Post-agricultural tropical forest regeneration shifts soil microbial functional potential for carbon and nutrient cycling Academic Article

abstract

• Natural forest regeneration on abandoned agricultural land is an increasingly common, but understudied, landcover change in the tropics. We studied whether observed changes in microbial community composition with forest regeneration led to changes in functional potential. We used GeoChip 3.0 to measure microbial functional potential for carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and sulfur (S) cycling genes in pastures, early successional, and late successional forests in Puerto Rico. We found lower abundance and diversity of genes involved in C, N, and P in late successional forests compared to other landcover types. Soil microbial communities were functionally similar in active pastures and early successional forests. Our results suggest microbial functional potential varies with forest age, with potential implications for tropical biogeochemistry.

authors

• Smith, A. Peyton

published proceedings

• SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY

altmetric score

• 3.2

author list (cited authors)

• Pressler, Y., Zhou, J., He, Z., Van Nostrand, J. D., & Smith, A. P.

citation count

• 3

complete list of authors

• Pressler, Yamina||Zhou, Jizhong||He, Zhili||Van Nostrand, Joy D||Smith, A Peyton

publication date

• January 2020

publisher

• Elsevier  Publisher

published in

• Soil Biology and Biochemistry  Journal

keywords

• Carbon Cycling
• Forest Regeneration
• Geochip
• Microbial Functional Genes
• Nitrogen Cycling
• Tropical Soils

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107784

start page

• 107784

end page

• 107784

volume

• 145

user-defined tag

• 15 Life on Land