1. Unearthing the soil-borne microbiome of land plantsRaúl Ochoa-Hueso, David J. Eldridge, Miguel Berdugo, Pankaj Trivedi, Blessing Sokoya, Concha Cano-Díaz, Sebastian Abades, Fernando D. Alfaro, Adebola R. Bamigboye, Felipe Bastida, Tine Grebenc, Tina Unuk Nahberger, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: Plant–soil biodiversity interactions are fundamental for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, the existence of a set of globally distributed topsoil microbial and small invertebrate organisms consistently associated with land plants (i.e., their consistent soil-borne microbiome), together with the environmental preferences and functional capabilities of these organisms, remains unknown. We conducted a standardized field survey under 150 species of land plants, including 58 species of bryophytes and 92 of vascular plants, across 124 locations from all continents. We found that, despite the immense biodiversity of soil organisms, the land plants evaluated only shared a small fraction (less than 1%) of all microbial and invertebrate taxa that were present across contrasting climatic and soil conditions and vegetation types. These consistent taxa were dominated by generalist decomposers and phagotrophs and their presence was positively correlated with the abundance of functional genes linked to mineralization. Finally, we showed that crossing environmental thresholds in aridity (aridity index of 0.65, i.e., the transition from mesic to dry ecosystems), soil pH (5.5; i.e., the transition from acidic to strongly acidic soils), and carbon (less than 2%, the lower limit of fertile soils) can result in drastic disruptions in the associations between land plants and soil organisms, with potential implications for the delivery of soil ecosystem processes under ongoing global environmental change.
Keywords: belowground networks, environmental thresholds, moss microbiome, plant microbiome, plant–soil interactions
Published in DiRROS: 31.05.2024; Views: 81; Downloads: 78
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2. Forest managers’ perspectives on environmental changes in the biosphere reserve Mura-Drava-DanubeMarcus Sallmannshofer, Rok Damjanić, Harald Vacik, Marjana Westergren, Tjaša Baloh, Gregor Božič, Mladen Ivanković, Gyula Kovács, Miran Lanšćak, Katharina Lapin, Laszlo Nagy, Silvija Krajter Ostoić, Saša Orlović, Srđan Stojnić, Peter Železnik, Milica Zlatković, Silvio Schueler, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Riparian forests are particularly vulnerable to environmental change and anthropogenic influences because they are highly dynamic ecosystems, thus proper adaptation measures are crucial. The implementation of these measures, however, strongly depends on the actors’ perceptions of the specific problems occurring in such forests. For understanding the constraints of specific interest groups toward different adaptation activities, information in this field is essential. By conducting a questionnaire survey we explore how different types of forest managers, i.e., forestry professionals, forest owners, and conservation managers, perceive the effects of environmental change on forest management in the recently established Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube. We show that these forest managers are highly aware of ongoing environmental changes and appraise deteriorating forest conditions, especially after observing changes themselves. Abiotic damage is expected to increase the most, followed by biotic damage, the spread of non-native species, and tree dieback. Nearly 80% of the survey respondents expect further changes and almost all of them intend to adapt their management of forests to mitigate or prepare for these changes. Nevertheless, we show differences in sensitivity to change and willingness to initiate adaptation actions by assessing adaptation thresholds: conservation managers appear generally more tolerant to changes, which results in higher thresholds to initiate management adaptation than forestry professionals
Keywords: biosphere reserve Mura-Drava-Danube, forest management, sensitivity to environmental change, stakeholder perception, adaptation thresholds, riparian forest tree species
Published in DiRROS: 31.05.2023; Views: 455; Downloads: 336
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