Functional significance of microbial diversity in arid soils: biological soil crusts and nitrogen fixation as a model system

Biological soil crusts microbial communities, inhabitants of arid soils, show higher potential nitrogen fixation rates when experiencing their native environment or similar temperatures that could result from ecological specialization. Microbial communities respond to changes in environmental conditions; however, how compositional shifts affect ecosystem processes is still not well-understood and it is often assumed that different microbial communities will function equally under similar environmental conditions. We evaluated this assumption of functional redundancy using biological soil crusts (BSCs) from two arid ecosystems in Mexico with contrasting climate conditions (hot and cold deserts) following an experimental approach both in the field (reciprocal transplants) and in laboratory conditions (common garden), focusing on the community's composition and potential for nitrogen fixation. Potential of nitrogen fixation was assessed through the acetylene reduction assay. Community composition and diversity was determined with T-RFLPs of nifH gene, high throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons and metagenomic libraries. BSCs tended to show higher potential nitrogen fixation rates when experiencing temperatures more similar to their native environment. Moreover, changes in potential nitrogen fixation, taxonomic and functional community composition, and diversity often depended on an interactive effect of origin of the communities and the environment they experienced. We interpret our results as legacy effects that result from ecological specialization of the BSC communities to their native environment. Overall, we present evidence of nonfunctional redundancy of BSCs in terms of nitrogen fixation.

Automated summary

Microbial communities in biological soil crusts (BSCs), inhabitants of arid soils, show higher nitrogen fixation rates in their native environment or similar temperatures due to ecological specialization. Changes in environmental conditions can affect microbial communities, but the effect on ecosystem processes is not well understood. We evaluated this by studying BSCs from different desert ecosystems in Mexico and found that nitrogen fixation rates, community composition, and diversity depended on the origin of the communities and the environment they experienced. We interpret these results as legacy effects resulting from ecological specialization. Overall, our study suggests that BSCs do not exhibit functional redundancy in terms of nitrogen fixation.