Forest disturbances have a strong effect on soil fungal communities and associated ecosystem processes. However, little is known about the response of mycelial biomass to disturbances, and how fungi reallocate carbon into different fungal structures under environmental stressors. We investigated above- and below-ground fungal biomass shifts in response to different intensities of forest management

Application of biochar has been widely suggested as a remediation tool for trace element-polluted soils, but the impact of biochar on microbial communities and on native plants remain largely unknown. To overcome this knowledge gap, biochar produced from rice husk and olive pit were applied at a rate of 8 t ha−1 into a soil with two contrasting levels of trace elements (high and moderate) to study

Volcanic deposits increase soil organic carbon storage. However, little is known about the effect of volcanic deposits on forest soil nitrogen (N) dynamics and microbial communities. We explored gross and net N transformation rates and microbial community structure using a phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) method across eight forests with soils derived from different parent material in Japan. Volcanic

The nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) is used to limit nitrogen (N) losses incurred following nitrification of applied N fertilisers. Inhibitor efficacy changes with soil conditions including pH and organic matter (OM) content, both of which can be stratified down the soil profile. An incubation study was conducted using acidic soil that exhibited pH stratification. Soil

Liming is a common agricultural practice to improve crop yields by raising soil pH. Liming also modulates the production and consumption of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in soils, but the direction and strength of such effects are largely unknown. Since lime application is not a dichotomous variable (application or not), but rather can be dosed according to crop requirements, a critical research gap is whether

Soil denitrification produces the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) and by further reduction of N2O, the harmless inert gas N2. N2O emission is determined by rate and timing of the N2O producing and reducing steps which are sensitive to a series of proximal and distal regulators such as pH and microbial community composition. Microbial community associations to N2O emission potential (N2O/(N2O + N2))

Long-term additions of lime and/or phosphate fertilizer caused an indirect and/or direct increase in the availability of P in mixed mesophytic deciduous forest soil on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau, southeast Ohio, USA. As expected, the activities of extracellular phosphatases declined across all treatments (by 23–65%), in both organic and mineral soil horizons. In contrast, there

Protein represents a major input of organic matter to soil and is an important source of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) for microorganisms. Therefore, determining which soil properties influence protein mineralisation in soil is key to understanding and modelling soil C and N cycling. However, the effect of different soil properties on protein mineralisation, and especially the interactions between soil

High Arctic polar deserts cover 26% of the Arctic. Climate change is expected to increase cryoturbation in these polar deserts, including frost boils and diapirs. Diapirism—cryoturbic intrusion into the overlying horizon—creates subsurface nutrient patches with low biodegradability and is thought to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, including the potent nitrous oxide. Although nitrous oxide emissions

Organic C has many benefits for soil, but it is depleted by tillage and crop harvest, and especially so for biofuel crops. Accordingly, strategies such as partially retaining stover or planting a cover crop can help ameliorate the negative effect of C removal. We used a long-term field experiment to study the impacts of stover retention and planting a cover crop on soil organic matter (SOM), its extractable

Land use changes (LUC) for the expansion of bioenergy cropping have caused consistent reductions in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in tropical soils. This study addresses the mechanisms underlying such SOC losses by assessing LUC effects on, and relationships between, soil engineering invertebrate fauna, soil structural stability, and C allocation and sequestration within soil aggregates. We sampled

Roots play an important role in the formation and turnover of soil organic matter (SOM). Biological processes in the rhizosphere have the capacity to regulate the input of root materials to soil and the fate of root-derived carbon (C) in soil. While some aspects of rhizosphere ecology have received considerable research attention, one potentially important biotic driver, root herbivory, has been largely

Anthropogenic activities and atmospheric deposition have increased the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) inputs to terrestrial ecosystems, which can significantly alter ecosystem carbon cycling. To better understand the mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) responding to nutrient fertilization, we measured physical fractions (by particle-size fractionation) and chemical composition (by solid-state

The influence of temperature on mineralization of plant litter and pre-existing soil organic matter (SOM) involves not only the prevailing temperature, but also how it has changed through time. However, little is known about how temperature variability through time influences mineralization processes. Here, we investigated how short-term temperature history affects the mineralization of SOM and plant

In soils, cysteine and methionine represent the predominant constituents of the low molecular weight organic S, but their role in plant nutrition and soil S cycling is unclear. Cysteine and methionine uptake by pot-cultivated wheat and oilseed rape and their cycling were evaluated using 14C and 35S labelling. About 0.16%–0.30% of 14C from cysteine and methionine was absorbed by the plants after 6 h

Recent advances in soil organic carbon (SOC) formation indicate that labile plant C is disproportionately important for stable SOC pool because it is utilized more efficiently by soil microbes. Rhizodeposited C, accounting for 5–20% of photosynthates, are highly bioavailable and readily metabolized substrates for soil microbes. However, it remains poorly understood how different microbial functional

As a result of the heterogeneous spatial distribution of microorganisms and substrates in soil and their restricted accessibility, biodegradation occurs mainly in hotspots, such as in the detritusphere, induced by decomposing plant residues. Knowing the characteristics of the volume of soil involved in biodegradation of a given organic substrate will facilitate the understanding and prediction of biodegradation

Microbial carbon-use efficiency (CUE) is defined as the portion of carbon (C) incorporated into biomass relative to the total carbon consumed and plays a pivotal role in regulating microbially-mediated C and nutrient transformations in soil. However, little is understood about how CUE is impacted by edaphic properties, like soil moisture. Soil moisture physically regulates microbial activity through

In boreal forests, snow typically covers the forest floor and insulates soil from low and fluctuating air temperature for a large part of the year. Snowpack regimes are currently changing in response to climate warming, and it is uncertain how changing subnivean conditions (i.e. those under the snow cover) will impact soil processes. Here, we experimentally tested in a northern boreal forest how three

Plant rhizosphere microbes play a key role in plant-soil feedbacks. However, the intrinsic principles governing the assembly of the rhizosphere microbial community remain unclear. To understand these principles, we studied the taxonomical and functional characteristics of the reassembled maize rhizosphere bacterial communities after transplanting between soils. The composition of the rhizosphere bacterial

Substrate utilization strategies of microorganisms modulate soil organic carbon (SOC) turnover, which is essentially regulated by the quality and quantity of exogenous substrate. However, a detailed understanding of the functional traits of different microbial taxa in substrate utilization is limited. Therefore, an 8-week microcosm amendment of the weekly addition of 13C-glucose was performed on an

Quantifying and characterizing Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) and especially exopolysaccharides (EPSac) is an issue for understanding the hydro-physical and biological functioning of the rhizosphere. However, few comparative studies of extraction techniques have been carried out on soils and none on calcareous Mediterranean soils. Three soil-bound EPS extraction techniques, i.e. Cation Exchange

While it is recognized that the accumulation and turnover of soil organic carbon (SOC) is driven by plant inputs and their subsequent microbial-mediated transformations, the roles of plant residue chemistry and microbial processes in controlling SOC dynamics under different fertilizer application regimes have not been well explored. In the present study, amino sugars and lignin phenols were used as

Leaf litter decomposition is a fundamental process involved in soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics. Observational and experimental evidence suggests that leaf litter from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) tree species has a faster decomposition rate than leaf litter from ectomycorrhizal (ECM) tree species. This could be due to the diversity and activity of decomposer microorganisms, but remains to be confirmed

Nitrogen (N) deposition can profoundly alter soil N cycling of grassland ecosystems. Substrates and soil acidification are expected to modify soil N transformations in response to elevated N deposition. Here, we carried out 15N tracing studies to test the effects of N addition rates (low: 30 kg N ha−1 and high: 90/120 kg N ha−1) and soil acidification on gross N transformation rates using two typical

In the last 100 years, climate warming has been affecting the European Alps faster and more severely than globally observed temperature patterns. Temperature changes are known to affect soil properties and microbial community structures, and land-use change in Europe is an expected socio-economic consequence of climate change. However, few studies have simultaneously investigated how land-use and climate-related

The triggering response has attracted much research interest. However, the main C source of triggered CO2–C and the dynamics of soil microbial biomass C (biomass C) and adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) concentrations during the triggering response still remain largely unknown. We labeled the soil microbial biomass of three soil layers (0–10 cm, 10–30 cm and 30–60 cm) of a forest soil with dried aboveground

Soil biocrusts (communities of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, lichens, and heterotrophs living at the soil surface) are fundamental components of dryland ecosystems worldwide. There is increasing concern over the potential for increasing nitrogen (N) inputs to affect biocrusts. This is of special concern in Mediterranean Basin drylands that face the threat of increased N inputs however, the effect on

Peatlands store close to half of the terrestrial soil carbon and release substantial amounts of the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. While CH4 is thought to be produced mainly by hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic methanogenic pathways, methylotrophic methanogenesis may be a hidden, yet potentially important, source of CH4 in these globally significant ecosystems. To explore the importance

Carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) are three important greenhouse gases (GHGs) associated with rising temperature. Their temperature sensitivities (Q10) play important roles in predicting soil–atmosphere gas exchange under global warming. Few studies have simultaneously evaluated the variation in Q10 of CO2, N2O and CH4 emissions across different soil depths. Here, we sampled

Soil microbes release a variety of aminopeptidase enzymes to degrade proteins into their constituent amino acid monomers, thereby increasing amino acid availability in the near-cell environment. We investigated how inorganic N availability controls the substrate induction response of aminopeptidase enzymes by conducting protein amendment experiments via gelatin addition to fertilized and unfertilized

Identifying the sources of nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) production from soil is central to enhancing the understanding and prediction of these emissions to the atmosphere. The magnitude of N2O and CO2 production derived from soil organic matter (SOM) can asymmetrically change due to stimuli from root exudation and nitrogen additions ‒ a response termed the priming effect. We conducted

Recent studies have revealed effects of various tree species on soil physical and chemical properties. However, effects of various tree species on composition and activity of soil microbiota and the relevant controls remain poorly understood. We evaluated the influence of tree species associated with two different mycorrhizal types, ectomycorrhiza (EcM) and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), on growth, biomass

Soils substantially contribute to the terrestrial fluxes of CO2 to the atmosphere. Dark CO2 fixation, the microbial process by which pore space CO2 is reduced to organic matter, may recycle and trap some of the CO2 respired in soils before it can escape to the atmosphere. To evaluate its potential significance for global temperate forest soil carbon stocks, we quantified dark CO2 fixation rates in

Soil pH is among the most important drivers of soil bacterial community composition and diversity. However, most studies exploring the spatial distribution of soil bacterial communities have focused on the top 10–20 cm of soil, leaving our knowledge of the composition, diversity, and forces structuring subsoil communities relatively unexplored. Moreover, in agricultural soil managed without tillage

Plant sulphur (S) deficiency is a worldwide concern. However, the mechanisms controlling the immobilization and mineralization of low-molecular weight organic S by soil microorganisms remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the assimilation of carbon (C) and S by soil microorganisms using uniformly 14C- or 35S-labelled cysteine and methionine. The decomposition of cysteine and methionine in the

Soil texture is an essential component of soil survey for estimating potentials and limitations of land use and management. It has been appreciated as an important predictor for numerous soil processes. However, its connections with the diversity and composition of the soil microbial community remain less understood. This work employed a marker gene high-throughput sequencing approach to determine

The invasion of Amynthas species complex of earthworms from Asia into North American hardwood forests poses a novel threat to these ecosystems. These species can competitively exclude previously-established earthworms, have novel effects on microbial communities, and influence the structural and chemical composition of soils differently than other earthworm species. However, because prior research

Microbial methane (CH4) oxidation is a major global sink of CH4. Aerobic CH4-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs) represent a biological model system for CH4 consumption and is very sensitive to climate warming, but still poorly understood. Here we used DNA stable-isotope probing (SIP) coupled with high-throughput sequencing of 13C-DNA to compare active methanotrophs incubated at 10, 15, 20, and 25 °C

The interactions of fungal guilds have recently been proposed as drivers of organic matter transformation in forest soils. We conducted a pot experiment with Norway spruce seedlings planted in spruce needle litter inoculated with several fungal strains belonging to different ecological guilds (saprotrophic, mycorrhizal, and root endophytic) to assess how the fungi and their interactions affect the

Changes in the isotopic composition of oxygen associated with phosphate can provide information on the impact of phosphatase activity on soil P dynamics, whereas the use of radioactive P delivers information on P fluxes within soil systems. Although these two tracers may provide complementary data, they have rarely been used together to study soil P cycling. We conducted a dual isotopic soil incubation

Beginning in the twentieth century, atmospheric deposition of N and P greatly increased in terrestrial ecosystems, including alpine grasslands. These inputs have profoundly affected soil microbial C and N cycles. Changes in the microbial environment are directly caused by changes in soil N and P availability and also indirectly through changes in vegetation in response to increased fertilization. The

Fire is an ecological disturbance that alters soil microbiomes and the functions they mediate in terrestrial ecosystems. Soil microbial diversity in Mediterranean Basin ecosystems shows resilience to fire following the restoration of plant-soil feedbacks. We hypothesised that microbial functions related to organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling might show similar patterns of recovery. We