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Dryad

Dataset for: Relative contribution of high and low elevation soil microbes and nematodes to ecosystem functioning

Abstract

  1. Ecosystem productivity is largely dependent on soil nutrient cycling which, in turn, is driven by decomposition rates governed by locally-adapted belowground microbial and invertebrate communities. How climate change will impact soil biota and the correlated ecosystem functioning, however, remains largely an open question.
  2. To address this challenge, we first characterized the functional identity of soil microbial and nematode communities originated from the foothills or in the sub-alpine soils of the Alps, and then, using a full-factorial reciprocal transplant common garden experiment at two elevations, we asked whether soil biota from low elevation were more prone in generating nutrient cycling than high elevation soil biota. Specifically, we separately transplanted soil microbial and nematode to community from low and high elevation in their home or opposite elevation in pots added with a common plant community. 
  3. We found evidence for ecotypic and functional differentiation of the microbial and nematode communities growing in. We also observed a decrease in microbial diversity and activity at high elevation, and additionally, through nematodes’ functional characterization, we found increased fungal-dominated energy channels at high elevation.
  4. Moreover, while we found little effect of soil biodiversity change based on elevation of origin on plant productivity, soils inoculated with microbes originating from low elevation respired more than those originating at high elevation. This observation correlates well with the observed faster carbon degradation rates by the low-elevation microbial communities.
  5. Climate change can reshuffle soil invertebrate communities depending on organism-specific variation in range expansion, ultimately affecting soil fertility and vegetation productivity.