A1 Journal article (refereed)
Reduction of forest soil biota impacts tree performance but not greenhouse gas fluxes (2025)

Georgopoulos, K., Bezemer, T. M., Christiansen, J. R., Larsen, K. S., Moerman, G., Vermeulen, R., Anslan, S., Tedersoo, L., & Gomes, S. I. (2025). Reduction of forest soil biota impacts tree performance but not greenhouse gas fluxes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 200, Article 109643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2024.109643

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Georgopoulos, Konstantinos; Bezemer, T. Martijn; Christiansen, Jesper Riis; Larsen, Klaus Steenberg; Moerman, Gina; Vermeulen, Roos; Anslan, Sten; Tedersoo, Leho; Gomes, Sofia IF.

Journal or series: Soil Biology and Biochemistry

ISSN: 0038-0717

eISSN: 1879-3428

Publication year: 2025

Publication date: 02/11/2024

Volume: 200

Article number: 109643

Publisher: Elsevier

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2024.109643

Research data link: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dfn2z35bg

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/98391

Abstract

Soil communities are essential to ecosystem functioning, yet the impact of reducing soil biota on root-associated communities, tree performance, and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes remains unclear. This study examines how different size fractions of soil biota from young and mature forests influence Alnus glutinosa performance, root-associated community composition, and GHG fluxes. We conducted a mesocosm experiment using soil community fractions (wet sieving through 250, 20, 11, and 3 μm) from young and mature forest developmental stages as inocula. The results indicate that the root-associated community composition was shaped by forest developmental stage but not by the size of the community fractions. Inoculation with the largest size fraction from mature forests negatively affected tree growth, likely due to increased competition between the plants and soil biota. In addition, GHG fluxes were not significantly impacted by either size fraction or forest developmental stage despite the different community composition supplied. Overall, our research indicates that A. glutinosa strongly selects the composition of the root-associated community, despite differences in the initial inoculum, and this composition varies depending on the stage of ecosystem development, impacting the performance of the trees but not GHG fluxes.

Keywords: soil biology; soil biota; mycorrhiza; mycorrhizal fungi; Alnus incana; greenhouse gases

Free keywords: soil microbial community; root associated community composition; fractionation; greenhouse gas fluxes; alnus glutinosa

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

JUFO rating: 3

Preliminary JUFO rating: 3