Dataset for: Relative contribution of high and low elevation soil microbes and nematodes to ecosystem functioning

Ecosystem productivity is largely dependent on soil nutrient cycling
which, in turn, is driven by decomposition rates governed by
locally-adapted belowground microbial and invertebrate communities. How
climate change will impact soil biota and the correlated ecosystem
functioning, however, remains largely an open question. To address this
challenge, we first characterized the functional identity of soil
microbial and nematode communities originated from the foothills or in the
sub-alpine soils of the Alps, and then, using a full-factorial reciprocal
transplant common garden experiment at two elevations, we asked whether
soil biota from low elevation were more prone in generating nutrient
cycling than high elevation soil biota. Specifically, we separately
transplanted soil microbial and nematode to community from low and high
elevation in their home or opposite elevation in pots added with a common
plant community.  We found evidence for ecotypic and functional
differentiation of the microbial and nematode communities growing in. We
also observed a decrease in microbial diversity and activity at high
elevation, and additionally, through nematodes’ functional
characterization, we found increased fungal-dominated energy channels at
high elevation. Moreover, while we found little effect of soil
biodiversity change based on elevation of origin on plant productivity,
soils inoculated with microbes originating from low elevation respired
more than those originating at high elevation. This observation correlates
well with the observed faster carbon degradation rates by the
low-elevation microbial communities. Climate change can reshuffle soil
invertebrate communities depending on organism-specific variation in range
expansion, ultimately affecting soil fertility and vegetation
productivity.