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S phagnum physiology in the context of changing climate: emergent influences of genomics, modelling and host–microbiome interactions on understanding ecosystem function
Author(s) -
WESTON DAVID J.,
TIMM COLLIN M.,
WALKER ANTHONY P.,
GU LIANHONG,
MUCHERO WELLINGTON,
SCHMUTZ JEREMY,
SHAW A. JONATHAN,
TUSKAN GERALD A.,
WARREN JEFFREY M.,
WULLSCHLEGER STAN D.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/pce.12458
Subject(s) - sphagnum , ecology , biology , context (archaeology) , ecosystem , microbiome , peat , bioinformatics , paleontology
Peatlands harbour more than one‐third of terrestrial carbon leading to the argument that the bryophytes, as major components of peatland ecosystems, store more organic carbon in soils than any other collective plant taxa. Plants of the genus S phagnum are important components of peatland ecosystems and are potentially vulnerable to changing climatic conditions. However, the response of S phagnum to rising temperatures, elevated CO 2 and shifts in local hydrology have yet to be fully characterized. In this review, we examine S phagnum biology and ecology and explore the role of this group of keystone species and its associated microbiome in carbon and nitrogen cycling using literature review and model simulations. Several issues are highlighted including the consequences of a variable environment on plant–microbiome interactions, uncertainty associated with CO 2 diffusion resistances and the relationship between fixed N and that partitioned to the photosynthetic apparatus. We note that the S phagnum fallax genome is currently being sequenced and outline potential applications of population‐level genomics and corresponding plant photosynthesis and microbial metabolic modelling techniques. We highlight S phagnum as a model organism to explore ecosystem response to a changing climate and to define the role that S phagnum can play at the intersection of physiology, genetics and functional genomics.