Soil fungi remain active and invest in storage compounds during drought independent of future climate conditions.

Abstract

Microbial growth is central to soil carbon cycling. However, how microbial communities grow under climate change is still largely unexplored. Here we use a unique field experiment simulating future climate conditions (increased atmospheric CO₂ and temperature) and drought concomitantly and investigate impacts on soil microbial activity. We trace ²H or ¹⁸O applied via water-vapor exchange into membrane (and storage) fatty acids or DNA, respectively, to assess community- and group-level adjustments in soil microbial physiology (replication, storage product synthesis, and carbon use efficiency). We show that, while bacterial growth decreases by half during drought, fungal growth remains stable, demonstrating a remarkable resistance against soil moisture changes. In addition, fungal investment into storage triglycerides increases more than five-fold under drought. Community-level carbon use efficiency (the balance between anabolism and catabolism) is unaffected by drought but decreases in future climate conditions, favoring catabolism. Our results highlight that accounting for different microbial growth strategies can foster our understanding of soil microbial contributions to carbon cycling and feedback on the climate system.