Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Danielle L. Rupp, Louis J. Lamit, Stephen M. Techtmann, Evan S. Kane, Erik A. Lilleskov, Merritt R. Turetsky
Summary: The study investigated the effects of water table manipulation and plant functional groups on microbiomes in a boreal rich fen, revealing significant impacts of depth, water table treatments, and plant functional groups on microbial and fungal communities. Different microbial communities were influenced by different plant types, while fungal communities were affected by water table treatments.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Eric G. Booth, Steven P. Loheide, David Bart
Summary: This study investigates the impact of the interaction between hydrology and soil properties on vegetation degradation in fens. By developing a model, the research finds that changes in soil hydraulic properties lead to drier conditions and further shifts in fen species composition.
Article
Ecology
Vincent E. J. Jassey, Owen L. Petchey, Philippe Binet, Alexandre Buttler, Genevieve Chiapusio, Fatima Laggoun-Delarue, Daniel Gilbert, Frederic Delarue, Fatima Laggoun-Defarge, Edward A. D. Mitchell, Janna M. Barel
Summary: Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in ecosystem processes and services, especially through their food webs. However, the impact of food web structure on ecosystem functioning is not well understood. In this study, the relationships between different aspects of microbial food web structure and ecosystem functions were investigated in a peatland. The results showed that trophic interactions and increasing connectance, biomass, and energy fluxes played a significant role in enhancing ecosystem functions. These findings highlight the importance of considering food web structure and energy flows in understanding biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Civil
Zixuan Zhou, Yunqiang Wang, Ruijie Li, Lijun Qi, Yali Zhao, Yuting Xu, Yongping Tong, Jianbei Huang
Summary: Climate change has an impact on soil water content, especially in dryland ecosystems like the Chinese Loess Plateau. This study conducted a large experiment to assess the effects of precipitation changes on dried soil layers (DSLs) and found that these changes have important implications for the sustainable development management of drylands.
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Muh Taufik, T. W. Marliana, Awaluddin, Abdul Karim Mukharomah, Budiman Minasny
Summary: This article presents daily groundwater depth data of peatlands in Indonesia and provides experimental data on soil water retention. The datasets are crucial for studying hydrology modeling and peat fire mitigation actions.
Article
Forestry
Jerzy Jonczak, Lidia Oktaba, Edyta Pawlowicz, Aleksandra Chojnacka, Edyta Regulska, Sandra Slowinska, Izabella Olejniczak, Jaroslaw Oktaba, Boguslawa Kruczkowska, Marek Kondras, Urszula Jankiewicz, Elzbieta Wojcik-Gront
Summary: A chronosequence approach was used to study the effects of silver birch succession on soil organic matter (SOM). The results showed dynamic changes in the stock and quality of SOM during the birch succession. The transition from arable field to fallow did not significantly affect the SOM content or pool in the A horizon, but it did alter its composition and structure. The introduction of silver birch led to rapid losses in SOM content and stock in the A horizon.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Anna Sytiuk, Samuel Hamard, Regis Cereghino, Ellen Dorrepaal, Honorine Geissel, Martin Kuttim, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Eeva Stiina Tuittila, Vincent E. J. Jassey
Summary: In this study, a reciprocal transplant experiment was conducted along a climate gradient in Europe to investigate the effects of climate warming on the seasonality of metabolites produced by Sphagnum mosses and the consequences for peatland carbon uptake. The results showed that Sphagnum species exhibited consistent responses to warming, with shifts in their primary or secondary metabolites according to seasons. These shifts were also correlated with changes in gross ecosystem productivity, particularly in spring and autumn. The findings highlight the plasticity of plant metabolites and their ability to impact carbon processes in ecosystems.
Article
Forestry
Jerzy Jonczak, Lidia Oktaba, Aleksandra Chojnacka, Edyta Pawlowicz, Boguslawa Kruczkowska, Jaroslaw Oktaba, Sandra Slowinska
Summary: The study evaluated the importance of litterfall in the biogeochemical cycling of various elements in silver birch stands in Poland. The litterfall production and nutrient contents were analyzed, and it was found that litterfall was rich in nutrients compared to other tree species in temperate climatic zones. The study also showed that silver birch retranslocates certain elements from senescing leaves and accumulates others.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Stefan Geisen, Enrique Lara, Edward Mitchell
Summary: Soil protists are being increasingly studied due to their diversity and importance in ecosystems, but many of these studies lack depth in knowledge and use incorrect terms and interpretations. This paper aims to help non-experts avoid common errors in studying soil protists, providing suggestions for appropriate terms and highlighting challenges in interpreting data. It warns against relying on incomplete reference databases and drawing causal inferences without experimental confirmation and understanding of taxa biology. The authors envision this work to contribute to a better understanding of soil ecology by facilitating the inclusion of protists in ecological analyses.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Guillaume Lentendu, Estelle P. Bruni, Claudine Ah-Peng, Junichi Fujinuma, Yasuhiro Kubota, Juan Lorite, Julio Penas, Shuyin Huang, Dominique Strasberg, Pascal Vittoz, Edward A. D. Mitchell
Summary: By using a filtration-sedimentation method, we improved the recovery of soil protist environmental DNA while reducing the co-extraction of non-target organisms. The method showed a 2-3 fold enrichment in shelled protists, with a decrease in fungi and plants. The findings suggest that this method can significantly enhance the resolution of soil protist diversity estimation in eDNA metabarcoding studies.
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES
(2023)
Article
Economics
Christian At, Daniel Gilbert, Lionel Thomas
Summary: This paper examines the optimal subsidy for organic conversion given by regulators to farmers facing adverse selection. It takes into account farmers' private information about their intrinsic motivation for organic farming. The study finds that the optimal subsidy remains constant within the range of farmers' revenue. As the profit gap between organic and traditional farming narrows, the optimal subsidy should decrease. While promoting organic farming to enhance societal acceptability positively impacts the proportion of land conversion, the promotion of both organic farming among farmers and the demand for organic products may have ambiguous effects leading to a decrease in the number of conversions.
REVUE D ECONOMIE POLITIQUE
(2023)
Article
Agronomy
Patryk Poczta, Marek Urbaniak, Torsten Sachs, Kamila M. Harenda, Agnieszka Klarzynska, Radoslaw Juszczak, Dirk Schuttemeyer, Bartosz Czernecki, Anna Kryszak, Bogdan H. Chojnicki
Summary: Peatlands are important in storing soil carbon for long periods of time. This study focused on assessing the CO2 balances of a temperate peatland and the factors affecting these fluxes. The peatland was found to be a CO2 sink, but with extreme variations in different years. Seasonal data showed stronger correlations with biophysical variables than annual fluxes. Additionally, warmer spring and hotter summer temperatures were found to have different impacts on net ecosystem production. The study suggests that global warming negatively affects CO2 balances in temperate peatlands.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Vincent E. J. Jassey, Owen L. Petchey, Philippe Binet, Alexandre Buttler, Genevieve Chiapusio, Fatima Laggoun-Delarue, Daniel Gilbert, Frederic Delarue, Fatima Laggoun-Defarge, Edward A. D. Mitchell, Janna M. Barel
Summary: Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in ecosystem processes and services, especially through their food webs. However, the impact of food web structure on ecosystem functioning is not well understood. In this study, the relationships between different aspects of microbial food web structure and ecosystem functions were investigated in a peatland. The results showed that trophic interactions and increasing connectance, biomass, and energy fluxes played a significant role in enhancing ecosystem functions. These findings highlight the importance of considering food web structure and energy flows in understanding biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Alexandre Buttler, Luca Bragazza, Fatima Laggoun-Defarge, Sebastien Gogo, Marie-Laure Toussaint, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Bogdan H. H. Chojnicki, Michal Slowinski, Sandra Slowinska, Malgorzata Zielinska, Monika Reczuga, Jan Barabach, Katarzyna Marcisz, Lukasz Lamentowicz, Kamila Harenda, Elena Lapshina, Daniel Gilbert, Rodolphe Schlaepfer, Vincent E. J. Jassey
Summary: Changes in water table and temperature have significant effects on peatland vegetation, with a decrease in Sphagnum mosses and an increase in vascular plants as the water table lowers and temperatures rise. Experimental results show that water table changes have a greater impact on vegetation compared to warming temperatures.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Shuyin Huang, Guillaume Lentendu, Junichi Fujinuma, Takayuki Shiono, Yasuhiro Kubota, Edward A. D. Mitchell
Summary: The development of high-throughput sequencing of environmental DNA has facilitated the study of soil microbial diversity patterns. This study compared two sampling approaches for soil protists along an elevation gradient in Japan and found that sampling a single plot per elevation band was sufficient to estimate soil micro-eukaryotic diversity patterns along elevation gradients.
Article
Soil Science
Janna M. Barel, Owen L. Petchey, Abir Ghaffouli, Vincent E. J. Jassey
Summary: Microbial trophic interactions are important for understanding ecosystem functioning, but observing predation is challenging. This study demonstrates that machine learning algorithms can successfully predict microbial feeding links based on species traits and taxonomy. The model trained with the boosted regression trees algorithm performed best in predicting feeding links, and the predictions were robust against faulty predictors and new taxa. By combining traditional observations and DNA-based sampling strategies, machine learning can help study microbial food webs and soil biodiversity along ecological gradients.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Hugo Sentenac, Adeline Loyau, Luca Zoccarato, Vincent E. J. Jassey, Hans-Peter Grossart, Dirk S. Schmeller
Summary: Mountain lakes, which provide clean drinking water to humans, are strongly affected by global change. Benthic biofilms play a crucial role in maintaining water quality, but little is known about the effects of global change on mountain biofilm communities. By analyzing metabarcoding data and climatic and environmental data, this study reveals significant shifts in the composition and decline in biodiversity of prokaryotic and micro-eukaryotic biofilm communities in Pyrenean lakes from 2016 to 2020.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tom W. N. Walker, Franziska Schrodt, Pierre-Marie Allard, Emmanuel Defossez, Vincent E. J. Jassey, Meredith C. Schuman, Jake M. Alexander, Oliver Baines, Virginie Baldy, Richard D. Bardgett, Pol Capdevila, Phyllis D. Coley, Nicole M. van Dam, Bruno David, Patrice Descombes, Maria-Jose Endara, Catherine Fernandez, Dale Forrister, Albert Gargallo-Garriga, Gaetan Glauser, Sue Marr, Steffen Neumann, Loic Pellissier, Kristian Peters, Sergio Rasmann, Ute Roessner, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Jordi Sardans, Wolfram Weckwerth, Jean-Luc Wolfender, Josep Penuelas
Summary: The metabolome, which forms the biochemical basis of plant form and function, shows macroecological variation across the plant kingdom. Using the plant functional trait concept, this study reveals that plants vary on two major axes of leaf metabolic specialization. The metabolome expands the functional trait concept by providing additional axes of metabolic specialization for examining plant form and function.