Soil fungal community responses to global changes

The seasonal dynamics of soil fungal and bacterial communities are important for understanding the future ecosystem responses to global change due to their role in nutrient cycling and organic matter decomposition. After fourth year of increased temperature, extended drought and elevated CO2, soil samples were collected during one year to gain insight into how these treatments affected seasonal fluctuations in both fungal and bacterial communities. We combined quantitative PCR and 454pyrosequencing of the fungi and bacteria with analyses of total soil pools of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. During the study period of one year, the bacterial community composition remained stable across both season and treatments without any major shifts in bacterial phyla. In contrast the fungal abundance and community composition changed due to season. In addition the functionality of the fungal community was altered by the global change manipulations. The main drivers of these changes were the single-factors while the multi-factor treatments. In conclusion, this study is one of the few studies considering both soil fungal and bacterial community compositions; however, our results highlight the importance of considering the entire principle decomposer community when investigating the impact of global change factors on future ecosystems.