We currently lack a predictive understanding of how soil archaeal communities may respond to climate change, particularly in Alpine areas where warming is far exceeding the global average. Here, we characterized the abundance, structure, and function of total (by metagenomics) and active soil archaea (by metatranscriptomics) after 5-year experimental field warming (+1°C) in Italian Alpine grasslands and snowbeds. Our multi-omics approach unveiled an increasing abundance of Archaea during warming in snowbeds, which was negatively correlated with the abundance of fungi (by qPCR) and micronutrients (Ca and Mg), but positively correlated with soil water content. In the snowbeds transcripts, warming resulted in the enrichment of abundances of transcription and nucleotide biosynthesis. Our study provides novel insights into possible changes in soil Archaea composition and function in the climate change scenario.

• MeSH
• Archaea * genetika   MeSH
• klimatické změny MeSH
• multiomika MeSH
• půda * chemie   MeSH
• půdní mikrobiologie MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Itálie MeSH
• Názvy látek
• půda * MeSH

As the European Alps are experiencing a strong climate warming, this study analyzed the soil microbiome at different altitudes and among different vegetation types at the Stelvio Pass (Italian Alps), aiming to (i) characterize the composition and functional potential of the microbiome of soils and their gene expression during the peak vegetative stage; (ii) explore the potential short-term (using open-top chambers) and long-term (space-for-time substitutions) effects of increasing temperature on the alpine soil microbiome. We found that the functional potential of the soil microbiome and its expression differed among vegetation types. Microbial α-diversity increased along the altitudinal gradient. At lower altitude, shrubland had the highest proportion of fungi, which was correlated with higher amounts of CAZymes, specific for degrading fungal biomass and recalcitrant plant biopolymers. Subalpine upward vegetation shift could lead a possible loss of species of alpine soils. Shrub encroachment may accelerate higher recalcitrant C decomposition and reduce total ecosystem C storage, increasing the efflux of CO2 to the atmosphere with a positive feedback to warming. A total of 5 years of warming had no effect on the composition and functioning of microbial communities, indicating that longer-term warming experiments are needed to investigate the effects of temperature increases on the soil microbiome.

• Klíčová slova
• alpine soils, climate change, decomposition, microbial communities, shrubs expansion, warming effect,
• MeSH
• ekosystém MeSH
• klimatické změny MeSH
• mikrobiota * MeSH
• nadmořská výška MeSH
• půda * MeSH
• půdní mikrobiologie MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• půda * MeSH