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Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe. / Leff, Jonathan W.; Jones, Stuart E.; Prober, Suzanne M. et al.
In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 112, No. 35, 01.09.2015, p. 10967-10972.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Leff, JW, Jones, SE, Prober, SM, Barberán, A, Borer, ET, Firn, JL, Harpole, WS, Hobbie, SE, Hofmockel, KS, Knops, JMH, Mcculley, RL, La Pierre, K, Risch, AC, Seabloom, EW, Schütz, M, Steenbock, C, Stevens, CJ & Fierer, N 2015, 'Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 112, no. 35, pp. 10967-10972. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508382112

APA

Leff, J. W., Jones, S. E., Prober, S. M., Barberán, A., Borer, E. T., Firn, J. L., Harpole, W. S., Hobbie, S. E., Hofmockel, K. S., Knops, J. M. H., Mcculley, R. L., La Pierre, K., Risch, A. C., Seabloom, E. W., Schütz, M., Steenbock, C., Stevens, C. J., & Fierer, N. (2015). Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(35), 10967-10972. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1508382112

Vancouver

Leff JW, Jones SE, Prober SM, Barberán A, Borer ET, Firn JL et al. Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015 Sept 1;112(35):10967-10972. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1508382112

Author

Leff, Jonathan W. ; Jones, Stuart E. ; Prober, Suzanne M. et al. / Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe. In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2015 ; Vol. 112, No. 35. pp. 10967-10972.

Bibtex

@article{07e3aead603c4bada862ded2c7783730,
title = "Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe",
abstract = "Soil microorganisms are critical to ecosystem functioning and the maintenance of soil fertility. However, despite global increases in the inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to ecosystems due to human activities, we lack a predictive understanding of how microbial communities respond to elevated nutrient inputs across environmental gradients. Here we used high-throughput sequencing of marker genes to elucidate the responses of soil fungal, archaeal, and bacterial communities using an N and P addition experiment replicated at 25 globally distributed grassland sites. We also sequenced metagenomes from a subset of the sites to determine how the functional attributes of bacterial communities change in response to elevated nutrients. Despite strong compositional differences across sites, microbial communities shifted in a consistent manner with N or P additions, and the magnitude of these shifts was related to the magnitude of plant community responses to nutrient inputs. Mycorrhizal fungi and methanogenic archaea decreased in relative abundance with nutrient additions, as did the relative abundances of oligotrophic bacterial taxa. The metagenomic data provided additional evidence for this shift in bacterial life history strategies because nutrient additions decreased the average genome sizes of the bacterial community members and elicited changes in the relative abundances of representative functional genes. Our results suggest that elevated N and P inputs lead to predictable shifts in the taxonomic and functional traits of soil microbial communities, including increases in the relative abundances of faster-growing, copiotrophic bacterial taxa, with these shifts likely to impact belowground ecosystems worldwide. ",
keywords = "soil bacteria, soil fungi, shotgun metagenomics, soil ecology, fertilization",
author = "Leff, {Jonathan W.} and Jones, {Stuart E.} and Prober, {Suzanne M.} and Albert Barber{\'a}n and Borer, {Elizabeth T.} and Firn, {Jennifer L.} and Harpole, {W. Stanley} and Hobbie, {Sarah E.} and Hofmockel, {Kirsten S.} and Knops, {Johannes M. H.} and Mcculley, {Rebecca L.} and {La Pierre}, Kimberly and Risch, {Anita C.} and Seabloom, {Eric W.} and Martin Sch{\"u}tz and Christopher Steenbock and Stevens, {Carly J.} and Noah Fierer",
year = "2015",
month = sep,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1073/pnas.1508382112",
language = "English",
volume = "112",
pages = "10967--10972",
journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",
issn = "0027-8424",
publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",
number = "35",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Consistent responses of soil microbial communities to elevated nutrient inputs in grasslands across the globe

AU - Leff, Jonathan W.

AU - Jones, Stuart E.

AU - Prober, Suzanne M.

AU - Barberán, Albert

AU - Borer, Elizabeth T.

AU - Firn, Jennifer L.

AU - Harpole, W. Stanley

AU - Hobbie, Sarah E.

AU - Hofmockel, Kirsten S.

AU - Knops, Johannes M. H.

AU - Mcculley, Rebecca L.

AU - La Pierre, Kimberly

AU - Risch, Anita C.

AU - Seabloom, Eric W.

AU - Schütz, Martin

AU - Steenbock, Christopher

AU - Stevens, Carly J.

AU - Fierer, Noah

PY - 2015/9/1

Y1 - 2015/9/1

N2 - Soil microorganisms are critical to ecosystem functioning and the maintenance of soil fertility. However, despite global increases in the inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to ecosystems due to human activities, we lack a predictive understanding of how microbial communities respond to elevated nutrient inputs across environmental gradients. Here we used high-throughput sequencing of marker genes to elucidate the responses of soil fungal, archaeal, and bacterial communities using an N and P addition experiment replicated at 25 globally distributed grassland sites. We also sequenced metagenomes from a subset of the sites to determine how the functional attributes of bacterial communities change in response to elevated nutrients. Despite strong compositional differences across sites, microbial communities shifted in a consistent manner with N or P additions, and the magnitude of these shifts was related to the magnitude of plant community responses to nutrient inputs. Mycorrhizal fungi and methanogenic archaea decreased in relative abundance with nutrient additions, as did the relative abundances of oligotrophic bacterial taxa. The metagenomic data provided additional evidence for this shift in bacterial life history strategies because nutrient additions decreased the average genome sizes of the bacterial community members and elicited changes in the relative abundances of representative functional genes. Our results suggest that elevated N and P inputs lead to predictable shifts in the taxonomic and functional traits of soil microbial communities, including increases in the relative abundances of faster-growing, copiotrophic bacterial taxa, with these shifts likely to impact belowground ecosystems worldwide.

AB - Soil microorganisms are critical to ecosystem functioning and the maintenance of soil fertility. However, despite global increases in the inputs of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to ecosystems due to human activities, we lack a predictive understanding of how microbial communities respond to elevated nutrient inputs across environmental gradients. Here we used high-throughput sequencing of marker genes to elucidate the responses of soil fungal, archaeal, and bacterial communities using an N and P addition experiment replicated at 25 globally distributed grassland sites. We also sequenced metagenomes from a subset of the sites to determine how the functional attributes of bacterial communities change in response to elevated nutrients. Despite strong compositional differences across sites, microbial communities shifted in a consistent manner with N or P additions, and the magnitude of these shifts was related to the magnitude of plant community responses to nutrient inputs. Mycorrhizal fungi and methanogenic archaea decreased in relative abundance with nutrient additions, as did the relative abundances of oligotrophic bacterial taxa. The metagenomic data provided additional evidence for this shift in bacterial life history strategies because nutrient additions decreased the average genome sizes of the bacterial community members and elicited changes in the relative abundances of representative functional genes. Our results suggest that elevated N and P inputs lead to predictable shifts in the taxonomic and functional traits of soil microbial communities, including increases in the relative abundances of faster-growing, copiotrophic bacterial taxa, with these shifts likely to impact belowground ecosystems worldwide.

KW - soil bacteria

KW - soil fungi

KW - shotgun metagenomics

KW - soil ecology

KW - fertilization

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1508382112

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1508382112

M3 - Journal article

VL - 112

SP - 10967

EP - 10972

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

SN - 0027-8424

IS - 35

ER -