Pedogenic controls of soil organic carbon stocks and stability beneath montane Norway spruce forests along a precipitation gradient
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PROVIDER: S-EPMC10632701 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Altitudinal gradients provide valuable information about the effects of environmental variables on changes in species richness and composition as well as the distribution of below ground fungal communities. Since most knowledge in this respect has been gathered on aboveground communities, we focused our study towards the characterization of belowground fungal communities associated with two different ages of Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees along an altitudinal gradient. By sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region on the Illumina platform, we investigated the fungal communities in a floristically and geologically relatively well explored forest on the slope of Mt. Iseler of the Bavarian Alps. From fine roots and rhizosphere of a total of 90 of Norway spruce trees from 18 plots we detected 1285 taxa, with a range of 167 to 506 (average 377) taxa per plot. Fungal taxa are distributed over 96 different orders belonging to the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Chrytridiomycota, Glomeromycota, and Mucoromycota. Overall the Agaricales (438 taxa) and Tremellales (81 taxa) belonging to the Basidiomycota and the Hypocreales (65 spp.) and Helotiales (61 taxa) belonging to the Ascomycota represented the taxon richest orders. The evaluation of our multivariate generalized mixed models indicate that the altitude has a significant influence on the composition of the fungal communities (p < 0.003) and that tree age determines community diversity (p < 0.05). A total of 47 ecological guilds were detected, of which the ectomycorrhizal and saprophytic guilds were the most taxon-rich. Our ITS amplicon Illumina sequencing approach allowed us to characterize a high fungal community diversity that would not be possible to capture with fruiting body surveys alone. We conclude that it is an invaluable tool for diverse monitoring tasks and inventorying biodiversity, especially in the detection of microorganisms developing very ephemeral and/or inconspicuous fruiting bodies or lacking them all together. Results suggest that the altitude mainly influences the community composition, whereas fungal diversity becomes higher in mature/older trees. Finally, we demonstrate that novel techniques from bacterial microbiome analyses are also useful for studying fungal diversity and community structure in a DNA metabarcoding approach, but that incomplete reference sequence databases so far limit effective identification.
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Project description:Tropical montane forests (TMFs) play an important role as a carbon reservoir at a global scale. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive understanding on the variation in carbon storage across TMF compartments [namely aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB), and soil organic matter] along altitudinal and environmental gradients and their potential trade-offs. This study aims to: 1) understand how carbon stocks vary along altitudinal gradients in Andean TMFs, and; 2) determine the influence of climate, particularly precipitation seasonality, on the distribution of carbon stocks across different forest compartments. The study was conducted in sixty 0.1 ha plots along two altitudinal gradients at the Podocarpus National Park (Ecuador) and Río Abiseo National Park (Peru). At each plot, we calculated the amount of carbon in AGB (i.e. aboveground carbon stock, AGC), BGB (i.e. belowground carbon stock, BGC), and soil organic matter (i.e. soil organic carbon stock, SOC). The mean total carbon stock was 244.76 ± 80.38 Mg ha-1 and 211.51 ± 46.95 Mg ha-1 in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian plots, respectively. Although AGC, BGC, and SOC showed different partitioning patterns along the altitudinal gradient both in Ecuador and Peru, total carbon stock did not change with altitude in either site. The combination of annual mean temperature and precipitation seasonality explained differences in the observed patterns of carbon stocks across forest compartments between the two sites. This study suggests that the greater precipitation seasonality of colder, higher altitudes may promote faster turnover rates of organic matter and nutrients and, consequently, less accumulation of SOC but greater AGC and BGC, compared to those sites with lesser precipitation seasonality. Our results demonstrate the capacity of TMFs to store substantial amounts of carbon and suggest the existence of a trade-off in carbon stocks among forest compartments, which could be partly driven by differences in precipitation seasonality, especially under the colder temperatures of high altitudes.
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Project description:Current research on the influence of environmental and physicochemical factors in shaping the soil bacterial structure has seldom been approached from a pedological perspective. We studied the bacterial communities of eight soils selected along a pedogenic gradient at the local scale in a Mediterranean calcareous mountain (Sierra de María, SE Spain). The results showed that the relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Canditate division WPS-1, and Armatimonadetes decreased whereas that of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria increased from the less-developed soils (Leptosol) to more-developed soils (Luvisol). This bacterial distribution pattern was also positively correlated with soil-quality parameters such as organic C, water-stable aggregates, porosity, moisture, and acidity. In addition, at a lower taxonomic level, the abundance of Acidobacteria Gp4, Armatimonadetes_gp4, Solirubrobacter, Microvirga, Terrimonas, and Nocardioides paralleled soil development and quality. Therefore, our work indicates that the composition of bacterial populations changes with pedogenesis, which could be considered a factor influencing the communities according to the environmental and physicochemical conditions during the soil formation.
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Project description:As shrubs and trees are advancing into tundra ecosystems due to climate warming, litter input and microclimatic conditions affecting litter decomposition are likely to change. To assess how the upward shift of high-latitude treeline ecotones might affect soil organic carbon stocks (SOC), we sampled SOC stocks in the surface layers of 14 mountain birch forest-tundra ecotones along a 500 km latitudinal transect in northern Norway. Our objectives were to examine: (1) how SOC stocks differ between forest and tundra soils, and (2) the relative role of topography, vegetation and climate in explaining variability in SOC stock sizes. Overall, forest soils had higher SOC stocks (median: 2.01 kg m-2) than tundra soils (median: 1.33 kg m-2). However, SOC storage varied greatly within and between study sites. Two study sites had higher SOC stocks in the tundra than in the nearby forest, five sites had higher SOC stocks in the forest, and seven sites did not show differences in SOC stocks between forest and tundra soils. Thus, our results suggest that an upwards forest expansion does not necessarily lead to a change in SOC storage at all sites. Further, a partial least-squares regression (PLSR) model indicated that elevation, temperature, and slope may be promising indicators for SOC stock size at high-latitude treelines. Precipitation and vegetation were in comparison only of minor importance.
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Project description:Natural forests in inland China are generally distributed in montane area and secondary due to a semi-arid climate and past anthropogenic disturbances. However, quantification of carbon (C) stock in these forests and the role of altitude in determining C storage and its partition among ecosystem components are unclear. We sampled 54 stands of three secondary coniferous forests (Larix principis-rupprechtii (LP) forest, Picea meyerii (PM) forest and Pinus tabulaeformis (PT) forest) on Loess Plateau in an altitudinal range of 1200-2700m a.s.l. C stocks of tree layer, shrub layer, herb layer, coarse wood debris, forest floor and soil were estimated. We found these forests had relatively high total C stocks. Driven by both higher vegetation and soil C stocks, total C stocks of LP and PM forests in the high altitudinal range were 375.0 and 368.4 t C ha-1 respectively, significantly higher than that of PT forest in the low altitudinal range (230.2 t C ha-1). In addition, understory shrubs accounted for about 20% of total biomass in PT forest. The proportions of vegetation to total C stock were similar among in the three forests (below 45%), so were the proportions of soil C stock (over 54%). Necromass C stocks were also similar among these forests, but their proportions to total C stock were significantly lower in LP and PM forests (1.4% and 1.6%) than in PT forest (3.0%). Across forest types, vegetation biomass and soil C stock simultaneously increased with increasing altitude, causing fairly unchanged C partitioning among ecosystem components along the altitudinal gradient. Soil C stock also increased with altitude in LP and PT forests. Forest floor necromass decreased with increasing altitude across the three forests. Our results suggest the important role of the altitudinal gradient in C sequestration and floor necromass of these three forests in terms of alleviated water conditions and in soil C storage of LP and PM forests in terms of temperature change.
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Project description:Assessment of forest ecosystems and their services is seen as a key action for the advancement of biodiversity objectives, and to inform the development and implementation of related policies and planning. The Azorean forest is important for timber production, the protection of soil and water resources, and for its recreational and aesthetic value. However, its role in carbon accumulation has not been fully addressed. We assessed plant diversity, forest structure and carbon stocks in a gradient of three forest types (Natural Forest-NF; Exotic Woodland-EW and Production Forest-PF) in three of the Azores islands. We used biodiversity indices and found that NF harbored the highest plant diversity levels and PF the lowest. Diversity levels were lower for structural than for taxonomic data, particularly for PF. The highest tree carbon stock was found at EW in one of the islands, while PF consistently exhibited relatively high tree carbon stocks in the three islands. The largest soil carbon stocks were found at EW, while leaf litter carbon stocks were higher at PF. We concluded that NF play a fundamental role as plant diversity hotspots but have lower relevance as carbon stocks what might be associated with montane environmental conditions. PFs provide economic assets and act as carbon sinks, while EWs play a major role as carbon sinks in soil, but also at tree level in the oldest forests.
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Project description:Managed forests are a key component of strategies aimed at tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. Tapping this potential requires a better understanding of the complex, simultaneous effects of forest management on biodiversity, carbon stocks and productivity. Here, we used data of 135 one-hectare plots from southwestern Germany to disentangle the relative influence of gradients of management intensity, carbon stocks and forest productivity on different components of forest biodiversity (birds, bats, insects, plants) and tree-related microhabitats. We tested whether the composition of taxonomic groups varies gradually or abruptly along these gradients. The richness of taxonomic groups was rather insensitive to management intensity, carbon stocks and forest productivity. Despite the low explanatory power of the main predictor variables, forest management had the greatest relative influence on richness of insects and tree-related microhabitats, while carbon stocks influenced richness of bats, birds, vascular plants and pooled taxa. Species composition changed relatively abruptly along the management intensity gradient, while changes along carbon and productivity gradients were more gradual. We conclude that moderate increases in forest management intensity and carbon stocks, within the range of variation observed in our study system, might be compatible with biodiversity and climate mitigation objectives in managed forests.
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