Evidence for older carbon loss with lowered water tables and changing plant functional groups in peatlands.

A small imbalance in plant productivity and decomposition accounts for the carbon (C) accumulation capacity of peatlands. As climate changes, the continuity of peatland net C storage relies on rising primary production to offset increasing ecosystem respiration (ER) along with the persistence of older C in waterlogged peat. A lowering in the water table position in peatlands often increases decomposition rates, but concurrent plant community shifts can interactively alter ER and plant productivity responses. The combined effects of water table variation and plant communities on older peat C loss are unknown. We used a full-factorial 1-m3 mesocosm array with vascular plant functional group manipulations (Unmanipulated Control, Sedge only, and Ericaceous only) and water table depth (natural and lowered) treatments to test the effects of plants and water depth on CO2 fluxes, decomposition, and older C loss. We used Δ14 C and δ13 C of ecosystem CO2 respiration, bulk peat, plants, and porewater dissolved inorganic C to construct mixing models partitioning ER among potential sources. We found that the lowered water table treatments were respiring C fixed before the bomb spike (1955) from deep waterlogged peat. Lowered water table Sedge treatments had the oldest dissolved inorganic 14 C signature and the highest proportional peat contribution to ER. Decomposition assays corroborated sustained high rates of decomposition with lowered water tables down to 40 cm below the peat surface. Heterotrophic respiration exceeded plant respiration at the height of the growing season in lowered water table treatments. Rates of gross primary production were only impacted by vegetation, whereas ER was affected by vegetation and water table depth treatments. The decoupling of respiration and primary production with lowered water tables combined with older C losses suggests that climate and land-use-induced changes in peatland hydrology can increase the vulnerability of peatland C stores.

The relationship of C and N stable isotopes to high-latitude moss-associated N2 fixation.

Moss-associated N2 fixation by epiphytic microbes is a key biogeochemical process in nutrient-limited high-latitude ecosystems. Abiotic drivers, such as temperature and moisture, and the identity of host mosses are critical sources of variation in N2 fixation rates. An understanding of the potential interaction between these factors is essential for predicting N inputs as moss communities change with the climate. To further understand the drivers and results of N2 fixation rate variation, we obtained natural abundance values of C and N isotopes and an associated rate of N2 fixation with 15N2 gas incubations in 34 moss species collected in three regions across Alaska, USA. We hypothesized that δ15N values would increase toward 0‰ with higher N2 fixation to reflect the increasing contribution of fixed N2 in moss biomass. Second, we hypothesized that δ13C and N2 fixation would be positively related, as enriched δ13C signatures reflect abiotic conditions favorable to N2 fixation. We expected that the magnitude of these relationships would vary among types of host mosses, reflecting differences in anatomy and habitat. We found little support for our first hypothesis, with only a modest positive relationship between N2 fixation rates and δ15N in a structural equation model. We found a significant positive relationship between δ13C and N2 fixation only in Hypnales, where the probability of N2 fixation activity reached 95% when δ13C values exceeded - 30.4‰. We conclude that moisture and temperature interact strongly with host moss identity in determining the extent to which abiotic conditions impact associated N2 fixation rates.

The bacterial communities of Alaskan mosses and their contributions to N2-fixation.

BACKGROUND: Mosses in high-latitude ecosystems harbor diverse bacterial taxa, including N2-fixers which are key contributors to nitrogen dynamics in these systems. Yet the relative importance of moss host species, and environmental factors, in structuring these microbial communities and their N2-fixing potential remains unclear. We studied 26 boreal and tundra moss species across 24 sites in Alaska, USA, from 61 to 69° N. We used cultivation-independent approaches to characterize the variation in moss-associated bacterial communities as a function of host species identity and site characteristics. We also measured N2-fixation rates via 15N2 isotopic enrichment and identified potential N2-fixing bacteria using available literature and genomic information. RESULTS: Host species identity and host evolutionary history were both highly predictive of moss microbiome composition, highlighting strong phylogenetic coherence in these microbial communities. Although less important, light availability and temperature also influenced composition of the moss microbiome. Finally, we identified putative N2-fixing bacteria specific to some moss hosts, including potential N2-fixing bacteria outside well-studied cyanobacterial clades. CONCLUSIONS: The strong effect of host identity on moss-associated bacterial communities demonstrates mosses' utility for understanding plant-microbe interactions in non-leguminous systems. Our work also highlights the likely importance of novel bacterial taxa to N2-fixation in high-latitude ecosystems. Video Abstract.