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Microbial community composition controls carbon flux across litter types in early phase of litter decomposition |
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| Authors: | Marie E Kroeger M Rae DeVan Jaron Thompson Renee Johansen La Verne Gallegos-Graves Deanna Lopez Andreas Runde Thomas Yoshida Brian Munsky Sanna Sevanto Michaeline B N Albright John Dunbar |
| Institution: | 1. Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mailstop M888, Los Alamos, NM, 87545 USA;2. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523 USA;3. Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mailstop M888, Los Alamos, NM, 87545 USA
Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland Mail Centre, Auckland, New Zealand;4. Chemical Diagnostics and Engineering, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mailstop K484, Los Alamos, NM, 87544 USA;5. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523 USA School of Biomedical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523 USA;6. Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mailstop J495, Los Alamos, NM, 87545 USA |
| Abstract: | Leaf litter decomposition is a major carbon input to soil, making it a target for increasing soil carbon storage through microbiome engineering. We expand upon previous findings to show with multiple leaf litter types that microbial composition can drive variation in carbon flow from litter decomposition and specific microbial community features are associated with synonymous patterns of carbon flow among litter types. Although plant litter type selects for different decomposer communities, within a litter type, microbial composition drives variation in the quantity of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) measured at the end of the decomposition period. Bacterial richness was negatively correlated with DOC quantity, supporting our hypothesis that across multiple litter types there are common microbial traits linked to carbon flow patterns. Variation in DOC abundance (i.e. high versus low DOC) driven by microbial composition is tentatively due to differences in bacterial metabolism of labile compounds, rather than catabolism of non-labile substrates such as lignin. The temporal asynchrony of metabolic processes across litter types may be a substantial impediment to discovering more microbial features common to synonymous patterns of carbon flow among litters. Overall, our findings support the concept that carbon flow may be programmed by manipulating microbial community composition. |
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