Fungal necromass is reduced by intensive drought in subsoil but not in topsoil
Data files
Oct 02, 2023 version files 28 KB
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Manuscript_s_data.xlsx
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README.md
Abstract
The frequency and intensity of droughts worldwide are challenging the conservation of soil organic carbon (SOC) pool. Microbial necromass is a key component of SOC, but how it responds to drought at specific soil depths remains largely unknown. Here, we conducted a three-year field experiment in a forest plantation to investigate the impacts of drought intensities under three treatments (ambient control (CK), moderate drought (30% throughfall removal), and intensive drought (50% throughfall removal)) on soil microbial necromass pools (i.e., bacterial necromass carbon (BNC), fungal necromass carbon (FNC), and total microbial necromass carbon (TNC)). We showed that the effects of drought on microbial necromass depended on microbial groups, soil depth, and drought intensity. While moderate drought increased total (+9.1±3.3%) and fungal (+13.5±4.9%) necromass carbon in the topsoil layer (0–15 cm), intensive drought reduced total (-31.6±3.7%) and fungal (-43.6±4.0%) necromass in the subsoil layer (15–30 cm). In contrast, both drought treatments significantly increased the bacterial necromass carbon in the topsoil and subsoil. Our results suggested that the effects of drought on the microbial necromass of the subsoil were more pronounced than those of the topsoil. This study highlights the complex responses of microbial necromass to drought events depending on microbial community structure, drought intensity and soil depth with global implications when forecasting carbon cycling under climate change.
README
Fungal necromass is reduced by intensive drought in subsoil but not in topsoil
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A drought simulation experiment was conducted on a poplar plantations in Jiangsu, China. In this study, the precipitation input was controlled by the rain canopy to simulate different drought conditions. We established three treatments, including a control without throughfall reduction (CK); moderate treatment with a 30% throughfall reduction (D30%); and intensive treatment with a 50% throughfall reduction (D50%). Each treatment was set up with three replicates for a total of nine plots.
Soil samples were extracted from all nine plots in 2021 (January in Winter, April in Spring, July in Summer, and October in Autumn). The soil samples collected for each plot are divided into 0-15cm topsoil and 15-30cm subsoil. We measured the content of microbial necromass in these soil samples as well as soil properties. Based on these data, we analyzed the ecological correlations between soil depth, drought intensity, soil properties and microbial necromass.
Description of the data and file structure
This dataset showed the raw data we used in the manuscript.
[Treatments]
CK means soil samples without throughfall removal, D30% means soil samples with 30% throughfall removal, and D50% implies soil samples with 50% throughfall removal.
[Variables]
Temp means soil temperature, Mois means soil moisture, FNC means fungal necromass carbon , BNC means beterial necromass carbon and TNC means total necromass carbon. The TNC=FNC+BNC.
[Seasons]
Win: Winter (January, 2021); Spr: Spring (April, 2021); Sum: Summer (July, 2021); Aut: Auntumn (October, 2021).
*These data is aggregated in an Excel file that can be accessed and observed in the corresponding tabs.
Code/Software
This data file can be opened and accessed using Microsoft Excel.