Microbial biomass, functional capacity, and community structure after 12 years of soil warming

We examined the effect of chronic soil warming on microbial biomass, functional capacity, and community structure in soil samples collected from the Soil Warming Study located at the Harvard Forest Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Twelve years of chronic soil warming at 5 °C above the ambient temperature resulted in a significant reduction in microbial biomass and the utilization of a suite of C substrates which included amino acids, carbohydrates, and carboxylic acids. Heating significantly reduced the abundance of fungal biomarkers. There was also a shift in the mineral soil microbial community towards gram positive bacteria and actinomycetes.