Latitudinal shifts of soil microbial biomass seasonality

Fazhu Zhao; Liyuan He; Ben Bond-Lamberty; Ivan A. Janssens; Jieying Wang; Guowei Pang; Yuwei Wu; Xiaofeng Xu

doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac254

Latitudinal shifts of soil microbial biomass seasonality

Fazhu Zhao, Liyuan He, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Ivan A. Janssens, Jieying Wang, Guowei Pang, Yuwei Wu, Xiaofeng Xu

Ecosystem Processes

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Soil microbes ultimately drive the mineralization of soil organic carbon and thus ecosystem functions. We compiled a dataset of the seasonality of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and developed a semi-mechanistic model to map monthly MBC across the globe. MBC exhibits an equatorially symmetric seasonality between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, MBC peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at low latitudes (<25^◦N), peaks in the spring and is minimal in autumn at mid-latitudes (25^◦N to 50^◦N), while peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at high latitudes (>50^◦N). This latitudinal shift of MBC seasonality is attributed to an interaction of soil temperature, soil moisture, and substrate availability. The MBC seasonality is inconsistent with patterns of heterotrophic respiration, indicating that MBC as a proxy for microbial activity is inappropriate at this resolution. This study highlights the need to explicitly represent microbial physiology in microbial models. The interactive controls of environments and substrate on microbial seasonality provide insights for better representing microbial mechanisms in simulating ecosystem functions at the seasonal scale.

Original language	English
Article number	pgac254
Journal	PNAS Nexus
Volume	1
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac254
State	Published - Nov 1 2022

Funding

The authors are grateful to the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that have substantially improved the manuscript. X.X. and L.H. were supported by the US National Science Foundation (2145130 to X.X.), San Diego State University, and the CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology. This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (42277284 to F.Z.) and the 2021 first funds for the central government to guide local science and technology development in the Qinghai Province (No. 2021ZY002 to F.Z.). X.X. and L.H. were supported by the US National Science Foundation (2145130 to X.X.), San Diego State University, and the CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology. This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (42277284 to F.Z.) and the 2021 first funds for the central government to guide local science and technology development in the Qinghai Province (No. 2021ZY002 to F.Z.).

Keywords

heterotrophic respiration
latitude
seasonality
soil microbial biomass

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10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac254

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title = "Latitudinal shifts of soil microbial biomass seasonality",

abstract = "Soil microbes ultimately drive the mineralization of soil organic carbon and thus ecosystem functions. We compiled a dataset of the seasonality of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and developed a semi-mechanistic model to map monthly MBC across the globe. MBC exhibits an equatorially symmetric seasonality between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, MBC peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at low latitudes (<25◦N), peaks in the spring and is minimal in autumn at mid-latitudes (25◦N to 50◦N), while peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at high latitudes (>50◦N). This latitudinal shift of MBC seasonality is attributed to an interaction of soil temperature, soil moisture, and substrate availability. The MBC seasonality is inconsistent with patterns of heterotrophic respiration, indicating that MBC as a proxy for microbial activity is inappropriate at this resolution. This study highlights the need to explicitly represent microbial physiology in microbial models. The interactive controls of environments and substrate on microbial seasonality provide insights for better representing microbial mechanisms in simulating ecosystem functions at the seasonal scale.",

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AU - He, Liyuan

AU - Bond-Lamberty, Ben

AU - Janssens, Ivan A.

AU - Wang, Jieying

AU - Pang, Guowei

AU - Wu, Yuwei

AU - Xu, Xiaofeng

PY - 2022/11/1

Y1 - 2022/11/1

N2 - Soil microbes ultimately drive the mineralization of soil organic carbon and thus ecosystem functions. We compiled a dataset of the seasonality of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and developed a semi-mechanistic model to map monthly MBC across the globe. MBC exhibits an equatorially symmetric seasonality between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, MBC peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at low latitudes (<25◦N), peaks in the spring and is minimal in autumn at mid-latitudes (25◦N to 50◦N), while peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at high latitudes (>50◦N). This latitudinal shift of MBC seasonality is attributed to an interaction of soil temperature, soil moisture, and substrate availability. The MBC seasonality is inconsistent with patterns of heterotrophic respiration, indicating that MBC as a proxy for microbial activity is inappropriate at this resolution. This study highlights the need to explicitly represent microbial physiology in microbial models. The interactive controls of environments and substrate on microbial seasonality provide insights for better representing microbial mechanisms in simulating ecosystem functions at the seasonal scale.

AB - Soil microbes ultimately drive the mineralization of soil organic carbon and thus ecosystem functions. We compiled a dataset of the seasonality of microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and developed a semi-mechanistic model to map monthly MBC across the globe. MBC exhibits an equatorially symmetric seasonality between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, MBC peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at low latitudes (<25◦N), peaks in the spring and is minimal in autumn at mid-latitudes (25◦N to 50◦N), while peaks in autumn and is minimal in spring at high latitudes (>50◦N). This latitudinal shift of MBC seasonality is attributed to an interaction of soil temperature, soil moisture, and substrate availability. The MBC seasonality is inconsistent with patterns of heterotrophic respiration, indicating that MBC as a proxy for microbial activity is inappropriate at this resolution. This study highlights the need to explicitly represent microbial physiology in microbial models. The interactive controls of environments and substrate on microbial seasonality provide insights for better representing microbial mechanisms in simulating ecosystem functions at the seasonal scale.

KW - heterotrophic respiration

KW - latitude

KW - seasonality

KW - soil microbial biomass

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Latitudinal shifts of soil microbial biomass seasonality

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Keywords

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