Waiting for the snow to melt…
We examined how abiotic (warming), and biotic (presence of dominant plant species) factors interact to affect soil microbial processes in montane meadow ecosystems at high and low elevations at the WaRM experimental sites near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado in the West Elk range of the southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado, USA, during the summer 2021 growing season. The low elevation site (low site) is at 2740 m elevation (38.715, -106.823) in an open meadow without tree cover, and the dominant plant species is a flowering forb, Wyethia amplexicaulis. The high elevation site (high site) (3460 m, 38.992, -107.067) is also described as open meadow with no tree cover and is dominated by Juncus drummondii, a monocot, grass-like herb. The low and high elevation sites have a mean summertime temperature of 14.9 and 10.9°C respectively, and a mean summertime precipitation of 143 and 151 mm The WaRM experimental design is a 2 × 2 factorial warming × dominant plant species removal experiment deployed at the high elevation site and the low elevation site. Each of the four treatments are replicated 8 times, for total of 32 plots (each of which is 2 × 2 m) at each elevation with warming imposed via transparent hexagonal open-top chambers (OTCs), 1.5 m in diameter, in the center of each warming plot and the dominant plant species (listed above) removed via clipping at soil level within removal plots. Treatments at this site have been deployed each summer (June-August) since 2013. We analyzed multiple soil microbial responses at three times throughout the growing season: pre-growing season [low site; approx. May 26, high site; approx. July 6], peak-growing season [low site; approx. June 23, high site; approx. July 21], and post-growing season [low site; approx. August 18, high site; approx. Sept 14]. We measured edaphic characteristics including volumetric soil water content. We measured soil microbial functions including soil respiration, microbial metabolic functional diversity, microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, and extracellular enzyme potential activity.
Knowledge graph centered on WARM experiment Soil Microbial Function, RMBL Colo with 8 nodes and 28 connections. Top connected: Boechera stricta, Wyethia amplexicaulis, Wyethia, Juncus, Juncus drummondii.
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