Cargando…

Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms

Soil invertebrate corpse decomposition is an ecologically significant, yet poorly understood, process affecting nutrient biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we attempted to answer how the substrate chemistry and microbial community change during soil invertebrate (earthworm) deco...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sun, Yao-Qin, Ge, Yuan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8386022/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34456883
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.682224
_version_ 1783742185627189248
author Sun, Yao-Qin
Ge, Yuan
author_facet Sun, Yao-Qin
Ge, Yuan
author_sort Sun, Yao-Qin
collection PubMed
description Soil invertebrate corpse decomposition is an ecologically significant, yet poorly understood, process affecting nutrient biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we attempted to answer how the substrate chemistry and microbial community change during soil invertebrate (earthworm) decomposition and what roles microbes play in this process. Specifically, the dead earthworms (Amynthas corticis) were buried in two soils where the earthworms inhabited, or not, until more than 50% of the earthworm mass was lost. For both soils, earthworms decomposed faster during the early stage (between 0 and 3 days), as reflected by the higher rate of decomposition and increased accumulation of dissolved organic matter (DOM). This decomposition pattern was paralleled by bacterial community dynamics, where bacterial richness and diversity were significantly higher during early decomposition (p < 0.05) with the relative abundances of many genera decreasing as decomposition progressed. The succession of the bacterial community composition was significantly correlated with time-course changes in DOM composition (p < 0.05). Particularly, more functional groups (e.g., microbes associated with carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling) were identified to be linked with the change of a specific DOM type during the early decomposition phase. By exploring the ecologically important process of soil invertebrate decomposition and its associated bacterial communities, this study provides evidence, e.g., a statistically significant positive correlation between bacterial community and DOM compositions, which supports the widely recognized yet less-tested microbial community structure–function relationship hypothesis in invertebrate decomposition.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8386022
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83860222021-08-26 Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms Sun, Yao-Qin Ge, Yuan Front Microbiol Microbiology Soil invertebrate corpse decomposition is an ecologically significant, yet poorly understood, process affecting nutrient biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we attempted to answer how the substrate chemistry and microbial community change during soil invertebrate (earthworm) decomposition and what roles microbes play in this process. Specifically, the dead earthworms (Amynthas corticis) were buried in two soils where the earthworms inhabited, or not, until more than 50% of the earthworm mass was lost. For both soils, earthworms decomposed faster during the early stage (between 0 and 3 days), as reflected by the higher rate of decomposition and increased accumulation of dissolved organic matter (DOM). This decomposition pattern was paralleled by bacterial community dynamics, where bacterial richness and diversity were significantly higher during early decomposition (p < 0.05) with the relative abundances of many genera decreasing as decomposition progressed. The succession of the bacterial community composition was significantly correlated with time-course changes in DOM composition (p < 0.05). Particularly, more functional groups (e.g., microbes associated with carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling) were identified to be linked with the change of a specific DOM type during the early decomposition phase. By exploring the ecologically important process of soil invertebrate decomposition and its associated bacterial communities, this study provides evidence, e.g., a statistically significant positive correlation between bacterial community and DOM compositions, which supports the widely recognized yet less-tested microbial community structure–function relationship hypothesis in invertebrate decomposition. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8386022/ /pubmed/34456883 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.682224 Text en Copyright © 2021 Sun and Ge. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Sun, Yao-Qin
Ge, Yuan
Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms
title Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms
title_full Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms
title_fullStr Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms
title_full_unstemmed Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms
title_short Temporal Changes in the Function of Bacterial Assemblages Associated With Decomposing Earthworms
title_sort temporal changes in the function of bacterial assemblages associated with decomposing earthworms
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8386022/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34456883
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.682224
work_keys_str_mv AT sunyaoqin temporalchangesinthefunctionofbacterialassemblagesassociatedwithdecomposingearthworms
AT geyuan temporalchangesinthefunctionofbacterialassemblagesassociatedwithdecomposingearthworms