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Published on: January 7, 2019
Relationship between N-cycling communities and ecosystem functioning in a 50-year-old fertilization experiment
Sara Hallin1, Christopher M Jones, Michael Schloter
1Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden. Sara.Hallin@mikrob.slu.se
The ISME Journal
|January 17, 2009
Summary
Microbial community size, not composition, influenced nitrogen cycling rates in agroecosystems. Fertilization regimes significantly altered microbial community size and function, impacting crop yield.
Area of Science:
- Microbial ecology
- Soil science
- Agroecosystem functioning
Background:
- The roles of microbial community size and composition in ecosystem processes remain unclear.
- Nitrogen cycling is crucial for agroecosystem productivity and health.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the correlation between the size and composition of nitrogen-cycling microbial guilds and agroecosystem functioning.
- To assess how fertilization regimes impact microbial communities and related ecosystem processes.
Main Methods:
- Soil sampling from a long-term fertilizer trial with diverse treatments.
- Analysis of functional guild sizes and total bacterial community abundance.
- Integration of community data with microbial process rates (ammonia oxidation, denitrification, respiration) and crop yield.
Main Results:
- Fertilization regimes, particularly sewage sludge and ammonium sulfate, significantly affected microbial community size.
- Community size, not composition, correlated with process rates for denitrifiers, ammonia-oxidizing archaea, and total bacteria.
- Ammonia-oxidizing bacterial communities showed no correlation between size/composition and process rates.
- Nitrate-reducing, denitrifying, and total bacterial community composition covaried with primary production and soil properties.
Conclusions:
- Microbial community size is a key driver of nitrogen cycling rates in fertilized agroecosystems.
- Fertilization strategies profoundly influence microbial community structure and function.
- Understanding these relationships is vital for optimizing agroecosystem productivity and sustainability.
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