ArticleApplied and environmental microbiology2009
Contrasting soil pH effects on fungal and bacterial growth suggest functional redundancy in carbon mineralization.
Article in Applied and environmental microbiology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 284 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
284 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
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- Effectiveness of bio-effectors on maize, wheat and tomato performance and phosphorus acquisition from greenhouse to field scales in Europe and Israel: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in plant science · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of recultivation on soil organic carbon sequestration in abandoned coal mining sites: a meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Non-Linear Increases of Soil Carbon Stocks and Turnover Along Alpine Greening Gradients on Different Bedrocks.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria Mobilize Nano-Hydroxyapatite In Vitro with Limited Transferability to Maize (Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Synchronizing nitrogen cycling processes reduces agricultural nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Biochar Application Improves Soil Aggregate Stability and Aggregate-Associated Carbon Fractions Through Microbial Community Regulation inMicroorganisms · 2026Article
- Nitrogen Sources Reshape Microbial Community Assembly and Interaction Networks to Regulate Straw Decomposition and Carbon Release in Cropland Soils of the North China Plain.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Enrichment of a mixed microbial culture for PHA production with used cooking oil as substrate.Bioprocess and biosystems engineering · 2026Article
- Nitrogen-Fixing Trees Shift Soil Organic Carbon Toward Mineral-Associated Stability by Enhancing Microbial-Derived Carbon in Subtropical Plantations.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Predicting the absence of World Health Organization fungal priority pathogens in agricultural soils using machine learning and ITS metabarcoding.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2026Article
- Cross-stressor resilience of soil microbial growth and carbon metabolism under climate change.Ecology · 2026Article
- Composition and Diversity Characteristics of Gut Microbiota during the Development ofEcology and evolution · 2026Article
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- Towards a Novel Biocontrol Strategy: High Performance of Optimised Cell Wall-Degrading Enzymes Secreted by Escovopsis primorosea LBM 277.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Soil Microbial Communities Adjust Thermal Traits and Carbon Allocation in Response to Climate Manipulations in Subtropical Forest and Cropland.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Rhizosphere and endophytic bacterial communities of the endangered alpine modest primrose and their plant growth-promoting potential.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Temperature Dependence of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Response of Soil Microbial Communities to Karst Desertification in Soil and Water Conservation Agroforestry Systems.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Responses of Soil Microbial Community to Rocky Desertification Succession and Their Relationships With Plant Functional Diversity in Southwest China Karst Ecosystem.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
224 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The influence of pH on the relative importance of the two principal decomposer groups in soil, fungi and bacteria, was investigated along a continuous soil pH gradient at Hoosfield acid strip at Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom. This experimental location provides a uniform pH gradient, ranging from pH 8.3 to 4.0, within 180 m in a silty loam soil on which barley has been continuously grown for more than 100 years. We estimated the importance of fungi and bacteria directly by measuring acetate incorporation into ergosterol to measure fungal growth and leucine and thymidine incorporation to measure bacterial growth. The growth-based measurements revealed a fivefold decrease in bacterial growth and a fivefold increase in fungal growth with lower pH. This resulted in an approximately 30-fold increase in fungal importance, as indicated by the fungal growth/bacterial growth ratio, from pH 8.3 to pH 4.5. In contrast, corresponding effects on biomass markers for fungi (ergosterol and phospholipid fatty acid [PLFA] 18:2omega6,9) and bacteria (bacterial PLFAs) showed only a two- to threefold difference in fungal importance in the same pH interval. The shift in fungal and bacterial importance along the pH gradient decreased the total carbon mineralization, measured as basal respiration, by only about one-third, possibly suggesting functional redundancy. Below pH 4.5 there was universal inhibition of all microbial variables, probably derived from increased inhibitory effects due to release of free aluminum or decreasing plant productivity. To investigate decomposer group importance, growth measurements provided significantly increased sensitivity compared with biomass-based measurements.
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