Soil metabolome response to whole-ecosystem warming at the Spruce and Peatland Responses under Changing Environments experiment
Rachel Wilson, Malak Tfaily, Max Kolton, Eric R. Johnston, Caitlin Petro, C. Zalman, Paul J. Hanson, Heino Heyman, Jennifer Kyle, David Hoyt, Elizabeth Eder, Samuel Purvine, Randall K. Kolka, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Natalie A. Griffiths, Christopher W. Schadt, Jason K. Keller, Scott D. Bridgham, Jeffrey P. Chanton, Joel E. Kostka
Abstract
dynamics and methanogenic pathways. In support of this hypothesis, significant correlations were observed between metabolites and temperature consistent with increased availability of labile substrates, which may stimulate more rapid turnover of microbial proteins. An increase in the abundance of methanogenic genes in response to the increase in the abundance of labile substrates was accompanied by a shift toward acetoclastic and methylotrophic methanogenesis. Our results suggest that as peatland vegetation trends toward increasing vascular plant cover with warming, we can expect a concomitant shift toward increasingly methanogenic conditions and amplified climate-peatland feedbacks.