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  4. Above- and belowground linkages in Sphagnum peatland: climate warming affects plant-microbial interactions
 
research article

Above- and belowground linkages in Sphagnum peatland: climate warming affects plant-microbial interactions

Jassey, Vincent E. J.
•
Chiapusio, Genevieve
•
Binet, Philippe
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2013
Global Change Biology

Peatlands contain approximately one third of all soil organic carbon (SOC). Warming can alter above- and belowground linkages that regulate soil organic carbon dynamics and C-balance in peatlands. Here we examine the multiyear impact of in situ experimental warming on the microbial food web, vegetation, and their feedbacks with soil chemistry. We provide evidence of both positive and negative impacts of warming on specific microbial functional groups, leading to destabilization of the microbial food web. We observed a strong reduction (70%) in the biomass of top-predators (testate amoebae) in warmed plots. Such a loss caused a shortening of microbial food chains, which in turn stimulated microbial activity, leading to slight increases in levels of nutrients and labile C in water. We further show that warming altered the regulatory role of Sphagnum-polyphenols on microbial community structure with a potential inhibition of top predators. In addition, warming caused a decrease in Sphagnum cover and an increase in vascular plant cover. Using structural equation modelling, we show that changes in the microbial food web affected the relationships between plants, soil water chemistry, and microbial communities. These results suggest that warming will destabilize C and nutrient recycling of peatlands via changes in above- and belowground linkages, and therefore, the microbial food web associated with mosses will feedback positively to global warming by destabilizing the carbon cycle. This study confirms that microbial food webs thus constitute a key element in the functioning of peatland ecosystems. Their study can help understand how mosses, as ecosystem engineers, tightly regulate biogeochemical cycling and climate feedback in peatlands

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1111/gcb.12075
Web of Science ID

WOS:000314219700013

Author(s)
Jassey, Vincent E. J.
Chiapusio, Genevieve
Binet, Philippe
Buttler, Alexandre  
Laggoun-Defarge, Fatima
Delarue, Frederic
Bernard, Nadine
Mitchell, Edward A. D.
Toussaint, Marie-Laure
Francez, Andre-Jean
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Date Issued

2013

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Published in
Global Change Biology
Volume

19

Issue

3

Start page

811

End page

823

Subjects

food chains

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microbial food web

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plant and microbial communities

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polyphenols

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testate amoebae

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water chemistry

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
ECOS  
Available on Infoscience
March 28, 2013
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/90723
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