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Climatic origin dictates soil microbial responses to short-term experimental drought

Kozjek, Katja LU orcid ; Mano, Lokesh LU orcid ; Bracht Jørgensen, Helene LU ; Ahrén, Dag LU orcid and Hedlund, Katarina LU orcid (2026) In European Journal of Soil Biology 131. p.1-11
Abstract
Climate models predict widespread precipitation changes across Europe, including more frequent and severe droughts. Drought events can alter soil microbial communities, leading to alterations in soil functioning and further ecosystem services. While long-term drought effects are well studied, short-term droughts during the growing season remain largely unexplored in agricultural soils. Thus, we investigated the microbial responses to short-term experimental drought in agricultural soils in two climatically contrasting European regions: Spain and Sweden. Although soil water content followed a similar drying pattern across both regions, overall microbial respiration and biomass remained stable. Further, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biomass... (More)
Climate models predict widespread precipitation changes across Europe, including more frequent and severe droughts. Drought events can alter soil microbial communities, leading to alterations in soil functioning and further ecosystem services. While long-term drought effects are well studied, short-term droughts during the growing season remain largely unexplored in agricultural soils. Thus, we investigated the microbial responses to short-term experimental drought in agricultural soils in two climatically contrasting European regions: Spain and Sweden. Although soil water content followed a similar drying pattern across both regions, overall microbial respiration and biomass remained stable. Further, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biomass revealed opposite regional trends under drought. Using metatranscriptomics we further explored how short-term drought impacted the expression of genes involved in the soil organic matter degradation – a key process in global carbon cycling. Microbial communities in Spanish soils exhibited high functional resistance, indicating historical adaptation to dry conditions. In contrast, drought in Sweden upregulated genes coding for enzymes that degrade complex carbohydrates. Our findings demonstrate that historically wet regions like Sweden may be far more vulnerable to changing precipitation than semi-arid regions like Spain. Additionally, this study highlights how analyzing transcriptional shifts helps us better understand how drought alters agricultural microbial communities and how it may shape ecosystem processes in the face of ongoing climate change. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
European Journal of Soil Biology
volume
131
article number
103871
pages
1 - 11
publisher
Elsevier Masson SAS
ISSN
1164-5563
DOI
10.1016/j.ejsobi.2026.103871
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
44e5eb96-63af-4c3e-995d-4954e2b29925
date added to LUP
2026-09-15 09:00:30
date last changed
2026-09-15 11:27:37
@article{44e5eb96-63af-4c3e-995d-4954e2b29925,
  abstract     = {{Climate models predict widespread precipitation changes across Europe, including more frequent and severe droughts. Drought events can alter soil microbial communities, leading to alterations in soil functioning and further ecosystem services. While long-term drought effects are well studied, short-term droughts during the growing season remain largely unexplored in agricultural soils. Thus, we investigated the microbial responses to short-term experimental drought in agricultural soils in two climatically contrasting European regions: Spain and Sweden. Although soil water content followed a similar drying pattern across both regions, overall microbial respiration and biomass remained stable. Further, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi biomass revealed opposite regional trends under drought. Using metatranscriptomics we further explored how short-term drought impacted the expression of genes involved in the soil organic matter degradation – a key process in global carbon cycling. Microbial communities in Spanish soils exhibited high functional resistance, indicating historical adaptation to dry conditions. In contrast, drought in Sweden upregulated genes coding for enzymes that degrade complex carbohydrates. Our findings demonstrate that historically wet regions like Sweden may be far more vulnerable to changing precipitation than semi-arid regions like Spain. Additionally, this study highlights how analyzing transcriptional shifts helps us better understand how drought alters agricultural microbial communities and how it may shape ecosystem processes in the face of ongoing climate change.}},
  author       = {{Kozjek, Katja and Mano, Lokesh and Bracht Jørgensen, Helene and Ahrén, Dag and Hedlund, Katarina}},
  issn         = {{1164-5563}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{1--11}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier Masson SAS}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Soil Biology}},
  title        = {{Climatic origin dictates soil microbial responses to short-term experimental drought}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2026.103871}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ejsobi.2026.103871}},
  volume       = {{131}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}