Microbial biodiversity contributes to soil carbon release: a case study on fire disturbed boreal forests.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities often possess enormous diversity, raising questions about whether this diversity drives ecosystem functioning, especially the influence of diversity on soil decomposition and respiration. Although functional redundancy is widely observed in soil microorganisms, evidence that species occupy distinct metabolic niches has also emerged. In this paper, we found that apart from the environmental variables, increases in microbial diversity, notably bacterial diversity, lead to an increase in soil C emissions. This was demonstrated using structural equation modelling (SEM), linking soil respiration with naturally differing levels of soil physio-chemical properties, vegetation coverage, and microbial diversity after fire disturbance. Our SEMs also revealed that models includin

SUBMITTER: Zhou X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9303362 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature