Effects of temperature and water stress, in climate change scenario, on the fungal community in tropical soil and selection of nitrous oxide producing strains

Abstract

The global concern about climate change on the planet has been receiving more and more attention. However, the effect of global changes on the soil microbiota, especially fungi, is still incipient and needs to be studied, mainly in tropical areas. In addition, it is urgent to understand how these changes may affect soil metabolism, for example, the selection of species with greater capacity of greenhouse gases production, such as nitrous oxide (N2O). In this context, the project aims to determine how climate change i.e. the elevated temperature and the water stress will affect the community of tropical soil fungi, using a culture-independent method, and the enzymatic activity in soil, as ²-glucosidase, urease, acidic phosphatase, dehydrogenase and cellulase. The experiment will be carried out at the T-FACE (Temperature free-air controlled enhancement) facility installed at the University of São Paulo, Campus of Ribeirão Preto. The isolated fungi under field conditions will be evaluated for their denitrification capacity, by amplification of the P450nor gene, and how much they contribute to N2O emission, when submitted to different nitrogen sources. In addition, it will be possible to evaluate which nitrogen sources contribute most to the emission of this gas. For this, microcosm systems will be used and the application of different nitrogen sources, with and without nitrification inhibitors. The results may help to understand the role of fungi in the flow of N2O in tropical soils and help to propose mitigation strategies or reduction of this gas the emission in a future climate scenario of elevated temperature and water stress.