Pedosphere 35(6): 945--956, 2025
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2025 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Soil microbial carbon consumption is affected by tree and mammal diversity |
María LOSADA1, Mar SOBRAL2 , Antonio M. MARTÍNEZ CORTIZAS3, Carlos E. P. CERRI4, Kristen M. DEANGELIS5, Sara VARELA6, José M. V. FRAGOSO7,8, Kirsten M. SILVIUS9 |
1 Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża 17-230 (Poland);
2 Departamento de Xeografía, Facultade de Xeografía e Historia, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela 15703 (Spain);
3 CRETUS-EcoPast (GI-1553), Departmento de Edafoloxía e Química Agrícola, Facultade de Bioloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela 15782 (Spain);
4 Department of Soil Science, ESALQ, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba SP 13418-900 (Brazil);
5 Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003-9298 (USA);
6 MAPAS Lab, Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Vigo 36310 (Spain);
7 Departamento de Zoologia, IB, Universidade de Brasılia, Brasılia DF 70910-900 (Brazil);
8 Institute of Biodiversity Science and Sustainability, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco CA 94118 (USA);
9 Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA 24061 (USA) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Trees, mammals, and microbes relate to soil carbon (C) cycle. Trees capture C, and mammals consume plants and other animals, both contributing to organic remains that are then degraded by soil microbes. This organic C can be stored in soils or released into the atmosphere through microbial mineralization. Yet, the simultaneous effects of mammals and trees on C consumption by soil microbes have not been investigated. For 30 sampling sites in a mixed forest-savanna environment in southern Guyana, we jointly analyzed observational data of mammal and tree communities along with soil organic matter (SOM) composition (using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with attenuated total reflectance, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and CNH elemental analyzer) and soil microbial C consumption (using Biolog EcoPlates). It was found that higher mammal functional richness (FRic) and functional evenness (FEve) were related to reduced overall C consumption by soil microbes (for FRic: regression coefficient (β) = -0.010, standard error (SE) = 0.005, P = 0.034; for FEve: β = -0.012, SE = 0.005, P = 0.010) with the coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.359, explaining 36% of the variance in average well color development values, whereas a higher tree richness was associated with a reduced diversity of C sources consumed by soil microbial communities (β = -0.353, SE = 0.172, P = 0.041) with the R2 value of 0.290, explaining 29% of the variance in Shannon diversity index values. Our results indicate that mammal and tree communities have complementary effects on soil microbial C consumption, improving our understanding of the functioning of C cycle in the high-diversity Amazon biome. These findings are crucial in elucidating the intricate connections between above- and belowground biodiversity that influence the accumulation and stabilization of soil organic C. |
| Key Words: carbon cycle|mammal functional diversity|soil microbial community|soil organic carbon composition|tree richness|tropical soil |
| Citation: Losada M, Sobral M, Martínez Cortizas A M, Cerri C E P, DeAngelis K M, Varela S, Fragoso J M V, Silvius K M. 2025. Soil microbial carbon consumption is affected by tree and mammal diversity. Pedosphere. 35(6): 945-956. |
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