Defining trait-based microbial strategies with consequences for soil carbon cycling under climate change

By A. Malik, J. Martiny, Eoin L. Brodie, Adam C. Martiny, K. Treseder, S. Allison. The ISME Journal, 2018

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Microorganisms are critical in terrestrial carbon cycling because their growth, activity and interactions with the environment largely control the fate of recent plant carbon inputs, as well as the stability of assimilated carbon. Soil carbon stocks reflect a balance between microbial decomposition and stabilization of organic carbon. The balance can shift under altered environmental conditions, and new research suggests that knowledge of microbial physiology may be critical for projecting changes in soil carbon and improving the prognosis of climate change feedbacks. Still, predicting the ecosystem implications of microbial processes remains a challenge. Here we argue that this challenge can be met by identifying microbial life history strategies based on an organism9s phenotypic characteristics, or traits, and representing these strategies in models simulating different environmental conditions. By adapting several theories from macroecology, we define microbial high yield (Y), resource acquisition (A), and stress tolerator (S) strategies based on key traits that are linked to organismal fitness. Our Y-A-S framework can guide new empirical and modelling studies on the mechanisms driving soil carbon fluxes. By linking population-level response traits to community and ecosystem processes, our life history theory can improve predictive understanding of soil C responses to future climatic change.

Subfields: Ecology, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9aa4f7d6135d621396eb19db03d383948c166dd4