Drought effects on microbial carbon use efficiency regulated by particulate organic carbon and microbial life history strategy in a subtropical forest

doi:10.1093/jpe/rtag098

J Plant Ecol ›› Advance articles DOI:10.1093/jpe/rtag098

• Research Article • Next Articles

Drought effects on microbial carbon use efficiency regulated by particulate organic carbon and microbial life history strategy in a subtropical forest

Jing Huang¹, Yuling Fu^1,*, Nan Li², Tongyao Kong³, Lingyan Zhou⁴, Yuan Qi¹, Jingjing Meng¹, Xiangping Tan⁵, Shuxian Jia¹, Weijun Shen^5,6, Xuhui Zhou^1,3

¹Tiantong National Station for Forest Ecosystem Research, Center for Global Change and Ecological Forecasting, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China
²Institute of AI Model Industry Research, School of Computer Engineering, Suzhou Polytechnic University, Suzhou 215000, China
³Institute of Carbon Neutrality, Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, School of Ecology Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
⁴Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Plant Innovation, Shanghai Botanical Garden, Shanghai 200231, China
⁵Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China
⁶Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation, State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Agro-bioresources, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi 530004, China
^*Corresponding authors: Yuling Fu, School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences East China Normal University Email: ylfu@re.ecnu.edu.cn

Received:2026-01-13 Accepted:2026-04-23 Published:2026-05-13
Supported by:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 32271675, 42261144688, 32241032].

干旱对亚热带森林土壤微生物碳利用效率的影响受颗粒有机碳和微生物生活史策略的调控

Abstract

Abstract: Abstract: Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a critical determinant of soil carbon storage. However, the long-term effects of drought on microbial CUE, particularly across soil profiles, remain poorly understood and represent a major source of uncertainty in ecosystem modeling. Here, based on a 12-year throughfall reduction experiment in a subtropical forest, we investigated the effects of prolonged drought on microbial CUE in both topsoil (0–15 cm) and subsoil (15–30 cm). Our results showed that drought significantly decreased microbial CUE by 20.14% overall, but exerted divergent effects between the topsoil and subsoil layers. Specifically, drought significantly reduced CUE in the topsoil, whereas it unexpectedly increased CUE in the subsoil. This contrasting pattern reveals a previously underappreciated depth-dependent response of microbial carbon metabolism to long-term drought. This increase in subsoil CUE was attributed to the greater stress tolerance of subsoil microbial communities, as indicated by a significant increase in the bacterial yield-to-acquisition (Y/A) ratio under drought. Mechanistically, drought-induced changes in microbial CUE across soil depths were jointly regulated by shifts in substrate availability, particularly particulate organic carbon (POC), and changes in microbial life-history strategies, reflected in the trade-off between growth yield and resource acquisition. Across both soil depths, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria emerged as the strongest microbial predictor of CUE, while both bacterial and fungal richness were positively correlated with CUE (P < 0.05). These findings highlight the importance of incorporating depth-dependent POC dynamics and microbial Y/A strategy shifts into land surface models to improve predictions of soil carbon climate feedbacks.

This study reveals that the impact of prolonged drought on microbial CUE is depth-dependent, decreasing CUE in topsoil while increasing it in subsoil, a divergence jointly regulated by shifts in POC dynamics and microbial Y/A strategies.

Key words: drought stress, microbial carbon use efficiency, subtropical forest, particulate organic carbon, microbial life history strategy

摘要：
微生物碳利用效率（CUE）是土壤碳储量的关键决定因素。然而，干旱对微生物CUE的影响，尤其是其在土壤剖面中的差异，目前仍认识不足，成为生态系统建模不确定性的重要来源。本研究以亚热带森林为期12年的穿透雨减少实验为基础，探究了持续干旱对表土层（0–15 cm）和亚表层（15–30 cm）微生物CUE的影响。结果表明，干旱使微生物CUE显著降低20.14%，但在表土和亚表土之间表现出差异化的响应：干旱显著降低了表土的CUE，却提高了亚表土的CUE。这一对比鲜明的格局揭示，长期干旱下微生物碳代谢的响应具有深度依赖性，这一现象此前未被充分认识。干旱条件下细菌Y/A比值（即生长产量/获取策略之间的权衡）的显著上升，反映了亚表土微生物群落更强的胁迫耐受能力，进而驱动了亚表土CUE的增加。从机制上看，干旱引起的不同土壤深度微生物CUE的变化，由底物可利用性（尤其是POC）变化和微生物生活史策略（Y/A策略）转变共同驱动。此外，干旱条件下变形菌门的相对丰度是预测CUE的最强微生物因子，而细菌和真菌的丰富度均与CUE呈显著正相关（P < 0.05）。这些发现强调了将深度依赖的POC动态和微生物Y/A策略转变纳入陆地表面模型的重要性，这对于改进土壤碳-气候反馈的预测具有重要意义。

关键词: 干旱胁迫, 微生物碳利用效率, 亚热带森林, 颗粒有机碳, 微生物生活史策略

Jing Huang, Yuling Fu, Nan Li, Tongyao Kong, Lingyan Zhou, Yuan Qi, Jingjing Meng, Xiangping Tan, Shuxian Jia, Weijun Shen, Xuhui Zhou. Drought effects on microbial carbon use efficiency regulated by particulate organic carbon and microbial life history strategy in a subtropical forest[J]. J Plant Ecol, DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtag098.

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Drought effects on microbial carbon use efficiency regulated by particulate organic carbon and microbial life history strategy in a subtropical forest

干旱对亚热带森林土壤微生物碳利用效率的影响受颗粒有机碳和微生物生活史策略的调控

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