Response of Soil Nitrogen Cycling to Induced Drought
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Date
2023-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Drought frequency and variable rainfall are predicted to become more severe over the coming years due to climate change. These shifts in precipitation could have detrimental effects on soil fauna, which are essential for governing ecosystem services. For instance, drought may heavily impact free-living nematode enrichment opportunists that are essential for nitrogen cycling. This study investigated the impact of drought on nematode communities that reflect biological nitrogen cycling within two contrasting systems: a perennial polyculture and annual row-crop. This study was conducted at the KBS-LTER (Hickory Corners, MI), where drought was induced on an early successional community and a no-till row-cropped system. Soil samples (10 cm depth) were taken at peak drought and post-drought in both systems using a 1.05 cm diameter soil probe. Samples were then analyzed for soil protein and nematode enrichment opportunists (nematode families that respond rapidly to N input). Results indicated that soil protein was greater in irrigated (control) early successional communities than all drought and no-till systems (p<0.05). In addition, enrichment opportunist nematode abundance was significantly greater in all irrigated systems when compared to drought systems (p<0.05). Enrichment opportunist abundance was also greater in no-till systems when compared to early successional systems (p<0.05). These results indicated that drought has the potential to cause detrimental effects on nematode enrichment opportunists, thereby affecting N cycling. Moreover, systems with greater perennial diversity have the potential to increase the resiliency of biological N cycling under drought conditions.