Plant-microbial responses to reduced precipitation depend on tree species in a temperate forest

Abstract

Given that global change is predicted to increase the frequency and severity of drought in temperate forests, it is critical to understand the degree to which plant belowground responses cascade through the soil system to drive ecosystem responses to water stress. While most research has focused on plant and microbial responses independently of each other, a gap in our understanding lies in the integrated response of plant-microbial interactions to water stress. We investigated the extent to which divergent belowground responses to reduced precipitation between sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum) versus oak trees (Oak spp.) may influence microbial activity via throughfall exclusion in the field. Evidence that oak trees send carbon belowground to prime microbial activity more than maples under ambient conditions and in response to water stress suggests there is the potential for corresponding impacts of reduced precipitation on microbial activity. As such, we tested the hypothesis that differences in belowground C allocation between oaks and maples would stimulate microbial activity in the oak treatment soils and reduce microbial activity in in the sugar maple treatment soils compared to their respective controls. We found that the treatment led to declines in N mineralization, soil respiration, and oxidative enzyme activity in the sugar maple treatment plot. These declines may be due to sugar maple trees reducing root C transfers to the soil. By contrast, the reduced precipitation treatment enhanced soil respiration, as well as rates of N mineralization and peroxidase activity in the oak rhizosphere. This enhanced activity suggests that oak roots provided optimal rhizosphere conditions during water stress to prime microbial activity to support net primary production. With future changes in precipitation predicted for forests in the Eastern US, we show that the strength of plant-microbial interactions drives the degree to which reduced precipitation impacts soil C and nutrient cycling.

Keywords: below ground carbon allocation; extracellular enzymes; microbial activity; nitrogen mineralization; plant-microbial interactions; reduced precipitation; soil respiration; water stress.