{"id":3208,"date":"2021-03-25T13:54:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/?p=3208"},"modified":"2021-03-25T14:03:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T14:03:32","slug":"incorporation-of-mineral-nitrogen-into-the-soil-food-web-as-affected-by-plant-community-composition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/2021\/03\/25\/incorporation-of-mineral-nitrogen-into-the-soil-food-web-as-affected-by-plant-community-composition\/","title":{"rendered":"New publication from Strecker et al. in Ecology and Evolution: Incorporation of mineral nitrogen into the soil food web as affected by plant community composition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"justify\">Although nitrogen (N) deposition is increasing globally, N availability  still limits many organisms, such as microorganisms and mesofauna.  However, little is known to which extent soil organisms rely on  mineral\u2010derived N and whether plant community composition modifies its  incorporation into soil food webs. More diverse plant communities more  effectively compete with microorganisms for mineral N likely reducing  the incorporation of mineral\u2010derived N into soil food webs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"861\" height=\"463\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-147.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3210\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-147.png 861w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/image-147-300x161.png 300w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/image-147-768x413.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 861px) 100vw, 861px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justify\">We set up a  field experiment in experimental grasslands with different levels of  plant species and functional group richness. We labeled soil with <sup>15<\/sup>NH<sub>4<\/sub><sup>15<\/sup>NO<sub>3<\/sub> and analyzed the incorporation of mineral\u2010derived <sup>15<\/sup>N  into soil microorganisms and mesofauna over 3\u00a0months. Mineral\u2010derived N  incorporation decreased over time in all investigated organisms. Plant  species richness and presence of legumes reduced the uptake of  mineral\u2010derived N into microorganisms. In parallel, the incorporation of  mineral\u2010derived <sup>15<\/sup>N into mesofauna species declined with  time and decreased with increasing plant species richness in the  secondary decomposer springtail <em>Ceratophysella<\/em> sp. Effects of  both plant species richness and functional group richness on other  mesofauna species varied with time. The presence of grasses increased  the <sup>15<\/sup>N incorporation into <em>Ceratophysella<\/em> sp., but decreased it in the primary decomposer oribatid mite <em>Tectocepheus velatus sarekensis<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"884\" height=\"392\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-148.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3211\" srcset=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-148.png 884w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/image-148-300x133.png 300w, \/wp-content\/uploads\/image-148-768x341.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 884px) 100vw, 884px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"justify\">The results highlight that mineral N is quickly channeled into soil  animal food webs via microorganisms irrespective of plant diversity. The  amount of mineral\u2010derived N incorporated into soil animals, and the  plant community properties affecting this incorporation, differed  markedly between soil animal taxa, reflecting species\u2010specific use of  food resources. Our results highlight that plant diversity and community  composition alter the competition for N in soil and change the transfer  of N across trophic levels in soil food webs, potentially leading to  changes in soil animal population dynamics and community composition.  Sustaining high plant diversity may buffer detrimental effects of  elevated N deposition on soil biota. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Reference<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Strecker, T,  Jesch, A,  Bachmann, D, et al.  Incorporation of mineral nitrogen into the soil food web as affected by plant community composition. <em>Ecol Evol<\/em>.  2021; 00: 1\u2013 15. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ece3.7325\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/ece3.7325<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although nitrogen (N) deposition is increasing globally, N availability still limits many organisms, such as microorganisms and mesofauna. However, little is known to which extent soil organisms rely on mineral\u2010derived&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3208"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3217,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3208\/revisions\/3217"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-jena-experiment.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}