Decreased growth of wild soil microbes after 15 years of transplant-induced warming in a montane meadow.

ABSTRACT: The carbon stored in soil exceeds that of plant biomass and atmospheric carbon and its stability can impact global climate. Growth of decomposer microorganisms mediates both the accrual and loss of soil carbon. Growth is sensitive to temperature and given the vast biological diversity of soil microorganisms, the response of decomposer growth rates to warming may be strongly idiosyncratic, varying among taxa, making ecosystem predictions difficult. Here, we show that 15 years of warming by transplanting plant-soil mesocosms down in elevation, strongly reduced the growth rates of soil microorganisms, measured in the field using undisturbed soil. The magnitude of the response to warming varied among microbial taxa. However, the direction of the response-reduced growth-was universal and warmin

SUBMITTER: Purcell AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9293287 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature