Despite strong seasonal responses, soil microbial consortia are more resilient to long-term changes in rainfall than overlying grassland

Climate change impacts on soil microbial communities could alter the structure of terrestrial ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles of the Earth. We used 16S rRNA gene microarrays to evaluate changes in the composition of grassland soil microbial communities under rainfall amendments simulating alternative climate change scenarios, and to compare these to responses of overlying plants and invertebrates. Following 5 years of rainfall manipulation, soil bacteria and archaea in plots where natural rain was supplemented differed little from ambient controls, despite profound treatment-related changes in the overlying grassland. During the sixth and seventh year, seasonal differences in bacterial and archaeal assemblages emerged among treatments, but only when watering exacerbated or alleviated periods of particularly aberrant conditions in the ambient climate. In contrast to effects on plants and invertebrates, effects on bacteria and archaea did not compound across seasons or years, indicating that soil microbial communities may be more robust than associated aboveground macroorganisms to certain alterations in climate. The ISME Journal (2009) 3, 738-744; doi: 10.1038/ismej.2009.16; published online 12 March 2009