Cover crops (CC) introduced to reduce leaching of nitrate may also improve soil microbial properties and phosphorus (P) uptake in crops that follow. These effects may depend on soil P status and the quality of the CC residues.
AimOur aim was to quantify the more persistent effects of incorporation of residues of three different CC species on barley growth and P uptake and whether any response in growth and P uptake was related to soil P status and changes in soil microbial properties.
MethodsWe examined the impact of soil P status, CC species, and residue fraction (shoots and/or roots) on the growth of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) and soil microbial properties. Shoot and root residues from three contrasting CC (oats, Avena sativa; corncockle, Agrostemma githago; lupine, Lupinus angustifolius) were incubated for 2 months in soil with low and medium P status. Dry matter yield and P offtake characterized effects of CC residues on barley while phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFAs), and enzyme activity characterized soil microbial properties after barley harvest.
ResultsEffects of shoot residues on barley yield and P offtake appeared neutral or positive and not affected by soil P status, while the effect of root residues appeared negative for medium P soil and neutral for low P soil. With lupine shoot biomass, however, barley yield and P offtake increased in both soils. Neither CC treatments nor soil P status affected the microbial community composition (bacterial and fungal specific PLFAs). Lupine roots increased phosphomonoesterase, and lupine residues generally stimulated microbial abundance (total microbial PLFAs) compared to other CC treatments.
ConclusionWe conclude that the effect of CC residues on the following crop and soil microorganisms depends on soil P status and that lupine had the largest positive impact on barley growth.We determined soil microbial community composition and function in a field experiment in which plant communities of increasing species richness were exposed to factorial elevated CO2 and nitrogen (N) deposition treatments. Because elevated CO2 and N deposition increased plant productivity to a greater extent in more diverse plant assemblages, it is plausible that heterotrophic microbial communities would experience greater substrate availability, potentially increasing microbial activity, and accelerating soil carbon (C) and N cycling. We, therefore, hypothesized that the response of microbial communities to elevated CO2 and N deposition is contingent on the species richness of plant communities. Microbial community composition was determined by phospholipid fatty acid analysis, and function was measured using the activity of key extracellular enzymes involved in litter decomposition. Higher plant species richness, as a main effect, fostered greater microbial biomass, cellulolytic and chitinolytic capacity, as well as the abundance of saprophytic and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Moreover, the effect of plant species richness on microbial communities was significantly modified by elevated CO2 and N deposition. For instance, microbial biomass and fungal abundance increased with greater species richness, but only under combinations of elevated CO2 and ambient N, or ambient CO2 and N deposition. Cellobiohydrolase activity increased with higher plant species richness, and this trend was amplified by elevated CO2. In most cases, the effect of plant species richness remained significant even after accounting for the influence of plant biomass. Taken together, our results demonstrate that plant species richness can directly regulate microbial activity and community composition, and that plant species richness is a significant determinant of microbial response to elevated CO2 and N deposition. The strong positive effect of plant species richness on cellulolytic capacity and microbial biomass indicate that the rates of soil C cycling may decline with decreasing plant species richness.
", "keywords": ["Extracellular Enzymes", "Complementary Resource Use", "Science", "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology", "Grassland Ecosystem", "Phospholipid Fatty Acid (PLFA)", "Global Change", "14. Life underwater", "complimentary resource use", "global change", "580", "2. Zero hunger", "Plant Diversity", "microbial biomass", "Geology and Earth Sciences", "grasslands", "Soil Fungi", "extracellular enzymes", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Microbial Biomass", "Soil C Cycling", "plant diversity", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "FACE (Free-air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment)"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01313.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Global%20Change%20Biology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01313.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01313.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01313.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2007-01-19T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.090", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:16:32Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-04-24", "title": "Microbial Utilisation Of Biochar-Derived Carbon", "description": "Whilst largely considered an inert material, biochar has been documented to contain a small yet significant fraction of microbially available labile organic carbon (C). Biochar addition to soil has also been reported to alter soil microbial community structure, and to both stimulate and retard the decomposition of native soil organic matter (SOM). We conducted a short-term incubation experiment using two (13)C-labelled biochars produced from wheat or eucalypt shoots, which were incorporated in an aridic arenosol to examine the fate of the labile fraction of biochar-C through the microbial community. This was achieved using compound specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs). A proportion of the biologically-available fraction of both biochars was rapidly (within three days) utilised by gram positive bacteria. There was a sharp peak in CO2 evolution shortly after biochar addition, resulting from rapid turnover of labile C components in biochars and through positive priming of native SOM. Our results demonstrate that this CO2 evolution was at least partially microbially mediated, and that biochar application to soil can cause significant and rapid changes in the soil microbial community; likely due to addition of labile C and increases in soil pH.", "keywords": ["Carbon sequestration", "[SDE] Environmental Sciences", "Carbon Sequestration", "Chromatography", " Gas", "Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy", "550", "short term", "[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]", "growth", "black carbon", "Char", "01 natural sciences", "630", "Mass Spectrometry", "c 13 plfa", "Black carbon", "soil organic matter", "Soil Pollutants", "mineralization", "Organic carbon", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "char", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Carbon Isotopes", "decomposition", "wheat straw", "biomass", "organic carbon", "Fatty Acids", "Western Australia", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Carbon Dioxide", "15. Life on land", "540", "pyrolysis", "forest soil", "carbon sequestration", "Carbon", "[SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio]", "Charcoal", "[SDE]Environmental Sciences", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "community structure", "\u00b9\u00b3C-PLFA", "Pyrolysis"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.090"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Science%20of%20The%20Total%20Environment", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.090", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.090", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.03.090"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-11-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.029", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:16:47Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2014-05-15", "title": "Biochar Suppressed The Decomposition Of Organic Carbon In A Cultivated Sandy Loam Soil: A Negative Priming Effect", "description": "Conversion of plant residues to biochar is an attractive strategy for mitigation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and enhancement of carbon (C) storage in soil. However, the effect of biochar application on the decomposition of soil organic C (SOC) as well as its mechanisms is not well understood in the sandy loam soil of North China Plain. We investigated how biochar affected the decomposition of native SOC, using stable \u03b413C isotope analyses by applying biochar produced from corn straw (a C4 plant, \u03b413C\u00a0=\u00a0\u221211.9\u2030) to a sandy loam soil (\u03b413C of SOC\u00a0=\u00a0\u221224.5\u2030) under a long-term C3 crop rotation. The incubation experiment included four treatments: no amendment (Control), biochar amendment (BC, 0.5% of soil mass), inorganic nitrogen (N) amendment (IN, 100\u00a0mg\u00a0N\u00a0kg\u22121) and combined biochar and N amendments (BN). Compared with Control, N amendment significantly (P\u00a0<\u00a00.05) increased total soil CO2 emission, even when combined with biochar amendment. In contrast, biochar alone amendment did not affect total soil CO2 emission significantly. However biochar, even when combined with N amendment, significantly (P\u00a0<\u00a00.05) reduced CO2 emission from native SOC by 64.9\u201368.8%, indicating that biochar inhibited the decomposition of native SOC and the stimulation effect of inorganic N on native SOC degradation, a negative priming effect. N addition immediately stimulated the growth of microorganisms and altered microbial community structure by increasing Gram-positive bacteria compared to Control as measured by phospholipid fatty acid. Biochar amendment did not alter microbial biomass during the 720-h incubation period except at 168 and 720\u00a0h, but significantly (P\u00a0<\u00a00.05) lowered dissolved organic C (DOC) content in soil, primarily due to sorption of DOC by the biochar. Our study suggested that biochar application could effectively reduce the decomposition of native organic C and a potential effective measure for C sequestration in the test soil of the North China Plain.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "negative priming effect", "phospholipid fatty acids", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "dissolved organic carbon", "01 natural sciences", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption", "adsorption", "13. Climate action", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "biochar", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.029"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Soil%20Biology%20and%20Biochemistry", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.029", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.029", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.soilbio.2014.04.029"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-09-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109205", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:16:51Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-10-10", "title": "Beyond PLFA: Concurrent extraction of neutral and glycolipid fatty acids provides new insights into soil microbial communities", "description": "The analysis of phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) is one of the most common methods used to quantify the abundance, and analyse the community structure, of soil microbes. The PLFA extraction method can yield two additional lipid fractions\u2014neutral lipids and glycolipids\u2014which potentially hold additional, valuable information on soil microbial communities. Yet its quantitative sensitivity on complete neutral lipid (NLFA) and glycolipid fatty acid (GLFA) profiles has never been validated. In this study we tested (i) if the high-throughput PLFA method can be expanded to concurrently extract complete NLFA and GLFA profiles, as well as sterols, (ii) whether taxonomic specificities of signature fatty acids are retained across the three lipid fractions in pure culture strains, and (iii) whether NLFAs and GLFAs allow soil-specific fingerprinting to the same extent as PLFA analysis. By adjusting the polarity of chloroform with 2% ethanol for solid phase extraction, pure lipid standards were fully fractionated into neutral lipids, glycolipids, and phospholipids. Sterols eluted in the neutral lipid fraction, and a betaine lipid co-eluted with phospholipids. We found consistent taxonomic specificities of fatty acid markers across the three lipid fractions by analysing pure culture extracts representative of soil microbes. Fatty acid profiles from soil extracts, however, showed stronger differences between PLFAs, NLFAs, and GLFAs than between soil types. This indicates that PLFAs and NLFAs signify different community properties (biomass vs. carbon storage, putatively), and that GLFAs are sensitive markers for community traits which behave differently than PLFAs. Although we consistently found high abundances of characteristic sterols in fungal extracts, the PLFA extraction method only yielded miniscule amounts of ergosterol from soil extracts. We argue that concomitant measurement of fatty acid profiles from all three lipid fractions is a low-effort and potentially information-rich addition to the PLFA method, and discuss its applicability for soil microbial community analyses.", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "2. Zero hunger", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "0303 health sciences", "15. Life on land", "Soil lipids", "03 medical and health sciences", "106026 \u00d6kosystemforschung", "NLFA", "Ergosterol", "Ergosterol; GLFA; NLFA; Phospholipid fatty acids; Soil lipids", "Phospholipid fatty acid", "soil lipids", "Phospholipid fatty acids", "106022 Microbiology", "GLFA", "106026 Ecosystem research"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109205"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Soil%20Biology%20and%20Biochemistry", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109205", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109205", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109205"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-12-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1038/s41396-023-01527-5", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:17:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-10-18", "title": "Community composition and physiological plasticity control microbial carbon storage across natural and experimental soil fertility gradients", "description": "AbstractMany microorganisms synthesise carbon (C)-rich compounds under resource deprivation. Such compounds likely serve as intracellular C-storage pools that sustain the activities of microorganisms growing on stoichiometrically imbalanced substrates, making them potentially vital to the function of ecosystems on infertile soils. We examined the dynamics and drivers of three putative C-storage compounds (neutral lipid fatty acids [NLFAs], polyhydroxybutyrate [PHB], and trehalose) across a natural gradient of soil fertility in eastern Australia. Together, NLFAs, PHB, and trehalose corresponded to 8.5\uffe2\uff80\uff9340% of microbial C and 0.06\uffe2\uff80\uff930.6% of soil organic C. When scaled to \uffe2\uff80\uff9cstructural\uffe2\uff80\uff9d microbial biomass (indexed by polar lipid fatty acids; PLFAs), NLFA and PHB allocation was 2\uffe2\uff80\uff933-times greater in infertile soils derived from ironstone and sandstone than in comparatively fertile basalt- and shale-derived soils. PHB allocation was positively correlated with belowground biological phosphorus (P)-demand, while NLFA allocation was positively correlated with fungal PLFA : bacterial PLFA ratios. A complementary incubation revealed positive responses of respiration, storage, and fungal PLFAs to glucose, while bacterial PLFAs responded positively to PO43-. By comparing these results to a model of microbial C-allocation, we reason that NLFA primarily served the \uffe2\uff80\uff9creserve\uffe2\uff80\uff9d storage mode for C-limited taxa (i.e., fungi), while the variable portion of PHB likely served as \uffe2\uff80\uff9csurplus\uffe2\uff80\uff9d C-storage for P-limited bacteria. Thus, our findings reveal a convergence of community-level processes (i.e., changes in taxonomic composition that underpin reserve-mode storage dynamics) and intracellular mechanisms (e.g., physiological plasticity of surplus-mode storage) that drives strong, predictable community-level microbial C-storage dynamics across gradients of soil fertility and substrate stoichiometry.
Drought periods are projected to become more severe and more frequent in many European regions. While effects of single strong droughts on plant and microbial carbon (C) dynamics have been studied in some detail, impacts of recurrent drought events are still little understood.
We tested whether the legacy of extreme experimental drought affects responses of plant and microbial C and nitrogen (N) turnover to further drought and rewetting. In a mountain grassland, we conducted a 13C pulse\uffe2\uff80\uff90chase experiment during a naturally occurring drought and rewetting event in plots previously exposed to experimental droughts and in ambient controls (AC). After labelling, we traced 13C below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground allocation and incorporation into soil microbes using phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers.
Drought history (DH) had no effects on the standing shoot and fine root plant biomass. However, plants with experimental DH displayed decreased shoot N concentrations and increased fine root N concentrations relative to those in AC. During the natural drought, plants with DH assimilated and allocated less 13C below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground; moreover, fine root respiration was reduced and not fuelled by fresh C compared to plants in AC.
Regardless of DH, microbial biomass remained stable during natural drought and rewetting. Although microbial communities initially differed in their composition between soils with and without DH, they responded to the natural drought and rewetting in a similar way: gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90positive bacteria increased, while fungal and gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90negative bacteria remained stable. In soils with DH, a strongly reduced uptake of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived 13C in microbial biomarkers was observed during the natural drought, pointing to a smaller fraction of active microbes or to a microbial community that is less dependent on plant C.
Synthesis. Drought history can induce changes in above\uffe2\uff80\uff90 vs. below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground plant N concentrations and affect the response of plant C turnover to further droughts and rewetting by decreasing plant C uptake and below\uffe2\uff80\uff90ground allocation. DH does not affect the responses of the microbial community to further droughts and rewetting, but alters microbial functioning, particularly the turnover of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived carbon, during and after further drought periods.
", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "plant-soil (below-ground) interactions", "NITROGEN TURNOVER", "Biomass Allocation", "microbial community composition", "Negibacteria", "drought", "phospholipid fatty acid", "nitrogen", "Microbial community composition", "Plant\u2013Soil (Below\u2010ground) Interactions", "Recovery", "ROOT RESPIRATION", "Plant-soil (below-ground) interactions", "CLIMATE EXTREMES", "C pulse labelling", "Below-ground carbon allocation", "2. Zero hunger", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "0303 health sciences", "SOIL INTERACTIONS", "below-ground carbon allocation", "C-13 pulse labelling", "Grassland", "6. Clean water", "Europe", "Phospholipid", "ORGANIC-MATTER", "Mountain Region", "Posibacteria", "DIOXIDE PULSES", "Phospholipid fatty acid", "106022 Microbiology", "Root/shoot Ratio", "Belowground Biomass", "Ecosystem Resilience", "Nitrogen", "Microbial Community", "Carbon Isotope", "Soil-vegetation Interaction", "recovery", "SUMMER DROUGHT", "03 medical and health sciences", "Rewetting", "Community Composition", "plant\u2013soil (below-ground) interactions", "WATER-STRESS", "resilience", "Drought", "Resilience", "RESILIENCE", "15. Life on land", "Turnover", "Microbial Activity", "13. Climate action", "Fatty Acid", "RESPONSES"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12593"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2745.12593", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2745.12593"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-05-24T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1100/tsw.2001.450", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:19Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2005-03-23", "title": "The Impact Of Long-Term Nitrogen Addition On Microbial Community Composition In Three Hawaiian Forest Soils", "description": "We evaluated the microbial communities in three Hawaiian forest soils along a natural fertility gradient and compared their distinct responses to long-term nitrogen (N) additions. The sites studied have the same elevation, climate, and dominant vegetation, but vary in age of development, and thus in soil nutrient availability and nutrient limitation to plant growth. Fertilized plots at each site have received 100 kg ha year-1N addition for at least 8 years. Soil parameters, water content, pH, and ammonium and nitrate availability differed by site, but not between control and N-addition treatments within a site at the time of sampling. Microbial biomass also varied by site, but was not affected by N addition. In contrast, microbial community composition (measured by phospholipid analysis) varied among sites and between control and N-addition plots within a site. These data suggest that microbial community composition responds to N addition even when plant net primary productivity is limited by nutrients other than N. This may have implications for the behavior of forests impacted by atmospheric N deposition that are considered to be \uffe2\uff80\uff9cnitrogen saturated,\uffe2\uff80\uff9d yet still retain N in the soil.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Technology", "Tropical Climate", "Bacteria", "Nitrogen", "T", "Science", "Q", "R", "Fungi", "Water", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Hawaii", "6. Clean water", "Time", "Trees", "Soil", "Viruses", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biomass", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "Research Article"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Teri C. Balser", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2001.450"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/The%20Scientific%20World%20JOURNAL", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1100/tsw.2001.450", "name": "item", "description": "10.1100/tsw.2001.450", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1100/tsw.2001.450"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2001-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1101/2024.12.02.626346", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:21Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-12-03", "title": "Soil bacterial neutral lipid fatty acids: Markers for carbon storage or necromass?", "description": "AbstractCarbon storage is a common strategy of soil microbes to cope with resource fluctuations. Fungi use neutral lipids (triacylglycerols, TAGs) for storage, which can be quantified via their derived fatty acids (NLFAs). NLFAs specific to bacteria can also be abundant in soils, but are rarely analysed as soil bacteria are assumed to not store TAGs. Instead, bacterial NLFAs are thought to derive from degraded phospholipids (diacylglycerols, DAGs), and thus indicate bacterial necromass, but this interpretation lacks evidence. In this perspective, we synthesise knowledge from the literature and our own experimental results on the origin of soil bacterial NLFAs. In sum, we provide evidence that bacterial NLFAs are predominantly derived from TAGs used for carbon storage: (1) Several pure culture studies provide evidence for TAG production in selected bacterial isolates. (2) Screening of genomes showed that wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltransferases, which mediate the last step of TAG synthesis, are abundant in bacterial isolates from soil, suggesting a widespread genetic capability to produce TAGs. (3) We experimentally created conditions of excess labile carbon by adding isotopically labelled glucose to soil. Glucose-13C was rapidly allocated into bacterial NLFAs, with higher relative enrichment than phospholipid-derived fatty acids, indicating storage. (4) DAGs are not necessarily produced\uffe2\uff80\uff94and may only be intermediate compounds\uffe2\uff80\uff94during phospholipid degradation. We conclude that soil bacterial NLFAs are mainly derived from storage compounds, but a potential contribution from degraded phospholipids needs further validation. Isotopic labelling could resolve this, making NLFAs a valuable biomarker for microbial storage compounds in soil.
HighlightsBacterial NLFAs originate from triacylglycerols (TAGs) or degraded phospholipids
Neutral lipids are not necessarily produced during phospholipid degradation
Soil bacteria have the genetic potential to produce TAGs for storage
Rapid transfer of excess glucose-13C into soil bacterial NLFAs suggests storage
Bacterial NLFAs are markers for carbon storage rather than necromass
Resource control over abundance, structure and functional diversity of soil microbial communities is a key determinant of soil processes and related ecosystem functioning. Copiotrophic organisms tend to be found in environments which are rich in nutrients, particularly carbon, in contrast to oligotrophs, which survive in much lower carbon concentrations.
We hypothesized that microbial biomass, activity and community structure in nutrient\uffe2\uff80\uff90poor soils of an Amazonian rain forest are limited by multiple elements in interaction. We tested this hypothesis with a fertilization experiment by adding C (as cellulose), N (as urea) and P (as phosphate) in all possible combinations to a total of 40 plots of an undisturbed tropical forest in French Guiana.
After 2\uffc2\uffa0years of fertilization, we measured a 47% higher biomass, a 21% increase in substrate\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced respiration rate and a 5\uffe2\uff80\uff90fold higher rate of decomposition of cellulose paper discs of soil microbial communities that grew in P\uffe2\uff80\uff90fertilized plots compared to plots without P fertilization. These responses were amplified with a simultaneous C fertilization suggesting P and C colimitation of soil micro\uffe2\uff80\uff90organisms at our study site.
Moreover, P fertilization modified microbial community structure (PLFAs) to a more copiotrophic bacterial community indicated by a significant decrease in the Gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90positive\uffc2\uffa0:\uffc2\uffa0Gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90negative ratio. The Fungi\uffc2\uffa0:\uffc2\uffa0Bacteria ratio increased in N fertilized plots, suggesting that fungi are relatively more limited by N than bacteria. Changes in microbial community structure did not affect rates of general processes such as glucose mineralization and cellulose paper decomposition. In contrast, community level physiological profiles under P fertilization combined with either C or N fertilization or both differed strongly from all other treatments, indicating functionally different microbial communities.
While P appears to be the most critical from the three major elements we manipulated, the strongest effects were observed in combination with either supplementary C or N addition in support of multiple element control on soil microbial functioning and community structure.
We conclude that the soil microbial community in the studied tropical rain forest and the processes it drives is finely tuned by the relative availability in C, N and P. Any shifts in the relative abundance of these key elements may affect spatial and temporal heterogeneity in microbial community structure, their associated functions and the dynamics of C and nutrients in tropical ecosystems.
", "keywords": ["tropical forest", "2. Zero hunger", "570", "phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA)", "[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "functional significance", "[SDV.EE.IEO] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", " environment/Symbiosis", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "16. Peace & justice", "[SDE.BE] Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "[SDE.MCG] Environmental Sciences/Global Changes", "13. Climate action", "microbial community structure", "ecosystem functioning", "environment/Symbiosis", "[SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", "[SDV.EE.ECO] Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", " environment/Ecosystems", "[SDV.EE.IEO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "multiple resource limitation", "[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology", "phosphorus", "environment/Ecosystems", "soil functioning"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12329"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Functional%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/1365-2435.12329", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/1365-2435.12329", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/1365-2435.12329"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-09-29T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01032.x", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2011-01-11", "title": "Fungal And Bacterial Growth Responses To N Fertilization And Ph In The 150-Year 'Park Grass' Uk Grassland Experiment", "description": "The effects of nitrogen (N) fertilization (0-150 kg N ha\u207b\u00b9 year\u207b\u00b9 since 1865) and pH (3.3-7.4) on fungal and bacterial growth, biomass and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) composition were investigated in grassland soils from the 'Park Grass Experiment', Rothamsted Research, UK. Bacterial growth decreased and fungal growth increased with lower pH, resulting in a 50-fold increase in the relative importance of fungi between pH 7.4 and 3.3. The PLFA-based fungal:bacterial biomass ratio was unchanged between pH 4.5 and 7.4, and decreased only below pH 4.5. Respiration and substrate-induced respiration biomass both decreased three- to fourfold with lower pH, but biomass concentrations estimated using PLFAs were unaffected by pH. N fertilization did not affect bacterial growth and marginally affected fungal growth while PLFA biomass marker concentrations were all reduced by higher N additions. Respiration decreased with higher N application, suggesting a reduced quality of the soil organic carbon. The PLFA composition was strongly affected by both pH and N. A comparison with a pH gradient in arable soil allowed us to generalize the pH effect between systems. There are 30-50-fold increases in the relative importance of fungi between high (7.4-8.3) and low (3.3-4.5) pH with concomitant reductions of respiration by 30-70%.", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "2. Zero hunger", "0303 health sciences", "Bacteria", "Nitrogen", "Fatty Acids", "Fungi", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Carbon Dioxide", "Hydrogen-Ion Concentration", "15. Life on land", "Poaceae", "Microbiology", "United Kingdom", "03 medical and health sciences", "Soil", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biomass", "Fertilizers", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01032.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/FEMS%20Microbiology%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01032.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01032.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.01032.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2011-01-17T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03321.x", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:49Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2010-06-11", "title": "Belowground Carbon Allocation By Trees Drives Seasonal Patterns Of Extracellular Enzyme Activities By Altering Microbial Community Composition In A Beech Forest Soil", "description": "*Plant seasonal cycles alter carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) availability for soil microbes, which may affect microbial community composition and thus feed back on microbial decomposition of soil organic material and plant N availability. The temporal dynamics of these plant-soil interactions are, however, unclear. *Here, we experimentally manipulated the C and N availability in a beech forest through N fertilization or tree girdling and conducted a detailed analysis of the seasonal pattern of microbial community composition and decomposition processes over 2 yr. *We found a strong relationship between microbial community composition and enzyme activities over the seasonal course. Phenoloxidase and peroxidase activities were highest during late summer, whereas cellulase and protease peaked in late autumn. Girdling, and thus loss of mycorrhiza, resulted in an increase in soil organic matter-degrading enzymes and a decrease in cellulase and protease activity. *Temporal changes in enzyme activities suggest a switch of the main substrate for decomposition between summer (soil organic matter) and autumn (plant litter). Our results indicate that ectomycorrhizal fungi are possibly involved in autumn cellulase and protease activity. Our study shows that, through belowground C allocation, trees significantly alter soil microbial communities, which may affect seasonal patterns of decomposition processes.", "keywords": ["Nitrogen", "Climate", "Trees", "Soil", "Mycorrhizae", "401902 Soil science", "Fagus", "Biomass", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "Bacteria", "Research", "Temperature", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "401902 Bodenkunde", "Carbon", "Solubility", "106030 Pflanzen\u00f6kologie", "106022 Microbiology", "Regression Analysis", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "106030 Plant ecology", "Seasons", "Extracellular Space", "Biomarkers"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03321.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/New%20Phytologist", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03321.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03321.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03321.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2010-07-19T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00318.x", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:52Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2007-04-18", "title": "Response Of Soil Microbial Biomass And Community Structures To Conventional And Organic Farming Systems Under Identical Crop Rotations", "description": "In this study the influence of different farming systems on microbial community structure was analyzed using soil samples from the DOK long-term field experiment in Switzerland, which comprises organic (BIODYN and BIOORG) and conventional (CONFYM and CONMIN) farming systems as well as an unfertilized control (NOFERT). We examined microbial communities in winter wheat plots at two different points in the crop rotation (after potatoes and after maize). Employing extended polar lipid analysis up to 244 different phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) and phospholipid ether lipids (PLEL) were detected. Higher concentrations of PLFA and PLEL in BIODYN and BIOORG indicated a significant influence of organic agriculture on microbial biomass. Farmyard manure (FYM) application consistently revealed the strongest, and the preceding crop the weakest, influence on domain-specific biomass, diversity indices and microbial community structures. Esterlinked PLFA from slowly growing bacteria (k-strategists) showed the strongest responses to long-term organic fertilization. Although the highest fungal biomass was found in the two organic systems of the DOK field trial, their contribution to the differentiation of community structures according to the management regime was relatively low. Prokaryotic communities responded most strongly to either conventional or organic farming management.", "keywords": ["Crops", " Agricultural", "2. Zero hunger", "Nutrient turnover", "Agriculture", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Zea mays", "Soil quality", "Soil", "organic farming; DOK long-term field trial; microbial community; PLFA; PLEL", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "'Organics' in general", "Fertilizers", "Ecosystem", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "Triticum", "Solanum tuberosum"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Espersch\u00fctz, J\u00fcrgen, Gattinger, Andreas, M\u00e4der, Paul, Schloter, Michael, Flie\u00dfbach, Andreas,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00318.x"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/FEMS%20Microbiology%20Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00318.x", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00318.x", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2007.00318.x"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2007-07-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/nph.12569", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:56Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-10-31", "title": "Experimental Drought Reduces The Transfer Of Recently Fixed Plant Carbon To Soil Microbes And Alters The Bacterial Community Composition In A Mountain Meadow", "description": "Summary
Drought affects plants and soil microorganisms, but it is still not clear how it alters the carbon (C) transfer at the plant\uffe2\uff80\uff93microbial interface. Here, we tested direct and indirect effects of drought on soil microbes and microbial turnover of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived C in a mountain meadow.
Microbial community composition was assessed using phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs); the allocation of recent plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90derived C to microbial groups was analysed by pulse\uffe2\uff80\uff90labelling of canopy sections with 13CO2 and the subsequent tracing of the label into microbial PLFAs.
Microbial biomass was significantly higher in plots exposed to a severe experimental drought. In addition, drought induced a shift of the microbial community composition, mainly driven by an increase of Gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90positive bacteria. Drought reduced belowground C allocation, but not the transfer of recently plant\uffe2\uff80\uff90assimilated C to fungi, and in particular reduced tracer uptake by bacteria. This was accompanied by an increase of 13C in the extractable organic C pool during drought, which was even more pronounced after plots were mown.
We conclude that drought weakened the link between plant and bacterial, but not fungal, C turnover, and facilitated the growth of potentially slow\uffe2\uff80\uff90growing, drought\uffe2\uff80\uff90adapted soil microbes, such as Gram\uffe2\uff80\uff90positive bacteria.
", "keywords": ["Time Factors", "Nitrogen", "Mowing", "Mountain grassland", "Carbon Cycle", "Microbial community composition", "Soil", "Biomass", "Ecosystem", "Soil Microbiology", "2. Zero hunger", "106022 Mikrobiologie", "Carbon Isotopes", "Drought", "Research", "Microbiota", "Water", "Carbon allocation", "Microclimate", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Carbon", "6. Clean water", "Droughts", "C pulse-labelling", "13. Climate action", "Austria", "Phospholipid fatty acids", "106022 Microbiology", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12569"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/New%20Phytologist", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/nph.12569", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/nph.12569", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/nph.12569"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-10-31T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1111/nph.14083", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:18:56Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-07-11", "title": "Increased Phosphate Uptake But Not Resorption Alleviates Phosphorus Deficiency Induced By Nitrogen Deposition In Temperate Larix Principis-Rupprechtii Plantations", "description": "Summary
The imbalance between nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) deposition may shift temperate ecosystems from N\uffe2\uff80\uff90 to P\uffe2\uff80\uff90limitation. However, it is unclear how the imbalanced N\uffc2\uffa0:\uffc2\uffa0P input affects the strategies of plants to acquire P and, therefore, the growth of plants and the competition among species.
We conducted a 4\uffe2\uff80\uff90yr N\uffe2\uff80\uff90addition experiment in young and mature larch (Larix principis\uffe2\uff80\uff90rupprechtii) stands. Plant growth and P acquisition strategies were assessed for larch and understorey vegetation.
N addition stimulated the aboveground productivity of understorey vegetation in the young stand and larch in the mature stand, with other species unaffected. The competitive advantages of understorey vegetation in the young stand and larch in the mature stand were associated with their high stoichiometric homoeostasis. To maintain the N\uffc2\uffa0:\uffc2\uffa0P homoeostasis of these species, an increase in phosphatase activity but not P resorption efficiency increased the supply of P. Additionally, N addition accelerated P mineralization by decreasing the fungal\uffe2\uff80\uff90to\uffe2\uff80\uff90bacterial ratios and improved uptake of soil P by increasing the arbuscular mycorrhizas\uffe2\uff80\uff90to\uffe2\uff80\uff90ectomycorrhizas ratios.
Our results suggest that plants with high stoichiometric homoeostasis could better cope with N deposition\uffe2\uff80\uff90induced P\uffe2\uff80\uff90deficiency. Although P resorption efficiency showed little plasticity in response, plants activated a variety of P\uffe2\uff80\uff90acquisition pathways to alleviate the P\uffe2\uff80\uff90deficiency caused by N deposition.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Analysis of Variance", "Bacteria", "Nitrogen", "Acid Phosphatase", "Fatty Acids", "Fungi", "Larix", "Phosphorus", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Plant Roots", "Phosphates", "Plant Leaves", "Species Specificity", "Mycorrhizae", "Homeostasis", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biomass", "Phospholipids"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14083"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/New%20Phytologist", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1111/nph.14083", "name": "item", "description": "10.1111/nph.14083", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1111/nph.14083"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-07-11T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:18Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-03-27", "title": "Nitrogen Addition And Warming Independently Influence The Belowground Micro-Food Web In A Temperate Steppe", "description": "Climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are known to influence ecosystem structure and functioning. However, our understanding of the interactive effect of these global changes on ecosystem functioning is relatively limited, especially when it concerns the responses of soils and soil organisms. We conducted a field experiment to study the interactive effects of warming and N addition on soil food web. The experiment was established in 2006 in a temperate steppe in northern China. After three to four years (2009-2010), we found that N addition positively affected microbial biomass and negatively influenced trophic group and ecological indices of soil nematodes. However, the warming effects were less obvious, only fungal PLFA showed a decreasing trend under warming. Interestingly, the influence of N addition did not depend on warming. Structural equation modeling analysis suggested that the direct pathway between N addition and soil food web components were more important than the indirect connections through alterations in soil abiotic characters or plant growth. Nitrogen enrichment also affected the soil nematode community indirectly through changes in soil pH and PLFA. We conclude that experimental warming influenced soil food web components of the temperate steppe less than N addition, and there was little influence of warming on N addition effects under these experimental conditions.", "keywords": ["China", "Food Chain", "Nematoda", "Nitrogen", "Science", "deposition", "Models", " Biological", "northern china", "Soil", "soil nematodes", "Animals", "Biomass", "organic-matter", "global change", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "2. Zero hunger", "elevated co2", "Analysis of Variance", "species composition", "Q", "R", "Temperature", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "13. Climate action", "international", "climate-change manipulations", "plant-communities", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "community structure", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371%2fjournal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-03-27T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.13227/j.hjkx.2016.09.042", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:17Z", "type": "Journal Article", "description": "Nitrogen deposition increases the productivity of forest-land, yet may cause environmental damage, while soil microorganisms are sensitive to the ecological environment. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of nitrogen deposition on soil microbial communities and the relationship among soil microbial communities, soil temperature, soil moisture and the concentration of nitrogen deposition in the Masson pine forest. The results might provide a reference for further study on the effects of nitrogen deposition on forest ecosystem of Masson pine. From May 2014 to June 2015, three nitrogen application treatments and the control treatment were set up:low nitrogen [N20,20 g\u00b7(m2\u00b7a)-1], moderate nitrogen [N40, 40 g\u00b7(m2\u00b7a)-1], high nitrogen [N60, 60 g\u00b7(m2\u00b7a)-1] and control treatment [N0, 0 g\u00b7(m2\u00b7a)-1] in the Masson pine forest. Soil microbial community structure, soil temperature and soil moisture were measured by phosphorus lipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and automated soil CO2 exchange station. The results showed that:1 Seasonal variation had a remarkable effect on soil bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes and the total PLFA(P<0.05), all kinds of soil microorganisms had the highest amounts in spring and the lowest in winter. In different seasons, the response of different soil microorganisms to nitrogen deposition was different. Generally, nitrogen deposition decreased soil microorganisms in spring and autumn, while in summer and winter, nitrogen deposition had a positive effect on soil microorganisms. 2 Nitrogen deposition had a significant effect on soil microbial community structure(P<0.05). In spring and summer, low nitrogen and moderate nitrogen decreased the soil microbial richness index and diversity index, yet increased the evenness index. In the autumn and winter, low nitrogen and moderate nitrogen promoted the soil microbial richness index, diversity index and evenness index. In all four seasons, nitrogen deposition reduced the soil microbial richness index, diversity index and evenness index. 3 Correlation analysis showed that the concentration of nitrogen deposition had a very significant negative correlation with soil bacteria (P<0.01), and a significant negative correlation with total PLFA (P<0.05). Soil temperature had a significant negative correlation with soil actinomycetes. Soil moisture had a significant positive correlation with bacteria and total PLFA. In conclusion, soil microorganisms of Masson pine forest were mainly influenced by soil moisture and less affected by soil temperature in Jinyun Mountain. Nitrogen deposition had a significant effect on microbial community structure and diversity.", "keywords": ["China", "Nitrogen", "Fatty Acids", "0211 other engineering and technologies", "Fungi", "02 engineering and technology", "Forests", "Pinus", "01 natural sciences", "Soil", "Ecosystem", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Bing-Hui He, Qing-Ping Zeng,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.13227/j.hjkx.2016.09.042"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Huan%20jing%20ke%20xue%3D%20Huanjing%20kexue", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.13227/j.hjkx.2016.09.042", "name": "item", "description": "10.13227/j.hjkx.2016.09.042", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.13227/j.hjkx.2016.09.042"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-09-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0056532", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:20Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-02-20", "title": "Fungi Benefit From Two Decades Of Increased Nutrient Availability In Tundra Heath Soil", "description": "If microbial degradation of carbon substrates in arctic soil is stimulated by climatic warming, this would be a significant positive feedback on global change. With data from a climate change experiment in Northern Sweden we show that warming and enhanced soil nutrient availability, which is a predicted long-term consequence of climatic warming and mimicked by fertilization, both increase soil microbial biomass. However, while fertilization increased the relative abundance of fungi, warming caused only a minimal shift in the microbial community composition based on the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and neutral lipid fatty acid (NLFA) profiles. The function of the microbial community was also differently affected, as indicated by stable isotope probing of PLFA and NLFA. We demonstrate that two decades of fertilization have favored fungi relative to bacteria, and increased the turnover of complex organic compounds such as vanillin, while warming has had no such effects. Furthermore, the NLFA-to-PLFA ratio for (13)C-incorporation from acetate increased in warmed plots but not in fertilized ones. Thus, fertilization cannot be used as a proxy for effects on warming in arctic tundra soils. Furthermore, the different functional responses suggest that the biomass increase found in both fertilized and warmed plots was mediated via different mechanisms.", "keywords": ["Sweden", "2. Zero hunger", "Arctic Regions", "Science", "Climate Change", "Q", "R", "Fungi", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Carbon", "Soil", "13. Climate action", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biomass", "Fertilizers", "Ecosystem", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0056532"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0056532", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0056532", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0056532"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-02-20T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0060441", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:20Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-03-27", "title": "Nitrogen Addition And Warming Independently Influence The Belowground Micro-Food Web In A Temperate Steppe", "description": "Climate warming and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition are known to influence ecosystem structure and functioning. However, our understanding of the interactive effect of these global changes on ecosystem functioning is relatively limited, especially when it concerns the responses of soils and soil organisms. We conducted a field experiment to study the interactive effects of warming and N addition on soil food web. The experiment was established in 2006 in a temperate steppe in northern China. After three to four years (2009-2010), we found that N addition positively affected microbial biomass and negatively influenced trophic group and ecological indices of soil nematodes. However, the warming effects were less obvious, only fungal PLFA showed a decreasing trend under warming. Interestingly, the influence of N addition did not depend on warming. Structural equation modeling analysis suggested that the direct pathway between N addition and soil food web components were more important than the indirect connections through alterations in soil abiotic characters or plant growth. Nitrogen enrichment also affected the soil nematode community indirectly through changes in soil pH and PLFA. We conclude that experimental warming influenced soil food web components of the temperate steppe less than N addition, and there was little influence of warming on N addition effects under these experimental conditions.", "keywords": ["China", "Food Chain", "Nematoda", "Nitrogen", "Science", "deposition", "Models", " Biological", "northern china", "Soil", "soil nematodes", "Animals", "Biomass", "organic-matter", "global change", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "2. Zero hunger", "elevated co2", "Analysis of Variance", "species composition", "Q", "R", "Temperature", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "13. Climate action", "international", "climate-change manipulations", "plant-communities", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "community structure", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0060441", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0060441", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0060441"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-03-27T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0061188", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:20Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2013-04-12", "title": "Interactive Effects Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus On Soil Microbial Communities In A Tropical Forest", "description": "Elevated nitrogen (N) deposition in humid tropical regions may exacerbate phosphorus (P) deficiency in forests on highly weathered soils. However, it is not clear how P availability affects soil microbes and soil carbon (C), or how P processes interact with N deposition in tropical forests. We examined the effects of N and P additions on soil microbes and soil C pools in a N-saturated old-growth tropical forest in southern China to test the hypotheses that (1) N and P addition will have opposing effects on soil microbial biomass and activity, (2) N and P addition will alter the composition of the microbial community, (3) the addition of N and P will have interactive effects on soil microbes and (4) addition-mediated changes in microbial communities would feed back on soil C pools. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was used to quantify the soil microbial community following four treatments: Control, N addition (15 g N m(-2) yr(-1)), P addition (15 g P m(-2) yr(-1)), and N&P addition (15 g N m(-2) yr(-1) plus 15 g P m(-2) yr(-1)). These were applied from 2007 to 2011. Whereas additions of P increased soil microbial biomass, additions of N reduced soil microbial biomass. These effects, however, were transient, disappearing over longer periods. Moreover, N additions significantly increased relative abundance of fungal PLFAs and P additions significantly increased relative abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi PLFAs. Nitrogen addition had a negative effect on light fraction C, but no effect on heavy fraction C and total soil C. In contrast, P addition significantly decreased both light fraction C and total soil C. However, there were no interactions between N addition and P addition on soil microbes. Our results suggest that these nutrients are not co-limiting, and that P rather than N is limiting in this tropical forest.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "China", "Tropical Climate", "Bacteria", "Nitrogen", "Science", "Q", "Fatty Acids", "R", "Phosphorus", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water", "Trees", "Soil", "13. Climate action", "Medicine", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Biomass", "Fertilizers", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061188"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0061188", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0061188", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0061188"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-04-12T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0092985", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:21Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2014-03-25", "title": "Comparison Of Seasonal Soil Microbial Process In Snow-Covered Temperate Ecosystems Of Northern China", "description": "Open AccessMore than half of the earth's terrestrial surface currently experiences seasonal snow cover and soil frost. Winter compositional and functional investigations in soil microbial community are frequently conducted in alpine tundra and boreal forest ecosystems. However, little information on winter microbial biogeochemistry is known from seasonally snow-covered temperate ecosystems. As decomposer microbes may differ in their ability/strategy to efficiently use soil organic carbon (SOC) within different phases of the year, understanding seasonal microbial process will increase our knowledge of biogeochemical cycling from the aspect of decomposition rates and corresponding nutrient dynamics. In this study, we measured soil microbial biomass, community composition and potential SOC mineralization rates in winter and summer, from six temperate ecosystems in northern China. Our results showed a clear pattern of increased microbial biomass C to nitrogen (N) ratio in most winter soils. Concurrently, a shift in soil microbial community composition occurred with higher fungal to bacterial biomass ratio and gram negative (G-) to gram positive (G+) bacterial biomass ratio in winter than in summer. Furthermore, potential SOC mineralization rate was higher in winter than in summer. Our study demonstrated a distinct transition of microbial community structure and function from winter to summer in temperate snow-covered ecosystems. Microbial N immobilization in winter may not be the major contributor for plant growth in the following spring.", "keywords": ["Biomass (ecology)", "Atmospheric Science", "Microbial population biology", "Decomposer", "Nutrient cycle", "Physical Phenomena", "Agricultural and Biological Sciences", "Soil", "Terrestrial ecosystem", "Snow", "Soil water", "Biomass", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "Minerals", "Glucan 1", "4-beta-Glucosidase", "Ecology", "Geography", "Mineralization (soil science)", "Q", "R", "Life Sciences", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "Biogeochemistry", "16. Peace & justice", "Earth and Planetary Sciences", "Physical Sciences", "Medicine", "Seasons", "Ecosystem Functioning", "Research Article", "China", "Nitrogen", "Science", "Soil Science", "Biogeochemical cycle", "Environmental science", "Meteorology", "Genetics", "Arctic Permafrost Dynamics and Climate Change", "Tundra", "Biology", "Ecosystem", "Soil science", "Bacteria", "Fungi", "Microbial Diversity in Antarctic Ecosystems", "15. Life on land", "Carbon", "Temperate climate", "13. Climate action", "FOS: Biological sciences", "Environmental Science", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Soil Carbon Dynamics and Nutrient Cycling in Ecosystems"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Xinyue Zhang, Wei Wang, Weile Chen, Naili Zhang, Hui Zeng,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092985"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0092985", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0092985", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0092985"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-03-25T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0096182", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:21Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2014-05-09", "title": "Biotic And Abiotic Properties Mediating Plant Diversity Effects On Soil Microbial Communities In An Experimental Grassland", "description": "Plant diversity drives changes in the soil microbial community which may result in alterations in ecosystem functions. However, the governing factors between the composition of soil microbial communities and plant diversity are not well understood. We investigated the impact of plant diversity (plant species richness and functional group richness) and plant functional group identity on soil microbial biomass and soil microbial community structure in experimental grassland ecosystems. Total microbial biomass and community structure were determined by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. The diversity gradient covered 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 plant species and 1, 2, 3 and 4 plant functional groups (grasses, legumes, small herbs and tall herbs). In May 2007, soil samples were taken from experimental plots and from nearby fields and meadows. Beside soil texture, plant species richness was the main driver of soil microbial biomass. Structural equation modeling revealed that the positive plant diversity effect was mainly mediated by higher leaf area index resulting in higher soil moisture in the top soil layer. The fungal-to-bacterial biomass ratio was positively affected by plant functional group richness and negatively by the presence of legumes. Bacteria were more closely related to abiotic differences caused by plant diversity, while fungi were more affected by plant-derived organic matter inputs. We found diverse plant communities promoted faster transition of soil microbial communities typical for arable land towards grassland communities. Although some mechanisms underlying the plant diversity effect on soil microorganisms could be identified, future studies have to determine plant traits shaping soil microbial community structure. We suspect differences in root traits among different plant communities, such as root turnover rates and chemical composition of root exudates, to structure soil microbial communities.", "keywords": ["0301 basic medicine", "570", "Chromatography", " Gas", "Geography & travel", "Science", "910", "Plant Roots", "Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry", "Soil", "03 medical and health sciences", "info:eu-repo/classification/ddc/910", "Biomass", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "2. Zero hunger", "0303 health sciences", "Bacteria", "Q", "Fatty Acids", "R", "Fungi", "Water", "Biodiversity", "Models", " Theoretical", "Plants", "15. Life on land", "ddc:910", "Grassland", "13. Climate action", "Medicine", "Research Article"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096182"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/PLoS%20ONE", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1371/journal.pone.0096182", "name": "item", "description": "10.1371/journal.pone.0096182", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1371/journal.pone.0096182"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2014-05-09T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1890/02-0433", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:44Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2007-06-04", "title": "Plant Diversity, Soil Microbial Communities, And Ecosystem Function: Are There Any Links?", "description": "A current debate in ecology centers on the extent to which ecosystem function depends on biodiversity. Here, we provide evidence from a long-term field manipulation of plant diversity that soil microbial communities, and the key ecosystem processes that they mediate, are significantly altered by plant species richness. After seven years of plant growth, we determined the composition and function of soil microbial communities beneath experimental plant diversity treatments containing 1-16 species. Microbial community bio- mass, respiration, and fungal abundance significantly increased with greater plant diversity, as did N mineralization rates. However, changes in microbial community biomass, activity, and composition largely resulted from the higher levels of plant production associated with greater diversity, rather than from plant diversity per se. Nonetheless, greater plant pro- duction could not explain more rapid N mineralization, indicating that plant diversity affected this microbial process, which controls rates of ecosystem N cycling. Greater N availability probably contributed to the positive relationship between plant diversity and productivity in the N-limited soils of our experiment, suggesting that plant-microbe in- teractions in soil are an integral component of plant diversity's influence on ecosystem", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "soil C and N cycling", "Science", "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology", "microbial communities", "phospholipid fatty acid analysis", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "plant communities", "gross N mineralization", "soil microbes", "ecosystem function", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "species richness", "gross N immobilization", "biodiversity"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Zak, Donald R., Holmes, William E., White, David C., Peacock, Aaron D., Tilman, David,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1890/02-0433"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecology", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1890/02-0433", "name": "item", "description": "10.1890/02-0433", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1890/02-0433"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2003-08-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.2134/jeq2004.0470", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:19:57Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2005-09-09", "title": "Microbial Response To Heavy Metal-Polluted Soils: Community Analysis From Phospholipid-Linked Fatty Acids And Ester-Linked Fatty Acids Extracts", "description": "ABSTRACTHeavy metal pollution of soil is of concern for human health and ecosystem function. The soil microbial community should be a sensitive indicator of metal contamination effects on bioavailability and biogeochemical processes. Simple methods are needed to determine the degree of in situ pollution and effectiveness of remediating metal\uffe2\uff80\uff90contaminated soils. Currently, phospholipid\uffe2\uff80\uff90linked fatty acids (PLFAs) are preferred for microbial profiling but this method is time consuming, whereas direct soil extraction and transesterification of total ester\uffe2\uff80\uff90linked fatty acids (ELFAs) is attractive because of its simplicity. The 1998 mining acid\uffe2\uff80\uff93metal spill of >4000 ha in the Guadiamar watershed (southwestern Spain) provided a unique opportunity to study these two microbial lipid profiling methods. Replicated treatments were set up as nonpolluted, heavy metal polluted and reclaimed, and polluted soils. Inferences from whole community\uffe2\uff80\uff93diversity analysis and correlations of individual fatty acids with metals suggested Cu, Cd, and Zn were the most important in affecting microbial community structure, along with pH. The microbial stress marker, monounsaturated fatty acids, was significantly lower for reclaimed and polluted soil over nonpolluted soils for both PLFA and ELFA extraction. Another stress marker, the monounsaturated to saturated fatty acids ratio, only showed this for the PLFA. The general fungal marker (18:2\uffcf\uff896c), the arbuscule mycorrhizae marker (16:1\uffcf\uff895c), and iso\uffe2\uff80\uff90 and anteiso\uffe2\uff80\uff90branched PLFAs (Gram positive bacteria) were suppressed with increasing pollution whereas 17:0cy (Gram negative bacteria) increased with metal pollution. For both extraction methods, richness and diversity were greater in nonpolluted soils and lowest in polluted soils. The ELFA method was sensitive for reflecting metal pollution on microbial communities and could be suitable for routine use in ecological monitoring and risk assessment programs because of its simplicity and reproducibility.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Bacteria", "Fatty Acids", "Fungi", "Esters", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water", "Soil", "Biodegradation", " Environmental", "Spain", "13. Climate action", "Metals", " Heavy", "Soil Pollutants", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2004.0470"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Journal%20of%20Environmental%20Quality", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.2134/jeq2004.0470", "name": "item", "description": "10.2134/jeq2004.0470", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.2134/jeq2004.0470"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2005-09-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.2307/2640985", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:20:19Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2006-04-17", "description": "Elevated atmospheric CO2 has the potential to increase the production and alter the chemistry of organic substrates entering soil from plant production, the magnitude of which is constrained by soil-N availability. Because microbial growth in soil is limited by substrate inputs from plant production, we reasoned that changes in the amount and chemistry of these organic substrates could affect the composition of soil microbial com- munities and the cycling of N in soil. We studied microbial community composition and soil-N transformations beneath Populus tremuloides Michx. growing under experimental atmospheric CO2 (35.7 and 70.7 Pa) and soil-N-availability (low N 5 61 ng N\u00b7g 21 \u00b7d 21 and high N 5 319 ng N\u00b7g 21 \u00b7d 21 ) treatments. Atmospheric CO2 concentration was modified in large, open-top chambers, and we altered soil-N availability in open-bottom root boxes by mixing different proportions of A and C horizon material. We used phospholipid fatty-acid analysis to gain insight into microbial community composition and coupled this analysis to measurements of soil-N transformations using 15 N-pool dilution techniques. The infor- mation presented here is part of an integrated experiment designed to elucidate the phys- iological mechanisms controlling the flow of C and N in the plant-soil system. Our ob- jectives were (1) to determine whether changes in plant growth and tissue chemistry alter microbial community composition and soil-N cycling in response to increasing atmospheric CO2 and soil-N availability and (2) to integrate the results of our experiment into a synthesis of elevated atmospheric CO2 and the cycling of C and N in terrestrial ecosystems. After 2.5 growing seasons, microbial biomass, gross N mineralization, microbial im- mobilization, and nitrification (gross and net) were equivalent at ambient and elevated CO2, suggesting that increases in fine-root production and declines in fine-root N concentration were insufficient to alter the influence of native soil organic matter on microbial physiology; this was the case in both low- and high-N soil. Similarly, elevated CO2 did not alter the proportion of bacterial, actinomycetal, or fungal phospholipid fatty acids in low-N or high-N soil, indicating that changes in substrate input from greater plant growth under elevated CO2 did not alter microbial community composition. Our results differ from a substantial number of studies reporting increases and decreases in soil-N cycling under elevated CO 2. From our analysis, it appears that soil-N cycling responds to elevated atmospheric CO 2 in experimental situations where plant roots have fully colonized the soil and root-associated C inputs are sufficient to modify the influence of native soil organic matter on microbial physiology. In young developing ecosystems where plant roots have not fully exploited the soil, microbial metabolism appears to be regulated by relatively large pools of soil organic matter, rather than by the additional input of organic substrates under elevated CO 2.", "keywords": ["measurement-", "soil microorganisms", "Ecology and Evolutionary Biology", "nitrogen-: cycling-", "feedback", "microbial community composition", "techniques-", "Environmental-Sciences)", "01 natural sciences", "litter-plant", "biomass-", "gross and net", "124-38-9: CARBON DIOXIDE", "Spermatophytes-", "cycling-", "soil-organic-matter", "mineralization", "Spermatophyta-", "responses-", "phospholipid-fatty-acids", "2. Zero hunger", "Climatology- (Environmental-Sciences)", "Angiosperms-", "Angiospermae-", "Plants-", "global climate change", "microbial immobilization", "nutrient-", "Soil-Science", "6. Clean water", "metabolism-", "soil-N transformations", "transformation-", "substrates-", "7727-37-9: NITROGEN", "atmosphere-", "elevated atmospheric", "570", "nitrification-", "nitrogen immobilization", "Science", "Vascular-Plants", "poplars-", "phospholipid fatty acids (PFLAs)", "carbon-dioxide", "growth-", "soil-microbial-community-composition", "Salicaceae-: Dicotyledones-", "microbial-flora", "Populus tremuloides", "Plantae-", "organic-matter", "consortia-", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "communities-", "ecosystem", "analysis-", "atmospheric CO2 and soil-N availability", "soil-availability", "mineralization-", "carbon dioxide", "fatty-acids", "15. Life on land", "substrate-input", "Populus-tremuloides (Salicaceae-)", "13. Climate action", "roots-", "Terrestrial-Ecology (Ecology-", "composition-", "Dicots-", "immobilization-", "seasons-", "ecosystems-"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Zak, Donald R., Pregitzer, Kurt S., Curtis, Peter S., Holmes, William E.,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.2307/2640985"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Ecological%20Applications", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.2307/2640985", "name": "item", "description": "10.2307/2640985", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.2307/2640985"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2000-02-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.2139/ssrn.4106102", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:20:13Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2022-05-28", "title": "Evaluation of Biostimulation, Bioaugmentation, and Organic Amendments Application on the Bioremediation of Recalcitrant Hydrocarbons of Soil", "description": "In the present work, the operational conditions for improving the degradation rates of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPHs) in contaminated soil from a machinery park were optimized at a microcosms scale along a 90- days incubation period. In this study, bioremediation strategies and an organic amendment have been tested to verify the remediation of soil contaminated with different hydrocarbons, mineral oils, and heavy metals. Specifically, designed biostimulation and bioaugmentation strategies were compared with and without adding vermicompost. The polluted soil harboring multiple contaminants, partially attenuated for years, was used. The initial profile showed enrichment in heavy linear alkanes, suggesting a previous moderate weathering. The application of vermicompost increased five and two times the amounts of available phosphorus (P) and exchangeable potassium (K), respectively, as a direct consequence of the organic amendment addition. The microbial activity increased due to soil acidification, which influenced the solubility of P and other micronutrients. It also impacted the predominance and variability of the different microbial groups and the incubation, as reflected by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) results. An increase in the alkaline phosphatases and proteases linked to bacterial growth was displayed. This stimulation of microbial metabolism correlated with the degradation rates since TPHs degradation\u2019 efficiency after vermicompost addition reached 32.5% and 34.4% of the initial hydrocarbon levels for biostimulation and bioaugmentation, respectively. Although Polycyclic Aromatic", "keywords": ["Soil enzymes", "01 natural sciences", "Total petroleum hydrocarbons polluted soils", "Soil", "Bioaugmentation", "Alkanes", "Soil Pollutants", "Micronutrients", "Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons", "Materials", "Phospholipids", "Soil Microbiology", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "2. Zero hunger", "Minerals", "Materiales", "Biostimulation", " Bioaugmentation", " Phospholipid fatty acids", " Total petroleum hydrocarbons polluted soils", " Soil enzymes", "Fatty Acids", "Phosphorus", "Phenanthrenes", "Hydrocarbons", "Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases", "6. Clean water", "Biostimulation", "Biodegradation", " Environmental", "Petroleum", "13. Climate action", "Phospholipid fatty acids", "Potassium", "Oils", "Biostimulation Bioaugmentation Phospholipid fatty acids Total petroleum hydrocarbons polluted soils Soil enzymes", "Peptide Hydrolases"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4106102"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/SSRN%20Electronic%20Journal", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.2139/ssrn.4106102", "name": "item", "description": "10.2139/ssrn.4106102", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.2139/ssrn.4106102"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.3390/f7020045", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:20:45Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2016-02-19", "description": "Microbial-mediated decomposition and nutrient mineralization are major drivers of forest productivity. As landscape-scale fuel reduction treatments are being implemented throughout the fire-prone western United States of America, it is important to evaluate operationally how these wildfire mitigation treatments alter belowground processes. We quantified these important belowground components before and after management-applied fuel treatments of thinning alone, thinning combined with prescribed fire, and prescribed fire in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) stands at the Southwest Plateau, Fire and Fire Surrogate site, Arizona. Fuel treatments did not alter pH, total carbon and nitrogen (N) concentrations, or base cations of the forest floor (O horizon) or mineral soil (0\uffe2\uff80\uff935 cm) during this 2-year study. In situ rates of net N mineralization and nitrification in the surface mineral soil (0\uffe2\uff80\uff9315 cm) increased 6 months after thinning with prescribed fire treatments; thinning only resulted in net N immobilization. The rates returned to pre-treatment levels after one year. Based on phospholipid fatty acid composition, microbial communities in treated areas were similar to untreated areas (control) in the surface organic horizon and mineral soil (0\uffe2\uff80\uff935 cm) after treatments. Soil potential enzyme activities were not significantly altered by any of the three fuel treatments. Our results suggest that a variety of one-time alternative fuel treatments can reduce fire hazard without degrading soil fertility.
", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Ecology", "Life on Land", "fuel treatments", "13. Climate action", "Forestry Sciences", "fuel treatments; nitrification; nitrogen mineralization; phospholipid fatty acids; soil enzymes", "Plant Biology", "phospholipid fatty acids", "15. Life on land", "soil enzymes", "nitrification", "nitrogen mineralization"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Overby, Steven T, Hart, Stephen C,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/7/2/45/pdf"}, {"href": "https://escholarship.org/content/qt54s4m5pt/qt54s4m5pt.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.3390/f7020045"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Forests", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.3390/f7020045", "name": "item", "description": "10.3390/f7020045", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.3390/f7020045"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2016-02-18T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hf0", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:21:30Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Biochar and nitrogen fertilizer promote rice yield by altering soil enzyme activity and microbial community structure", "description": "unspecifiedBiochar can significantly change soil properties and improve soil quality. However, the effects of long-term combined application of biochar (B) and nitrogen (N) fertilizer on relationships between soil enzyme activity, microbial community structure and crop yield are still obscure. We characterized these relationships in a long-term (8 years) field experiment with rice, two biochar rates of 0 and 13.5 t ha-1 year-1 (B0 and B) and two N fertilizer rates of 0 and 300 kg N ha-1 year-1 (N0 and N). The repeated, long-term combined applications of biochar and N fertilizer significantly increased microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen (MBC and MBN), but biochar decreased the abundance of total bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as the amount of total phospholipid fatty acids. The activity of leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) decreased significantly in the biochar-amended and N fertilized treatment, but the LAP activity either remained unchanged or increased with biochar amendment at N0. The relative abundance of bacterial phylum Chloroflexi was increased in the combined biochar and N fertilizer treatment. The changes in soil organic matter and the activity of \u03b1-1,4-xylosidase were the major properties influencing soil bacterial community composition, whereas the structure of fungal community was governed by MBC, MBN and LAP activity. In addition, long-term biochar and N fertilizer applied together significantly increased rice yield (more than biochar and nitrogen fertilizer applied alone). Yield was significantly positively correlated with LAP activity, but significantly negatively correlated with the relative abundance of Chloroflexi. In conclusion, long-term biochar and nitrogen fertilizer applications increased rice yield, which was associated with altered soil microbial community and enhanced activity of some enzymes.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Microbial community", "FOS: Agricultural sciences", "biochar", "phospholipid fatty acids", "15. Life on land", "6. Clean water", "long-term experiment", "nitrogen fertilizer", "enzyme activity", "rice yield"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Zhang, Aiping", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hf0"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hf0", "name": "item", "description": "10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hf0", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hf0"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-09-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.6934168", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:23:31Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "In Situ Diversity of Metabolism and Carbon Use Efficiency among Soil Bacteria", "description": "Dataset for the MS", "keywords": ["Soil microbiology", " metabolic flux analysis", " phospholipid fatty acids"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Wu, Weichao, Dijkstra, Paul, Hungate, Bruce A., Lingling Shi, Dippold, Michaela,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6934168"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.6934168", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.6934168", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.6934168"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-07-29T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.6934169", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:23:31Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "In Situ Diversity of Metabolism and Carbon Use Efficiency among Soil Bacteria", "description": "Dataset for the MS", "keywords": ["Soil microbiology", " metabolic flux analysis", " phospholipid fatty acids"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Wu, Weichao, Dijkstra, Paul, Hungate, Bruce A., Lingling Shi, Dippold, Michaela,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6934169"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.6934169", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.6934169", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.6934169"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2022-07-29T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.8410341", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:23:46Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Dataset for the article \"Beyond PLFA: Concurrent extraction of neutral and glycolipid fatty acids provides new insights into soil microbial communities\"", "description": "The following are data and code used for statistical analysis and figure plotting in the manuscript Gorka et al. (2023) 'Beyond PLFA: Concurrent extraction of neutral and glycolipid fatty acids provides new insights into soil microbial communities', Soil Biology and Biochemistry It contains the following files: 1. Pure lipid standard data Total ion chromatogram (TIC) area data (area.csv) Assignment of lipids that the measured fatty acids originate from (LipidClass.csv) An R script reproducing the calculations and plotting for Fig. 2 and Fig. S1 (pure_lipids.R) 2. Microbial pure culture fatty acid data data TIC area data of the PLFA, NLFA, and GLFA data from pure culture extracts (area.csv) Files needed for calculating the data and assigning taxonomic groups in the R code (weights.csv, C_atoms.csv, species_list.csv) An R script reproducing the calculations and plotting for Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. S2, and Fig. S3 (pure_cultures.R) 3. Soil fatty acid data Absolute abundance data in nmol C g-1 dry weight of the PLFA, NLFA, and GLFA data from soil extracts (nmolC.csv) Taxonomic group assignments of fatty acids needed to run the R code (phylum.csv) An R script reproducing the calculations and plotting for Fig. 5, and Fig. S4 (soil.R)", "keywords": ["NLFA", "soil lipids", "soil fatty acid profiles", "phospholipid fatty acids", "GLFA"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Stefan, Gorka, Darcy, Sean, Horak, Julia, Imai, Bruna, Mohrlok, Moritz, Salas, Erika, Richter, Andreas, Schmidt, Hannes, Wanek, Wolfgang, Kaiser, Christina, Canarini, Alberto,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8410341"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.8410341", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.8410341", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.8410341"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-10-05T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.8410340", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:23:46Z", "type": "Dataset", "title": "Dataset for the article \"Beyond PLFA: Concurrent extraction of neutral and glycolipid fatty acids provides new insights into soil microbial communities\"", "description": "The following are data and code used for statistical analysis and figure plotting in the manuscript Gorka et al. (2023) 'Beyond PLFA: Concurrent extraction of neutral and glycolipid fatty acids provides new insights into soil microbial communities', Soil Biology and Biochemistry It contains the following files: 1. Pure lipid standard data Total ion chromatogram (TIC) area data (area.csv) Assignment of lipids that the measured fatty acids originate from (LipidClass.csv) An R script reproducing the calculations and plotting for Fig. 2 and Fig. S1 (pure_lipids.R) 2. Microbial pure culture fatty acid data data TIC area data of the PLFA, NLFA, and GLFA data from pure culture extracts (area.csv) Files needed for calculating the data and assigning taxonomic groups in the R code (weights.csv, C_atoms.csv, species_list.csv) An R script reproducing the calculations and plotting for Fig. 3, Fig. 4, Fig. S2, and Fig. S3 (pure_cultures.R) 3. Soil fatty acid data Absolute abundance data in nmol C g-1 dry weight of the PLFA, NLFA, and GLFA data from soil extracts (nmolC.csv) Taxonomic group assignments of fatty acids needed to run the R code (phylum.csv) An R script reproducing the calculations and plotting for Fig. 5, and Fig. S4 (soil.R)", "keywords": ["NLFA", "soil lipids", "soil fatty acid profiles", "phospholipid fatty acids", "GLFA"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Gorka Stefan, Sean Darcy, Julia Horak, Bruna Imai, Moritz Mohrlok, Erika Salas, Andreas Richter, Hannes Schmidt, Wolfgang Wanek, Christina Kaiser, Alberto Canarini,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8410340"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.8410340", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.8410340", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.8410340"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2023-10-05T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10072/428410", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-26T16:24:31Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2023-10-18", "title": "Community composition and physiological plasticity control microbial carbon storage across natural and experimental soil fertility gradients", "description": "AbstractMany microorganisms synthesise carbon (C)-rich compounds under resource deprivation. Such compounds likely serve as intracellular C-storage pools that sustain the activities of microorganisms growing on stoichiometrically imbalanced substrates, making them potentially vital to the function of ecosystems on infertile soils. We examined the dynamics and drivers of three putative C-storage compounds (neutral lipid fatty acids [NLFAs], polyhydroxybutyrate [PHB], and trehalose) across a natural gradient of soil fertility in eastern Australia. Together, NLFAs, PHB, and trehalose corresponded to 8.5\uffe2\uff80\uff9340% of microbial C and 0.06\uffe2\uff80\uff930.6% of soil organic C. When scaled to \uffe2\uff80\uff9cstructural\uffe2\uff80\uff9d microbial biomass (indexed by polar lipid fatty acids; PLFAs), NLFA and PHB allocation was 2\uffe2\uff80\uff933-times greater in infertile soils derived from ironstone and sandstone than in comparatively fertile basalt- and shale-derived soils. PHB allocation was positively correlated with belowground biological phosphorus (P)-demand, while NLFA allocation was positively correlated with fungal PLFA : bacterial PLFA ratios. A complementary incubation revealed positive responses of respiration, storage, and fungal PLFAs to glucose, while bacterial PLFAs responded positively to PO43-. By comparing these results to a model of microbial C-allocation, we reason that NLFA primarily served the \uffe2\uff80\uff9creserve\uffe2\uff80\uff9d storage mode for C-limited taxa (i.e., fungi), while the variable portion of PHB likely served as \uffe2\uff80\uff9csurplus\uffe2\uff80\uff9d C-storage for P-limited bacteria. Thus, our findings reveal a convergence of community-level processes (i.e., changes in taxonomic composition that underpin reserve-mode storage dynamics) and intracellular mechanisms (e.g., physiological plasticity of surplus-mode storage) that drives strong, predictable community-level microbial C-storage dynamics across gradients of soil fertility and substrate stoichiometry.Carbon storage is a common strategy of soil microbes to cope with resource fluctuations. Fungi use neutral lipids (triacylglycerols, TAGs) for storage, which can be quantified via their derived fatty acids (NLFAs). NLFAs specific to bacteria can also be abundant in soils, but are rarely analysed as soil bacteria are assumed to not store TAGs. Instead, bacterial NLFAs are thought to derive from degraded phospholipids (diacylglycerols, DAGs), and thus indicate bacterial necromass, but this interpretation lacks evidence. In this perspective, we synthesise knowledge from the literature and our own experimental results on the origin of soil bacterial NLFAs. In sum, we provide evidence that bacterial NLFAs are predominantly derived from TAGs used for carbon storage: (1) Several pure culture studies provide evidence for TAG production in selected bacterial isolates. (2) Screening of genomes showed that wax ester synthase/diacylglycerol acyltransferases, which mediate the last step of TAG synthesis, are abundant in bacterial isolates from soil, suggesting a widespread genetic capability to produce TAGs. (3) We experimentally created conditions of excess labile carbon by adding isotopically labelled glucose to soil. Glucose-13C was rapidly allocated into bacterial NLFAs, with higher relative enrichment than phospholipid-derived fatty acids, indicating storage. (4) DAGs are not necessarily produced\uffe2\uff80\uff94and may only be intermediate compounds\uffe2\uff80\uff94during phospholipid degradation. We conclude that soil bacterial NLFAs are mainly derived from storage compounds, but a potential contribution from degraded phospholipids needs further validation. Isotopic labelling could resolve this, making NLFAs a valuable biomarker for microbial storage compounds in soil.
HighlightsBacterial NLFAs originate from triacylglycerols (TAGs) or degraded phospholipids
Neutral lipids are not necessarily produced during phospholipid degradation
Soil bacteria have the genetic potential to produce TAGs for storage
Rapid transfer of excess glucose-13C into soil bacterial NLFAs suggests storage
Bacterial NLFAs are markers for carbon storage rather than necromassCover crops (CC) introduced to reduce leaching of nitrate may also improve soil microbial properties and phosphorus (P) uptake in crops that follow. These effects may depend on soil P status and the quality of the CC residues.
AimOur aim was to quantify the more persistent effects of incorporation of residues of three different CC species on barley growth and P uptake and whether any response in growth and P uptake was related to soil P status and changes in soil microbial properties.
MethodsWe examined the impact of soil P status, CC species, and residue fraction (shoots and/or roots) on the growth of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) and soil microbial properties. Shoot and root residues from three contrasting CC (oats, Avena sativa; corncockle, Agrostemma githago; lupine, Lupinus angustifolius) were incubated for 2 months in soil with low and medium P status. Dry matter yield and P offtake characterized effects of CC residues on barley while phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs), neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFAs), and enzyme activity characterized soil microbial properties after barley harvest.
ResultsEffects of shoot residues on barley yield and P offtake appeared neutral or positive and not affected by soil P status, while the effect of root residues appeared negative for medium P soil and neutral for low P soil. With lupine shoot biomass, however, barley yield and P offtake increased in both soils. Neither CC treatments nor soil P status affected the microbial community composition (bacterial and fungal specific PLFAs). Lupine roots increased phosphomonoesterase, and lupine residues generally stimulated microbial abundance (total microbial PLFAs) compared to other CC treatments.
ConclusionWe conclude that the effect of CC residues on the following crop and soil microorganisms depends on soil P status and that lupine had the largest positive impact on barley growth.