Soil bacterial networks are less stable under drought than fungal networks

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 3033 - 12
• Main Authors: de Vries, Franciska T., Griffiths, Rob I., Bailey, Mark, Craig, Hayley, Girlanda, Mariangela, Gweon, Hyun Soon, Hallin, Sara, Kaisermann, Aurore, Keith, Aidan M., Kretzschmar, Marina, Lemanceau, Philippe, Lumini, Erica, Mason, Kelly E., Oliver, Anna, Ostle, Nick, Prosser, James I., Thion, Cecile, Thomson, Bruce, Bardgett, Richard D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.08.2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 49; 49/23; 631/158/2165; 631/158/2463; 631/158/855; 704/158/2445; Bacteria; Bacteria - metabolism; Biomass; Community composition; Composition; Disturbances; Drought; Droughts; Ecological function; Ecosystem; Environmental Sciences; Fungi; Fungi - metabolism; Grasslands; Humanities and Social Sciences; Life Sciences; Markvetenskap; Mesocosms; Microbial activity; Microorganisms; Models, Biological; multidisciplinary; Networks; Plant communities; Plants - microbiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Soil; Soil Microbiology; Soil microorganisms; Soil moisture; Soil properties; Soil Science; Vegetal Biology; Vegetation
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05516-7

Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning, but it is unknown how co-occurrence networks within these communities respond to disturbances such as climate extremes. This represents an important knowledge gap because changes in microbial networks could have implications for their functioning and vulnerability to future disturbances. Here, we show in grassland mesocosms that drought promotes destabilising properties in soil bacterial, but not fungal, co-occurrence networks, and that changes in bacterial communities link more strongly to soil functioning during recovery than do changes in fungal communities. Moreover, we reveal that drought has a prolonged effect on bacterial communities and their co-occurrence networks via changes in vegetation composition and resultant reductions in soil moisture. Our results provide new insight in the mechanisms through which drought alters soil microbial communities with potential long-term consequences, including future plant community composition and the ability of aboveground and belowground communities to withstand future disturbances. Drought conditions can alter the composition of soil microbial communities, but the effects of drought on network properties have not been tested. Here, de Vries and colleagues show that co-occurrence networks are destabilised under drought for bacteria but not fungi.