title: Bouncing back: plant-associated soil microbes respond rapidly to prairie establishment.
abstract: It is well established that soil microbial communities change in response to altered land use and land cover, but less is known about the timing of these changes. Understanding temporal patterns in recovering microbial communities is an important part of improving how we assess and manage reconstructed ecosystems. We assessed patterns of community-level microbial diversity and abundance in corn and prairie plots 2 to 4 years after establishment in agricultural fields, using phospholipid fatty acid biomarkers. Principal components analysis of the lipid biomarkers revealed differing composition between corn and prairie soil microbial communities. Despite no changes to the biomass of Gram-positive bacteria and actinomycetes, total biomass, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biomass, and Gram-negative bacteria biomass were significantly higher in restored prairie plots, approaching levels found in long-established prairies. These results indicate that plant-associated soil microbes in agricultural soils can shift in less than 2 years after establishment of perennial grasslands.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States of America.
authors.forename: Anna J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Herzberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States of America; DOE-Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States of America.
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Duncan
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States of America; DOE-Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States of America.
authors.forename: Randall D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D018533:Biomass; D017753:Ecosystem; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D065948:Grassland; D059013:Microbial Consortia; D038821:Mycorrhizae; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D003313:Zea mays / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil