Biology subjects

Todman, L.

Publications and source records attributed to Todman, L..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Legacy of warming and cover crops on the response of soil microbial function to repeated drying and rewetting cycles

The response of soils to extreme weather events will become increasingly important in the future as more frequent and severe floods and droughts are expected to subject soils to drying and rewetting cycles as a result of climate change. These extreme events will be experienced against a backdrop of overall warming. However, farmers are adopting cover cropping as a sustainable management practice to increase soil organic matter, benefit soil health, and to increase the resilience of soils to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. We examined the legacy of warming and cover crops on the response of soil microbial function to repeated drying and rewetting cycles. We introduced open top chambers to warm the soil surface of a field plot experiment in which cover crops (single species monocultures and 4-species polycultures) were grown over the summer after harvest and before planting of autumn sown cash crops in a cereal rotation. Soil samples were collected from warmed and ambient areas of the experimental plots in spring, before harvesting the cereal crop. We quantified respiration (a measure of soil microbial function) with high-frequency CO2 flux measurements after 0, 1, 2, 4, or 8 wet/dry cycles imposed in the laboratory and the addition of barley grass powder substrate at a ratio of 10 mg g-1 soil. Cover crop mixtures created a negative legacy effect in the soil which resulted in lower cumulative substrate induced respiration than expected from the average of the same species grown in monoculture. Repeated drying and rewetting cycles increased the cumulative substrate induced respiration rate observed, suggesting that repeated perturbations selected for a community adapted to processing the barley shoot powder more quickly. This adaptation may have resulted in a greater osmolyte production or reacquisition by microorganisms exposed to repeated drought events. Osmolytes are rapidly metabolised upon re-wetting and may have primed the decomposition of the barley shoot powder to a greater extent in soils previously exposed to drying and rewetting cycles. When we calculated the cumulative respiration after 8 wet/dry cycles, relative to cumulative respiration after 0 wet/dry cycles (which we infer represents the extent to which microbial communities adapted to repeated drying and rewetting cycles) our data revealed that the legacy of warming significantly reduced, but cover crops significantly increased, soil microbial community adaptation. This adaptation of the soil microbial community was positively correlated with the concentration of water extractable organic carbon in the soils prior to imposing the drying and rewetting cycles and/or adding the substrate. The availability of labile carbon may have mediated the ability of microorganisms to synthesise osmolytes in response to drought. We conclude that cover crops may enhance the ability of the soil microbial community to adapt to drought events and mitigate the impact of warming, possibly due to the provision of labile organic carbon for the synthesis of osmolytes.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2021

Mixing crop residues induces a synergistic effect on microbial biomass and an additive effect on soil organic matter priming

Applying crop residues is a widely used strategy to increase soil organic matter (SOM) in arable soils because of its recorded effects on increasing microbial biomass and consequently necromass. However, fresh residue inputs could also "prime" the decomposition of native SOM, resulting in accelerated SOM depletion and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Increasing the botanical diversity of the crops grown in arable systems has been promoted to increase the delivery of multiple ecological functions, including increasing soil microbial biomass and SOM. Whether mixtures of fresh residues from different crops grown in polyculture contribute to soil carbon (C) pools to a greater extent than would be expected from applying individual residues (i.e., the mixture produces a non-additive synergistic effect) has not been systematically tested and is currently unknown. In this study, we used 13C isotope labelled cover crop residues (i.e., buckwheat, clover, radish, and sunflower) to track the fate of plant residue-derived C and C derived from the priming of SOM in treatments comprising a quaternary mixture of the residues and the average effect of the four individual residues one day after residue incorporation in a laboratory microcosm experiment. Our results indicate that, despite all treatments receiving the same amount of plant residue-derived C (1 mg-1 C g soil), the total microbial biomass in the treatment receiving the residue mixture was significantly greater, by 26% (3.69 {micro}g-1 C g), than the average microbial biomass observed in treatments receiving the four individual components of the mixture one day after applying crop residues. The greater microbial biomass C in the quaternary mixture, compared to average of the individual residue treatments, that can be attributed directly to the plant residue applied was also significantly greater, by 132% (3.61 {micro}g-1 C g). However, there was no evidence that the mixture resulted in any more priming of native SOM than average priming observed in the individual residue treatments. The soil microbial community structure, assessed using phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, was significantly (P < 0.001) different in the soil receiving the residue mixture, compared to the average structures of the communities in soil receiving four individual residues. Differences in the biomass of fungi, general bacteria, and Gram-positive bacteria were responsible for the observed synergistic effect of crop residue mixtures on total microbial biomass and residue-derived microbial biomass, especially biomarkers 16:0, 18:2{omega}6 and 18:3{omega}3. Our study demonstrates that applying a mixture of crop residues increases soil microbial biomass to a greater extent than would be expected from applying individual residues and that this occurs either due to faster decomposition of the crop residues or greater carbon use efficiency (CUE), rather than priming the decomposition of native SOM. Therefore, growing crop polycultures (e.g., cover crop mixtures) and incorporating mixtures of the resulting crop residues into the soil could be an effective method to increase microbial biomass and ultimately C stocks in arable soils.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2021

Cover crop residue diversity enhances microbial activity and biomass with additive effects on microbial structure

Cover crops have been widely used in agroecosystems to improve soil fertility and environmental sustainability. The decomposition of cover crop residues can have further effects on belowground communities and their activity, which is important for a series of soil functions (e.g., nutrient cycling and organic matter decomposition). We tested the effect of plant residues from a range of cover crop species on soil microbial activity and community assemblage. We predicted that cover crop residues would alter the soil microbial community and that a greater diversity of residues would enhance microbial decomposition. In an incubation study, we assessed the effect of crop residue diversity on microbial activity (soil respiration) and its consequent effects on microbial community composition (PLFA). We used either a biodiverse mixture of four cover crop residues (buckwheat, clover, sunflower and radish) or an equal mass of the residues of each of the individual species. The diverse mixture of cover crop residues had a significantly (P < 0.05) greater soil respiration rate, by 57.61 {micro}g C g-1 h-1, than the average of the four individual residues, but did not have a significantly different soil microbial biomass or microbial community structure. This finding could be attributed to a greater diversity of organic resources increasing the number biochemical niches, and hence activating dormant microbial communities to increase microbial activity without affecting microbial biomass or community composition. Greater respiration from similar microbial biomasses suggests that microbial activity might be more efficient after a more diverse substrate input. This study confirms the positive impact of cover crop residues on soil microbial biomass and activity and highlights that mixtures of cover crop residues may deliver enhanced soil functions beyond the sum of individual cover crop residues.

microbiology↗