Dataset Information

Drought re-routes soil microbial carbon metabolism towards emission of volatile metabolites in an artificial tropical rainforest.

ABSTRACT: Drought impacts on microbial activity can alter soil carbon fate and lead to the loss of stored carbon to the atmosphere as CO₂ and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here we examined drought impacts on carbon allocation by soil microbes in the Biosphere 2 artificial tropical rainforest by tracking ¹³C from position-specific ¹³C-pyruvate into CO₂ and VOCs in parallel with multi-omics. During drought, efflux of ¹³C-enriched acetate, acetone and C₄H₆O₂ (diacetyl) increased. These changes represent increased production and buildup of intermediate metabolites driven by decreased carbon cycling efficiency. Simultaneously,¹³C-CO₂ efflux decreased, driven by a decrease in microbial activity. However, the microbial carbon allocation to energy gain relative to biosynthesis was unchanged, signifying maintained energy demand for biosynthesis of VOCs and other drought-stress-induced pathways. Overall, while carbon loss to the atmosphere via CO₂ decreased during drought, carbon loss via efflux of VOCs increased, indicating microbially induced shifts in soil carbon fate.

SUBMITTER: Honeker LK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10390333 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Drought re-routes soil microbial carbon metabolism towards emission of volatile metabolites in an artificial tropical rainforest.

Hernandez Linnea K LK Pugliese Giovanni G Ingrisch Johannes J Fudyma Jane J Gil-Loaiza Juliana J Carpenter Elizabeth E Singer Esther E Hildebrand Gina G Shi Lingling L Hoyt David W DW Chu Rosalie K RK Toyoda Jason J Krechmer Jordan E JE Claflin Megan S MS Ayala-Ortiz Christian C Freire-Zapata Viviana V Pfannerstill Eva Y EY Daber L Erik LE Meeran Kathiravan K Dippold Michaela A MA Kreuzwieser Jürgen J Williams Jonathan J Ladd S Nemiah SN Werner Christiane C Tfaily Malak M MM Meredith Laura K LK

Nature microbiology 20230731 8

Drought impacts on microbial activity can alter soil carbon fate and lead to the loss of stored carbon to the atmosphere as CO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here we examined drought impacts on carbon allocation by soil microbes in the Biosphere 2 artificial tropical rainforest by tracking 13C from position-specific 13C-pyruvate into CO2 and VOCs in parallel with multi-omics. During drought, efflux of 13C-enriched acetate, acetone a ...[more]

PMID: 37524975

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Project description:Dry periods are predicted to become more frequent and severe in the future in some parts of the tropics, including Amazonia, potentially causing reduced productivity, higher tree mortality and increased emissions of stored carbon. Using a long-term (12 year) through-fall exclusion (TFE) experiment in the tropics, we test the hypothesis that trees produce leaves adapted to cope with higher levels of water stress, by examining the following leaf characteristics: area, thickness, leaf mass per area, vein density, stomatal density, the thickness of palisade mesophyll, spongy mesophyll and both of the epidermal layers, internal cavity volume and the average cell sizes of the palisade and spongy mesophyll. We also test whether differences in leaf anatomy are consistent with observed differential drought-induced mortality responses among taxa, and look for relationships between leaf anatomy, and leaf water relations and gas exchange parameters. Our data show that trees do not produce leaves that are more xeromorphic in response to 12 years of soil moisture deficit. However, the drought treatment did result in increases in the thickness of the adaxial epidermis (TFE: 20.5 ± 1.5 µm, control: 16.7 ± 1.0 µm) and the internal cavity volume (TFE: 2.43 ± 0.50 mm3 cm-2, control: 1.77 ± 0.30 mm3 cm-2). No consistent differences were detected between drought-resistant and drought-sensitive taxa, although interactions occurred between drought-sensitivity status and drought treatment for the palisade mesophyll thickness (P = 0.034) and the cavity volume of the leaves (P = 0.025). The limited response to water deficit probably reflects a tight co-ordination between leaf morphology, water relations and photosynthetic properties. This suggests that there is little plasticity in these aspects of plant anatomy in these taxa, and that phenotypic plasticity in leaf traits may not facilitate the acclimation of Amazonian trees to the predicted future reductions in dry season water availability.

Dataset Information

Drought re-routes soil microbial carbon metabolism towards emission of volatile metabolites in an artificial tropical rainforest.

Publications

Drought re-routes soil microbial carbon metabolism towards emission of volatile metabolites in an artificial tropical rainforest.

Similar Datasets

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