The paper analyses and discusses what influences soil microbial communities along our 1200 metre elevation gradient, in order to predict the effects of climate change on this important type of mountain ecosystems. While climate appeared to be a strong influence on both bacterial, fungal and protist communities, the influence of soil carbon and nitrogen (specifically the Carbon/Total nitrogen ratio) exerts an even stronger influence on microorganisms and plants alike. Soil communitiesand other soil parameters varied considerably between years, illustrating the value of long-term monitoring studies in order to better understand the dynamic processes controlling the soil ecosystem.
Authors: Anders Lanzén, Lur Epelde, Iker Martín, Unai Artetxe, Carlos Garbisu,
Journal: Scientific Reports
