The direct extraction of viable microbes from soil samples is critical for the application of many single-cell related technologies. However, there are many aspects of extraction technologies that can impact the viability and diversity of extractable cells from fresh or stored soil samples. In this study, physical dispersion method, chemical dispersion method, and Nycodenz density gradient medium concentration

The objective of this study was to examine the interactive influence of tree diversity and water availability on microbial functioning in surface soil (0–10 cm). The study was conducted at two field experiments (ages 4.2 and 9.0 years, respectively) of the TreeDivNet platform that established plantations with a gradient of tree species richness exposed to high and low water availability treatments

The relative importance of belowground and aboveground energy inputs for the decomposer communities in soil remains largely unknown. In particular, no research has been done on the significance of root-derived resources for nematode communities in boreal forests. In two spruce stands in the taiga zone, we set up a field experiment in which girdling of spruce trees and clipping of dwarf shrubs was performed

Anthropogenic activities are supposed to reduce global biodiversity and negatively influence the development of diverse groups in the tree of life. Yet how agricultural management shapes the diversity of microscopic organisms and their evolution in the soil, especially at large spatial scale, remains unknown. Here, we investigated how agricultural land-use affected the biodiversity and the underlying

Increasing global temperatures have the potential to stimulate decomposition and alter the composition of soil organic matter (SOM). However, questions remain about the extent to which SOM quality and quantity along the soil profile may change under future warming. In this study we assessed how +4˚C whole-soil warming affected the quantity and quality of SOM down to 90 cm depth in a mixed-conifer temperate

Fungi decompose woody debris, an important carbon pool in forests. Fungal community structure is expected to vary according to the wood species, habitats and extent of abiotic disturbance, which have consequences for carbon cycling in tropical forests. Here we examined the effects of fungal diversity and composition on woody debris decomposition rates and sought potential mechanisms to explain an observed

Emerging contaminants such as microplastics and engineered nanoparticles (NPs) have become an environmental issue of global concern, but little is known about their joint effects in soil–plant systems. We studied the effects of two microplastics, conventional non-degradable high–density polyethylene (HDPE) and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA), on maize growth and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal

Shifts in the soil microbiome during continuous monoculture cropping coincide with increased suppressiveness against soil-borne diseases, as in the take-all decline of wheat. Here we report a similar phenomenon for bacterial blotch of mushrooms, caused by Pseudomonas ‘gingeri’, where ginger blotch incidence decreases during consecutive cycles of mushroom cultivation. We explored the infection dynamics

Wood decay is an important process in forest ecosystems, which relies on wood chemical properties and the action of a complex community of decomposers. While the important role of fungi in this process is recognized, our knowledge concerning the colonization of decaying wood by bacteria, their relative distribution as well as their potential functional roles remain under-investigated. In this context

Our understanding of how plants influence the gross rates of specific soil N transformations in plant-soil systems is still rudimentary, providing the incentive for our current study. A 15N tracing study was carried out with plants known for their NH4+-preference to quantify the gross soil N transformation and gross plant N uptake rates. Significant interactions between plants and gross rates of soil

‘Soil health’ has become a dominant, pervasive phrase in soil and environmental sciences. But despite its ubiquity, the concept remains elusively ambiguous, largely because ‘health’ here is a metaphor, not a literal scientific construct. So we ask: can this imagery nevertheless still advance research toward stewardship of soils globally? To address this question, we here define soil health as: ‘the

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) enrichment in boreal forests has been shown to enhance aboveground net primary production and downregulate soil respiration, but it is not well understood if these effects are driven by reduced belowground C allocation or shifts between biomass production and respiration in fine-roots and ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF). We utilized an experiment in a Pinus sylvestris (L.) forest

Some forest tree species are able to carry out a process known as biological nitrification inhibition, BNI, i.e. they inhibit nitrifiers through the production of specific compounds. We tested the hypothesis that, by restricting N supply to NO2−- and N2O-reducers, BNI would decrease potential N2O production and consumption and in situ N2O emissions. as compared to soils under trees without BNI capacity

Soil nematode communities have been traditionally characterized through morphological examination, which is time-consuming and demands highly trained specialist in order to deliver reproducible results. In order to tackle these problems, molecular approaches have been developed for the characterization of soil nematode communities, and yet, their accuracy is controversial. In this study, we compared

PICT (Pollution Induced Community Tolerance) to Cu is a useful and sensitive tool to assess the effects of Cu pollution in soils under laboratory conditions. However, in field situations, the absence of reference values, i.e. bacterial community tolerance to Cu baseline from non-polluted soils, make the method uncertain when we want to know if a soil is or is not polluted from a microbiological point

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) deposition can change above- and belowground biodiversity, including root-associated fungi that are tightly linked to plant fitness. We investigated the effect of eleven years of N and S addition on the diversity of root-associated fungal pathogens and mutualists, including ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF), dark septate endophytes (DSEs), and ericoid mycorrhizal

Soil moisture influences soil carbon dynamics, including microbial growth and respiration. The response of such ‘soil respiration’ to moisture changes is generally assumed to be linear and reversible, i.e. to depend only on the current moisture state. Current models thus do not account for antecedent soil moisture conditions when determining soil respiration or the available substrate pool. We conducted

Tree - soil interactions depend on environmental conditions. Planting trees may affect soil microbial communities and compromise their functioning, particularly in unfavorable environments. To understand the effects of tree species composition on soil microbial communities, we quantified structural and functional responses of soil microorganisms to tree species planted in various environments using

Gross ammonification (GA) and gross nitrification (GN) are key regulators of the bioavailability of nitrogen (N) in terrestrial ecosystems. In arid and semi-arid grassland ecosystems, the impacts of precipitation change on in situ GA and GN and their seasonal variations are understudied. A manipulative experiment with five precipitation levels (−60%, −30%, unchanged ambient precipitation as control

The effect of food resources, varying in C/N ratio, lipid and ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (ω3-PUFA) content, on the fitness of three Collembola species (the euedaphic Protaphorura fimata, hemiedpahic Folsomia candida and epedaphic Lepidocyrtus violaceus) was investigated. Dietary routing of fatty acids served as an indicator for resource consumption and assimilation. Laboratory feeding experiments

Symbiosis between the fungal endophyte Epichloë coenophiala naturally found in the cool season grass tall fescue (Lolium arundinacea (Schreb) Darbysh.) is thought to provide a competitive advantage over endophyte-free grasses when grown under nutrient-limited conditions. The mechanisms involved in the purported improvement in phosphorus (P) uptake due to endophyte infection are still not understood

The temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil microbial respiration (Rs) is a critical parameter for predicting soil carbon (C) fluxes under changing climatic conditions, and labile C is continuously input into soil via root exudates or plant litter in field. However, how Q10 responds to labile C input remains uncertain, especially across large geographical regions. We collected eight soils from tropical

The boreal forest is the single largest terrestrial store of carbon on Earth, and approximately 25% of these carbon stocks are in the forest floor. Climate change is expected to alter boreal vegetation, and aspen-dominated stands will replace conifers in Western Canada. We investigated how these vegetation shifts could affect the composition and function of soil microbial communities, using forest

This study hypothesized that pyrolyzed manure pellet (biochar) reduces heterotrophic respiration and N2O emissions from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) rhizosphere soil by affecting net and gross nitrogen (N) transformation rates and the effects differ between rhizosphere and bulk soils. The biochar significantly decreased heterotrophic respiration but not N2O emissions, while unpyrolyzed manure pellets

Soil stability and aggregates are important drivers of soil fertility and microbial diversity and are highly vulnerable to land degradation. However, the role of soil aggregates in driving the responses of microbial functional diversity and multiple ecosystem services and functions (multifunctionality) to further degradation (e.g., fertilization) remains largely unexplored and poorly understood. In

Soil microbes re-establish plant diversity and ecosystem functions after disturbance events. Deterministic and stochastic processes are expected to contribute to microbial community assembly during long-term ecosystem recovery. We characterized soil prokaryotic and fungal communities, to determine their assembly patterns, along two chronosequences with early to later successional subtropical forests

Ice-free areas are expanding on the Tibetan Plateau and in its surroundings, and these recently exposed lands are typically deficient in nitrogen (N). Free-living N fixation (FLNF) represents a vital source of N input, especially when symbiotic N-fixing plants are absent. However, we know little about how FLNF changes with ecosystem succession after glacier retreat. In 2018, we measured the potential

As the Arctic rapidly warms, deciduous ectomycorrhizal (EcM) shrubs are expanding across the tundra. While we know how EcM host plants respond to warming and the associated nutrient release predicted for a future Arctic, considerably less is known about how EcM function will respond, despite their important role in plant nutrient acquisition in the nutrient-limited tundra. To explore how EcM-associated

Soil aggregates are critical to soil functionality, but there remain many uncertainties with respect to the role of biotic factors in forming aggregates. Understanding the interacting effects of soil, land use type, vegetation and microbial communities is a major challenge that needs assessment in both field and controlled laboratory conditions, as well as in bulk and rhizosphere soils. To address

Biochars generally result in short-term positive priming of native soil organic carbon (SOC), but longer-term carbon (C) stabilization, and these effects can be altered by global warming. However, uncertainty remains about the mechanisms associated with these priming effects, temperature sensitivity of native SOC, and microbial responses to biochars of differing properties. To address these knowledge

Little is known about the impacts of persistent triazine herbicides and biocides on soil microorganisms. Terbutryn toxicity in soil microorganisms was studied using bacterial and fungal growth, substrate induced respiration (SIR) and basal respiration as ecotoxicological end-points. In the short-term (0–7 days), increasing concentrations of terbutryn (0–800 mg kg−1) progressively inhibited bacterial

Cyanobacteria are integral to soil development in the earliest stages of primary succession by fixing carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) essential for organismal growth. In this study, we examined soil cyanobacterial communities at the earliest stage of succession (<5 years) at two disparate glacial forefields to reveal cyanobacterial patterns central to ecosystem development. Despite vast differences in

Microbe-mediated arsenic (As) methylation is enhanced when paddy soils are flooded, producing primarily dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) that is phytotoxic and can induce rice straighthead disease. Thiolation of DMA produces methylated thioarsenate compounds such as di-methylated monothioarsenate (DMMTA) and di-methylated dithioarsenate (DMDTA), the former is highly toxic to humans. In the present study

Although Epichloë endophytes are present only in aboveground tissues of grasses they indirectly influence soil biological characteristics through increased litter incorporation and root exudation. Epichloë endophytes have been reported to affect the decomposition rates of litter by altering litter quality and microbial decomposers to affect soil characteristics. However, it is not well-studied that

Soil organisms play a major role on litter decomposition process and nutrient cycling in forest ecosystems. These organisms are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions such as soil temperature and moisture conditions which control their demographic parameters and activity. The ongoing climate change can therefore directly affect soil biota communities and the processes they drive. Besides,

Biological nitrogen fixation is an important process to reduce fertilizer application in agriculture ecosystem. However, with accelerated climate warming, it is still unknown how diazotrophs (nitrogen fixing microorganisms) succeed and assemble in long-term field-based experiment. By southward translocating arable Mollisols to a warm-temperate region for a decade to simulate changing climatic regimes

Deciduous shrub encroachment in tundra ecosystems affects the soil microclimate and, in turn, could affect soil nutrients and microbial processes. Although numerous effects of shrubs on tundra ecosystem properties have been described, there has been little focus on the mechanisms through which they impact tundra functioning. In alpine tundra of northern Canada, we examined 1) the effects of the living

Priming effect (PE) induced by inputs of fresh carbon plays crucial roles in soil organic matter decomposition and terrestrial carbon cycling. Priming effect is considered to be largely influenced by nutrient availability, but the global-scale patterns reflecting how nutrient addition affects PE and the controlling factors for such effects remain unclear. By conducting a meta-analysis of 355 observations

The term “Glomalin” was originally used to describe a hypothetical gene product of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) that was assumed to be a nearly ubiquitous, thermostable and highly recalcitrant glycoprotein, deposited in soils in large amounts, and deemed to indicate soil health and quality. It was defined operationally as the fraction of soil organic matter (SOM) extractable by a hot citrate

Microbial inorganic nitrogen (N) immobilization is an important mechanism in the retention of N in soils. However, as a result of the high diversity and complexity of soil microorganisms, there is still no effective approach to measuring the respective immobilization rates of inorganic N by fungi and bacteria, which are the two dominant microbial communities in soils. We propose a mathematical framework

Healthy soils are critical to the health of ecosystems, economies, and human populations. Thus, it is widely acknowledged that soil health is important to quantify, both for assessment and as a tool to help guide management strategies. What is less clear is how soil health should actually be measured, especially considering that soil health is not exclusively a product of soil physical and chemical

Microorganisms interact in complex communities, affecting microbially-mediated processes in the environment. Particularly, aerobic methanotrophs showed significantly stimulated growth and activity in the presence of accompanying microorganisms in an interaction network (interactome). Yet, little is known of how the interactome responds to disturbances, and how community functioning is affected by the