Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes
Soil microorganisms are key drivers of soil biochemical processes, but the resilience of microbial communities and their metabolic activity after an extreme environmental change is still largely unknown. We studied structural (bacterial and fungal communities) and functional responses (soil respirat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | Agriculture |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/268 |
| _version_ | 1797483832441569280 |
|---|---|
| author | Stefano Mocali Antonio Gelsomino Paolo Nannipieri Roberta Pastorelli Laura Giagnoni Beatrix Petrovicova Giancarlo Renella |
| author_facet | Stefano Mocali Antonio Gelsomino Paolo Nannipieri Roberta Pastorelli Laura Giagnoni Beatrix Petrovicova Giancarlo Renella |
| author_sort | Stefano Mocali |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soil microorganisms are key drivers of soil biochemical processes, but the resilience of microbial communities and their metabolic activity after an extreme environmental change is still largely unknown. We studied structural (bacterial and fungal communities) and functional responses (soil respiration, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content, hydrolase activities involved in the mineralization of organic C, N, P and S, and microbial community-level physiological profiles (CLPPs)) during the microbial recolonization of three heat-sterilized forest soils followed by cross- or self-reinoculation and incubation for 1, 7 and 30 days. Soil ATP content, biochemical activities and CLPP were annihilated by autoclaving, whereas most of the hydrolase activities were reduced to varying extents depending on the soil and enzyme activity considered. During the incubation period, the combination of self- and cross-reinoculation of different sterilized soils produced rapid dynamic changes in enzymatic activity as well as in microbial structure and catabolic activity. Physicochemical properties of the original soils exerted a major influence in shaping soil functional diversity, while reinoculation of sterilized soils promoted faster and greater changes in bacterial community structure than in fungal communities, varying with incubation period and soil type. Our results also confirmed the importance of microbial richness in determining soil resilience under severe disturbances. In particular, the new microbial communities detected in the treated soils revealed the occurrence of taxa which were not detected in the original soils. This result confirmed that rare microbial taxa rather than the dominant ones may be the major drivers of soil functionality and resilience. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:52:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e60f26df54684996bc9a3b9fbe62996b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0472 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T22:52:45Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agriculture |
| spelling | doaj.art-e60f26df54684996bc9a3b9fbe62996b2023-11-23T18:17:26ZengMDPI AGAgriculture2077-04722022-02-0112226810.3390/agriculture12020268Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental ChangesStefano Mocali0Antonio Gelsomino1Paolo Nannipieri2Roberta Pastorelli3Laura Giagnoni4Beatrix Petrovicova5Giancarlo Renella6Research Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Via di Lanciola 12/A, Cascine del Riccio, 50125 Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural Sciences, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, ItalyDepartment of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry, University of Florence, P.le delle Cascine, 28, 50144 Firenze, ItalyResearch Centre for Agriculture and Environment, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Via di Lanciola 12/A, Cascine del Riccio, 50125 Firenze, ItalyDepartment of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Environmental and Mathematics (DICATAM), University of Brescia, Via Branze, 43, 25123 Brescia, ItalyDepartment of Agricultural Sciences, Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria, Feo di Vito, 89122 Reggio Calabria, ItalyDepartment of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), University of Padua, Viale dell’Università 16, Legnaro, 35020 Padova, ItalySoil microorganisms are key drivers of soil biochemical processes, but the resilience of microbial communities and their metabolic activity after an extreme environmental change is still largely unknown. We studied structural (bacterial and fungal communities) and functional responses (soil respiration, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content, hydrolase activities involved in the mineralization of organic C, N, P and S, and microbial community-level physiological profiles (CLPPs)) during the microbial recolonization of three heat-sterilized forest soils followed by cross- or self-reinoculation and incubation for 1, 7 and 30 days. Soil ATP content, biochemical activities and CLPP were annihilated by autoclaving, whereas most of the hydrolase activities were reduced to varying extents depending on the soil and enzyme activity considered. During the incubation period, the combination of self- and cross-reinoculation of different sterilized soils produced rapid dynamic changes in enzymatic activity as well as in microbial structure and catabolic activity. Physicochemical properties of the original soils exerted a major influence in shaping soil functional diversity, while reinoculation of sterilized soils promoted faster and greater changes in bacterial community structure than in fungal communities, varying with incubation period and soil type. Our results also confirmed the importance of microbial richness in determining soil resilience under severe disturbances. In particular, the new microbial communities detected in the treated soils revealed the occurrence of taxa which were not detected in the original soils. This result confirmed that rare microbial taxa rather than the dominant ones may be the major drivers of soil functionality and resilience.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/268microbial diversityenzymescatabolic activitysoil recolonizationsterilizationresilience |
| spellingShingle | Stefano Mocali Antonio Gelsomino Paolo Nannipieri Roberta Pastorelli Laura Giagnoni Beatrix Petrovicova Giancarlo Renella Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes Agriculture microbial diversity enzymes catabolic activity soil recolonization sterilization resilience |
| title | Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes |
| title_full | Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes |
| title_fullStr | Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes |
| title_short | Short-Term Resilience of Soil Microbial Communities and Functions Following Severe Environmental Changes |
| title_sort | short term resilience of soil microbial communities and functions following severe environmental changes |
| topic | microbial diversity enzymes catabolic activity soil recolonization sterilization resilience |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/12/2/268 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stefanomocali shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges AT antoniogelsomino shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges AT paolonannipieri shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges AT robertapastorelli shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges AT lauragiagnoni shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges AT beatrixpetrovicova shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges AT giancarlorenella shorttermresilienceofsoilmicrobialcommunitiesandfunctionsfollowingsevereenvironmentalchanges |