TY - JOUR
T1 - Seasonal effects on microbial community structure and nitrogen dynamics in temperate forest soil
AU - Yokobe, Tomohiro
AU - Hyodo, Fujio
AU - Tokuchi, Naoko
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: We thank Kazuo Isobe for technical support and advice on the 15N isotopic dilution method, the members of Soil Science Laboratory, the University of Tokyo for technical help, and Takahito Yoshioka for useful comments and suggestions. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (No. 15H04515).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors.
PY - 2018/3/19
Y1 - 2018/3/19
N2 - The soil microbial community and nitrogen (N) dynamics change seasonally due to several factors. The microbial community structure (MCS) can regulate N dynamics. However, there is insufficient information on seasonal changes in MCS and the relationship between MCS and N dynamics. We investigated MCS and N dynamics in forest soils with two different fertilities throughout a year. MCS, measured with phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, showed a consistent seasonal trend, regardless of the fertility. Microbial indices (particularly the Saturated-/monounsaturated-PLFA ratio; Sat/mono) indicated a major PLFA shift among seasons, with temperature likely the most important factor. The fungal-/bacterial-PLFA ratio in the dormant season (December-April) was approximately 1.3 times greater than in the growing season (June-November). The trend in N dynamics showed that in summer (June-August), the gross N mineralization potential was greater than immobilization, whereas in winter (December-April), immobilization was dominant. The net mineralization potential in the growing season was approximately 1.6 times higher than in the dormant season. Moreover, a relationship was found between Sat/mono andNtransformation potentials. We highlight the microbial sensitivity to seasonal dynamics which can be associated with temperature, as well as carbon and N dynamics.
AB - The soil microbial community and nitrogen (N) dynamics change seasonally due to several factors. The microbial community structure (MCS) can regulate N dynamics. However, there is insufficient information on seasonal changes in MCS and the relationship between MCS and N dynamics. We investigated MCS and N dynamics in forest soils with two different fertilities throughout a year. MCS, measured with phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, showed a consistent seasonal trend, regardless of the fertility. Microbial indices (particularly the Saturated-/monounsaturated-PLFA ratio; Sat/mono) indicated a major PLFA shift among seasons, with temperature likely the most important factor. The fungal-/bacterial-PLFA ratio in the dormant season (December-April) was approximately 1.3 times greater than in the growing season (June-November). The trend in N dynamics showed that in summer (June-August), the gross N mineralization potential was greater than immobilization, whereas in winter (December-April), immobilization was dominant. The net mineralization potential in the growing season was approximately 1.6 times higher than in the dormant season. Moreover, a relationship was found between Sat/mono andNtransformation potentials. We highlight the microbial sensitivity to seasonal dynamics which can be associated with temperature, as well as carbon and N dynamics.
KW - Gross nitrogen transformations
KW - Nitrogen dynamics
KW - PLFA
KW - Seasons
KW - Soil microbial communities
KW - Temperature
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U2 - 10.3390/f9030153
DO - 10.3390/f9030153
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85044132481
SN - 1999-4907
VL - 9
JO - Forests
JF - Forests
IS - 3
M1 - 153
ER -