Higher tree diversity increases soil microbial resistance to drought.

ABSTRACT: Predicted increases in drought frequency and severity may change soil microbial functioning. Microbial resistance and recovery to drought depend on plant community characteristics, among other factors, yet how changes in plant diversity modify microbial drought responses is uncertain. Here, we assessed how repeated drying-rewetting cycles affect soil microbial functioning and whether tree species diversity modifies these effects with a microcosm experiment using soils from different European forests. Our results show that microbial aerobic respiration and denitrification decline under drought but are similar in single and mixed tree species forests. However, microbial communities from mixed forests resist drought better than those from mono-specific forests. This positive tree species mixt

SUBMITTER: Gillespie LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7360603 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature