Unraveling the Importance of Polyphenols for Microbial Carbon Mineralization in Rewetted Riparian Peatlands (original) (raw)
Related papers
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2014
Updated information and services can be found at: These include: SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL Supplemental material REFERENCES http://aem.asm.org/content/80/11/3531#ref-list-1 at: This article cites 65 articles, 17 of which can be accessed free CONTENT ALERTS more» articles cite this article), Receive: RSS Feeds, eTOCs, free email alerts (when new http://journals.asm.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml Information about commercial reprint orders: http://journals.asm.org/site/subscriptions/ To subscribe to to another ASM Journal go to:
Vegetation and Microbes Interact to Preserve Organic Matter in Wooded Peatlands
2020
Peatlands have persisted as massive carbon sinks over millennia, even during past periods of climate change. The commonly accepted theory of abiotic controls (mainly anoxia and low temperature) over carbon decomposition cannot explain how vast low-latitude wooded peatlands consistently accrete peat under warm and seasonally unsaturated conditions. Similarly, that theory cannot accurately project the decomposition rate in boreal peatlands where warming and drought have decreased Sphagnum and increased shrub expansion. Here, by comparing composition and ecological traits of microbes between Sphagnum-and shrub-dominated peatlands, we present a previously unrecognized natural course that curbs carbon loss against climate change. Slow-growing microbes decisively dominate the studied wooded peatlands, concomitant with plant-induced, high recalcitrant carbon and phenolics. The slow-growing microbes inherently metabolize organic matter slowly. However, the fast-growing microbes that dominate our Sphagnum site (most boreal peatlands as well) decomposed labile carbon >30 times faster than the slow-growing microbes. We show that the high-phenolic shrub/tree induced shifts in microbial composition may compensate for positive effects of temperature and/or drought on metabolism over time in peatlands. This biotic self-sustaining process that modulates abiotic controls on carbon cycling may help better project long-term climate-carbon feedbacks in peatlands.
Vegetation and microbes interact to preserve carbon in many wooded peatlands
Communications Earth & Environment
Peatlands have persisted as massive carbon sinks over millennia, even during past periods of climate change. The commonly accepted theory of abiotic controls (mainly anoxia and low temperature) over carbon decomposition cannot fully explain how vast low-latitude shrub/tree dominated (wooded) peatlands consistently accrete peat under warm and seasonally unsaturated conditions. Here we show, by comparing the composition and ecological traits of microbes between Sphagnum- and shrub-dominated peatlands, that slow-growing microbes decisively dominate the studied shrub-dominated peatlands, concomitant with plant-induced increases in highly recalcitrant carbon and phenolics. The slow-growing microbes metabolize organic matter thirty times slower than the fast-growing microbes that dominate our Sphagnum-dominated site. We suggest that the high-phenolic shrub/tree induced shifts in microbial composition may compensate for positive effects of temperature and/or drought on metabolism over time...