Elevated temperature alters microbial communities, but not decomposition rates, during 3 years of in situ peat decomposition

Spencer W Roth; Natalie A Griffiths; Randall K Kolka; Keith C Oleheiser; Alyssa A Carrell; Dawn M Klingeman; Angela Seibert; Jeffrey P Chanton; Paul J Hanson; Christopher W Schadt

doi:10.1128/msystems.00337-23

Elevated temperature alters microbial communities, but not decomposition rates, during 3 years of in situ peat decomposition

mSystems. 2023 Oct 26;8(5):e0033723. doi: 10.1128/msystems.00337-23. Epub 2023 Oct 11.

Authors

Spencer W Roth¹, Natalie A Griffiths^{2

3}, Randall K Kolka⁴, Keith C Oleheiser^{2

3}, Alyssa A Carrell¹, Dawn M Klingeman¹, Angela Seibert⁵, Jeffrey P Chanton⁶, Paul J Hanson^{2

3}, Christopher W Schadt^{1

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
² Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
³ Climate Change Science Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.
⁴ Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service , Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA.
⁵ Department of Geosciences, Boise State University , Boise, Idaho, USA.
⁶ Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
⁷ Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee , Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.

Abstract

Microbial community changes in response to climate change drivers have the potential to alter the trajectory of important ecosystem functions. In this paper, we show that while microbial communities in peatland systems responded to manipulations of temperature and CO₂ concentrations, these changes were not associated with similar responses in peat decomposition rates over 3 years. It is unclear however from our current studies whether this functional resiliency over 3 years will continue over the longer time scales relevant to peatland ecosystem functions.

Keywords: climate change; microbiome; organic matter decomposition; peatlands.

MeSH terms

Climate Change
Microbiota*
Soil*
Temperature

Substances

Soil

Grants and funding

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)