Long-term warming effects on the microbiome and nitrogen fixation associated with the moss Racomitrium lanuginosum in Icelandic tundra
AbstractBacterial communities form the basis of biogeochemical processes and determine plant growth and health. Mosses, an abundant plant group in Arctic ecosystems, harbour diverse bacterial communities that are involved in nitrogen fixation and carbon cycling. Global climate change is causing changes in aboveground plant biomass and shifting species composition in the Arctic, but little is known about the response of the moss microbiome. Here, we studied the total and potentially active bacterial community associated with Racomitrium lanuginosum, a common moss species in the Arctic, in response to 20-year in situ warming in an Icelandic heathland. We evaluated changes in moss bacterial community composition and diversity. Further, we assessed the consequences of warming for nifH gene copy numbers and nitrogen-fixation rates. Long-term warming significantly changed both the total and the potentially active bacterial community structure. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria increased, while the relative abundance of Cyanobacteria and Acidobacteria decreased. While warming did not affect nitrogen-fixation rates and nifH gene abundance, we did find shifts in the potentially nitrogen-fixing community, with Nostoc decreasing and non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs increasing in relative abundance. Our data suggests that the moss microbial community and the potentially nitrogen-fixing taxa are sensitive to future warming.