Effects of plant functional diversity on the ecosystem responses to forest harvesting
EMSL Project ID
60014
Abstract
Forests are important ecosystem that help to maintain the global C balance largely due to C storage in soils, but also play multiple additional roles including the important economic role as the source of wood as a raw material. It is important to know how much do forest management practices affect C cycling and storage in forests and how does the management effect depend on environmntal conditions. Trees and plants with different functional traits, i.e. those forming ectomycorrhizal (ECM), arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) and ericoid mycorrhiza (ERM) represent an important driver of soil microbiomes, and especially their fungal part. Due to differences in the functioning of the ECM, AM and ERM symbioses in relation to C and nutrient cycling, stand harvesting practices are expected to differently affect forests with various mycorrhizal symbioses. This project seeks to analyse the functioning of forest soil microbiomes in forest stands harvested either with clearcutting or retention harvesting in a short-term by linking the response of important ecosystem processes (C-cycling, N-cycling, C-storage) to those of microbial functional guilds. The understanding of these effects is critically needed since the forest stands shortly after harvesting have the highest probability to become temporary C sources through greenghouse gasses (GHG) emissions. We expect that the ECM forests are most likely to increase C emissions while the soil organic matter in these stands also shifts to the highest recalcitrance. Our experimental system representing the dominant variants of forest mycorrhizal symbioses with an increasing level of plant functional diversity (ECM, ECM/AM, and ECM/AM/ERM) will also answer the basic questions about the nature of relationships among microbial functional guilds (namely saprotrophic fungi, ectomycorrhizal fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, ericoid mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria) thanks to their different response to harvesting. The project addresses the "Inter-organismal interactions" and their effects, namely the effects of plant-microbial symbioses on the exchange of carbon, nitrogen, and other elements in a belowground ecosystem, investigates signaling, cooperation and competition. It also addresses the impact of functional diversity within plant communities on plant-associated microbial communities, and plant-microbial interaction. In addition to microbiome analysis, this project also aims to track C flow through the soil organic matter, to distinguish its recalcitrant and transient components and to assess the tendency of soils of various ecosystems to store C. The assessment of C storage and GHG emissions in response to management represents key steps towards the understanding and predicting of the contribution of forest management to global C budgets and thus for the accounting for the management impact. This can practically lead to management recommendations or improvement of C budget estimates.
Project Details
Project type
FICUS Research
Start Date
2021-10-01
End Date
2023-12-31
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Co-Investigator(s)