrial plants. Despite the shared ecological significance of root herbivores and AM fungi, there is an absence of data on how insect root herbivory affects root-colonising

Nitrogen addition to croplands greatly increases global emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Three ammonia-oxidizing functional guilds constitute the major producers of N2O in agricultural soils, but their relative contributions are still poorly understood, especially the newly discovered and widespread complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox). To fill this knowledge gap, we used

Root exudates determine plant's ability to acquire nutrients through influencing plant's interactions with soil microorganisms. Recent studies suggest that plant's associations with beneficial soil microorganisms explain variation in root exudation as plants opt to minimize the exudation cost through such symbiosis. Yet, we have a poor understanding of whether plants change their exudation rates through

Interactions between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are pivotal in linking belowground soil nutrients with plant-derived carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about the effect of variation in soil nutrients (i.e., nitrogen enrichment) on the structure and phylogenetic characteristics of the mutualistic network. With a 7-year nitrogen addition experiment in an alpine

Earthworms are invading soil communities worldwide, and their actions as decomposers and ecosystem engineers are vastly impacting many ecosystem functions. In the northern regions of North America, invasive earthworms are often functionally distinct from the native invertebrate fauna and, thus, typically occupy empty trophic niches in soil food webs. Nevertheless, they can affect the co-occurring soil

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from arable soils are predominantly caused by denitrifying microbes, of which fungal denitrifiers are of particular interest, as fungi, in contrast to bacteria, terminate denitrification with N2O. Reduced tillage has been shown to increase gaseous nitrogen losses from soil, but knowledge of how varying tillage regimes and associated soil physical and chemical alterations

The interactions between plant diversity and the soil microbial community are crucial for maintaining multiple ecosystem functions. However, the underlying mechanisms of how plant diversity impacts the soil microbial biomass and community composition are still unclear. In this study, we used a biodiversity-ecosystem function experiment to explore whether tree species richness affects the soil microbial

Improving nitrogen (N) acquisition by crops from soil is essential to reduce fertilization rates whilst maintaining yields. Plants can adapt their nutrient acquisition strategies according to N availability, which also affects soil microbial community structure, functions and activities and relies on the supply of carbon (C) for energy. We hypothesized that N deprivation would create hotspots of N-

Climate warming is expected to increase leaf litter decomposition rates. However, higher temperature may not uniformly affect the factors that influence decomposition, resulting in unexpected decomposition patterns. Over a period of two years, we study litter decomposition in response to soil warming in a native Castanopsis kawakamii forest and a Cunninghamia lanceolata (Chinese fir) plantation. Our

Due to their substantial volume, subsoils contain more of the total soil carbon (C) pool than topsoils. Much of this C is thousands of years old, suggesting that subsoils offer considerable potential for long-term C sequestration. However, knowledge of subsoil C behaviour and manageability remains incomplete, and subsoil C storage potential has yet to be realised at a large scale, particularly in agricultural

A comprehensive evaluation of the impact of forest harvest on soil N2O flux at the global scale is currently unavailable. In this study, by using a global meta-analysis of 64 observations from 29 peer-reviewed publications over the last 30 years, we elucidated how forest harvest impacted soil N2O flux and related soil properties. Intensive forest harvest significantly increased soil N2O flux with a

Soil health is a promising lens through which to approach land management, having the potential to serve as a descriptor of biophysical processes and as an effective communication tool across stakeholders. However, this potential has been largely unrealized due to difficulty in quantitatively assessing soil health and linking those assessments to outcomes. Here we discuss many multiple persistent obstacles

Root hairs, arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and rhizosphere microbiome all play important roles in mycorrhizal plant phosphorus (P) absorption. However, how the plant-AM fungi-rhizosphere microbiome continuum interacts efficiently to promote the use of soil P is still unclear. Here, we present results of a controlled environment experiment to reveal the effect of root hair, AM fungi and their interaction

In recent years, wildfire frequency and severity has increased in the Arctic tundra regions due to climate change. Pyrogenic organic matter (PyOM) is a product of incomplete combustion of biomass containing nutrients such as nitrogen (N), and is expected to affect ecosystem N cycling during a post-fire recovery period. We investigated effects of fire on soil biogeochemical cycles with a focus on pyrogenic

Salt accumulation and salinisation of coastal soils is a global issue. Further, climate change is likely to increase the amount of land affected by salinity due to the increasing frequency and severity of coastal flooding and brackish water ingress. The impact of this on the ability of soils to deliver ecosystem services, particularly carbon (C) storage, however, remains unclear. We hypothesized that

Reductions in ammonia (NH3) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural systems are critical for achievement of sustainability targets that underpin international efforts on climate and biodiversity. Urease inhibitors (UI) such as N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) and nitrification inhibitors (NI) such as dicyandiamide (DCD) slow down microbial and chemical N transformation rates in

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is closely tied to soil health. However, additional biological indicators may also provide insight about C dynamics and microbial activity. We used SOC and the other C indicators (potential C mineralization, permanganate oxidizable C, water extractable organic C, and β-glucosidase enzyme activity) from the North American Project to Evaluate Soil Health Measurements to examine

Entombment, or the production of graveyards for the disposal of dead bodies, is not only a practice of human societies but is also observed in nature, including among small invertebrates such as termites. While the influence of termites on soil dynamics has largely been studied in comparing the specific properties of their mounds and protective sheeting with those of the surrounding soil, the properties

The transition year from tillage to no tillage in semiarid areas and its effects on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and related microbial communities, as well as the potential interaction with N management, including enhanced-efficiency fertilisers, are not well studied despite their economic and environmental implications. In tilled and nontilled plots, the effectiveness of the double DMPSA + NBPT inhibitor

Soil fungi are vital for ecosystem functioning, but an understanding of their ecology is still growing. A better appreciation of their ecological preferences and the controls on the composition and distribution of fungal communities at macroecological scales is needed. Here, we used one of the most extensive continental-scale datasets on soil fungi and modelled the relative abundance of dominant fungal

Both warming and nitrogen (N) addition affect the chemistry and characteristics of soil organic matter (SOM). However, their interactive impacts on molecular compositions and origins (plant- or microbial-derived) in agroecosystems are indeterminate. A nine-year field trial study in Northern China was undertaken to quantify the effects of warming (+2 °C), N addition (315 kg N ha−1 yr−1), and their interaction

Some soil microbes can methylate arsenic (As) and produce dimethylarsenate (DMA) as a main product. Excessive accumulation of DMA by rice plants can cause the straighthead disease, a physiological disorder leading to substantial yield losses. DMA can also be demethylated in soil, but the mechanism and the microbes involved are not well understood. We investigated the dynamics of methylated As species

Widespread degradation and destruction of coastal wetlands over the last century have spurred on the practice of creating salt marshes to mitigate losses of wetland area and ecosystem function. Constructed marshes can quickly recover plant biomass, but biogeochemical functions, such as nitrogen removal capacity through denitrification, can take decades to centuries to recover. One potential mechanism

Mollisols have a high potential to mitigate climate change and play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle due to their inherently high soil organic matter (SOM). However, little is known about the mechanism of C stabilization in Mollisols, especially subjected to different management effects. To trace C stabilization between aggregates and SOM density fractions in Mollisols, soil samples

Organic amendments stimulate carbon (C) mineralization by affecting the soil nutrient content, soil organic carbon (SOC) chemistry, and microbial community structure, especially keystone taxa. Exogenous substrates' quality is expected to affect the relative importance of these biotic and abiotic factors in C mineralization. However, little evidence from long-term studies has been found, and the underlying

Identifying general patterns in microbial community responses to global change factors remains a challenge in soil ecology, partially due to different methods used to characterize microbial communities among studies. In this study, we used DNA-based (qPCR, sequencing) and PLFA approaches to assess microbial responses to both land use change and drought-rewetting. Both methods detected microbial community

The persistence of soil organic carbon (SOC) is influenced by soil physicochemical properties, organic matter quality, and climatic conditions that govern its vulnerability to microbial activity. We compared the susceptibility of newly formed SOC to mineralization in two soils (Andosols) that developed under contrasting precipitation regimes. Soil from the high rainfall region (‘highrain’) had higher

Earthworms have potential to stabilize soil organic carbon (SOC), but the biophysical controls on SOC dynamics in earthworm casts and the SOC residence time in casts is poorly known. To this end, we aimed to investigate (1) the kinetics of SOC (de-) protection in earthworm casts deposited in a tropical environment and (2) changes in the spatial relationships between fresh particulate organic matter