Reduced Daily Temperature Range Influences the Magnitude of Soil Microbial Activity in a Creosotebush Bajada in the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend National Park by Michael Lee Hyndman, B.S. A Thesis In Biology Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCES Approved by John Zak Chair of Committee Jennifer Moore-Kucera Tigga Kingston Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School December, 2015
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Reduced Daily Temperature Range Influences the Magnitude of Soil Microbial
Activity in a Creosotebush Bajada in the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend National Park
by
Michael Lee Hyndman, B.S.
A Thesis
In
Biology
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCES
Approved by
John Zak Chair of Committee
Jennifer Moore-Kucera
Tigga Kingston
Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School
December, 2015
Copyright 2015, Michael Lee Hyndman
Texas Tech University, Michael Hyndman, December 2015
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to recognize and thank my committee chair, John Zak. He
brought me into his lab as a senior undergraduate student and gave me the opportunity
to explore the world as a scientist. I could not have asked for a better mentor during
my time at Texas Tech University. My deepest appreciation and thanks goes out to
the rest of my committee: Jennifer Moore-Kucera, who let me use her laboratory's Li-
Cor 8100A equipment, and Tigga Kingston, who helped me to better understand the
scope of ecology as it applies to microbiology. While working on my thesis, I had the
honor of learning from our post-doctorate and doctorate fellows Heath Grizzle,
Natasja van Gestel, and Nirmala Dhungana. They were all generous and patient in
passing down their experience and knowledge in conducting scientific research. One
cannot get far in life without the help of friends and colleagues. Trevor Mason, Diana
Vargas-Gutierrez, Neha Kumari, and Kholoud Ghanem all helped me during the
research process either by getting dirty in the field or working diligently in the lab.
There is no way that I could have done all the hard work alone. Special thanks go to
Joe Sirotnak as our liaison at Big Bend National Park; he kept us in great housing
during our trips to Big Bend. I would also like to thank both the National Parks
Services and Cotton Incorporated for their financial assistance.
My deepest, heartfelt thanks go to my mother, Olivia Barraza, and my father,
Jerry Hyndman for cultivating a love of learning and discovery at a young age and for
their continued support as I pursued my academic goals. I would also like to
acknowledge my step-mother, Judith and my step-father, Jorge who have both cheered
me on while I conducted my research. Thanks to my sisters Krystal and Lisa for
being great roommates while I was at Texas Tech and for embracing my geeky side.
Finally, I would like to thank Karen Bishop for being the catalyst for completing my
work.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. ii
ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... iv
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION ....................................................................... 1
CHAPTER II - METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 6
CHAPTER III - RESULTS ................................................................................ 13
Abiotic Observations ................................................................................. 13 Microbial Biomass of Carbon ................................................................... 14 FungiLog ................................................................................................... 15 Soil Nutrients ............................................................................................ 17 CO2 Respiration, Daily Temperature Range, and Precipitation ................ 22 Daily Temperature Range and Daily Mean CO2 Flux .............................. 27 Redundancy Analysis ................................................................................ 30
CHAPTER IV - DISCUSSION .......................................................................... 31
LITERATURE CITED ....................................................................................... 37
APPENDIX A - FIGURES ................................................................................. 43
APPENDIX B - TABLES ................................................................................... 62
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ABSTRACT Global climate change models for desert ecosystems not only predict an
increase in mean temperatures but also an increase in the daily low temperatures,
resulting in a decrease in daily temperature range (DTR). While soil moisture and
antecedent precipitation regimes are considered in current models for desert ecosystem
functioning, these models are limited in understanding the role of temperature and
seasonal variability, specifically the daily temperature range and the response of soil
microbial communities to available soil moisture during different times of the year.
This study seeks to utilize new automated soil gas monitoring technology and solar
shading, altering the DTR by increasing nightly low temperatures and decreasing daily
high temperatures, to measure soil microbial community respiration activity in
response to reduced DTR compared with unaltered soil temperature dynamics in
control plots. The research was conducted in a creosotebush bajada in the Chihuahuan
Desert in Big Bend National Park. Over the course of a year of with observations
beginning in November 2012 and ending in December 2013, the soil monitoring
equipment recorded hourly temperatures and CO2 emissions from the top 15 cm of
soil. Soil sampling over the study period was conducted to determine levels of
the possibility of being able to tailor desert ecosystem models such as the pulse
paradigm (Ogle & Reynolds, 2004) to the predicted regional average high and average
low temperatures from will provide better guides for land managers and researchers
for understanding soil nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics and soil microbial
dynamics as they impact soil health.
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Bardgett, RD. "A Temporal Approach to Linking Aboveground and Belowground
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"Antecedent Conditions Influence Soil Respiration Differences in Shrub and Grass Patches." Ecosystems (2013): 1230-247. Print.
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Cochran, Rex, and Jerry Rives. "Soil Survey of Big Bend National Park: Part of
Brewster County, Texas." National Agricultural Library (1985): n. pag. Web. Collins, Scott L., Robert L. Sinsabaugh, Chelsea Crenshaw, Laura Green, Andrea
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Iñigo, E., Enkerlin E., Williams, C. and G. Castilleja. 2000. Ecoregion-Based Conservation in the Chihuahuan Desert: A Biological Assessment.
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functional diversity.” Mycologia (1999) 91:756-765. Finch, Deborah M., and Colo Collins. Climate Change in Grasslands, Shrublands, and
Deserts of the Interior American West a Review and Needs Assessment. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2012. Print.
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Lioubimtseva, E., and J. M. Adams. "Possible Implications of Increased Carbon Dioxide Levels and Climate Change for Desert Ecosystems." Environmental Management (2004). Print.
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APPENDIX A - FIGURES
Figure 1: The location of the creosotebush bajada site at Rice Tanks (red star) in Big Bend National Park. Map courtesy of the National Parks Services.
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Figure 2: Images of the shaded (A) and exposed experimental plots with the Li-Cor 8100A Gas Analyzer and soil monitoring chambers installed (B) at the Rice Tanks site in a creosotebush bajada of the Chihuanhuan Desert in Big Bend National Park. Images courtesy of Natasja van Gestel, 2012.
B
A
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Figure 25: Redundancy analysis bi-plot for soil microbial and nutrient dynamic responses to control and reduced DTR conditions established in a creosotebush bajada from the Rice Tanks site in the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend National Park. The discrete predictors (blue arrows) are dtr (Daily Temperature Range - determined by taking the daily mean temperature range for the five days following sampling) and vwc (volumetric water content) associated with the reduced DTR (shade) and ambient DTR (control) over three seasons (winter, spring, and summer). The response variables indicated with the solid black arrows are Microbial Biomass Carbon (mbc), mean daily carbon dioxide soil flux (co2flux), extractable soil ammonia (NH4-N), and extractable soil nitrate (NO3-N). The angle and direction of the arrows indicates the status of the relationship between the variables and the explanatory variables. Arrows in the same direction indicate a positive relationship, opposite direction indicate a negative relationships and arrows at right angles no relationship. The strength of the relationship is indicated by the arrow length.
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APPENDIX B - TABLES Table 1: P-values for Repeated Measures ANOVA for time, time and treatment, and between treatments effects of shade plots versus control plots for all recorded soil nutrient parameters from creosotebush bajada in Big Bend National Park calculated using IBM SPSS v22. All p-values for the effect of time and time and treatment are Wilk’s Lambda p-value. Repeated Measures ANOVA P-values Time Time and Treatment Between Treatments Soil Moisture 0.097 0.131 0.047 Microbial Biomass Carbon 0.204 0.228 0.032 Fungal Substrate Activity 0.933 0.318 0.005 Fungal Substrate Richness 0.387 0.282 0.005 Extractable NH4-N 0.007 0.870 0.656 Extractable NO3-N 0.126 0.169 0.764 Extractable Phosphorus 0.554 0.458 0.796 Extractable Potassium 0.356 0.694 0.103 Soil pH 0.246 0.721 0.686 Soil Organic Matter 0.004 0.196 0.412
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Table 2: Seasonal dynamics for microbial and soil parameters associated with a creosotebush bajada soil from the Rice Tanks site in the Chihuahuan Desert in Big Bend National Park with treatments combined to evaluate main effects of season on designated parameters (ns superscript indicates non-significant effect of time irrespective of treatment and a/b superscript indicates Tukey homogeneous subsets). Dashes indicate dates where the soil parameter was not recorded. Seasonal Sampling Period Nov '12 Dec '12 Mar '13 May '13 Jul '13 Dec '13 Soil Moisture (%)