Journal Article

Plant Biomass and Soil Nutrients Mainly Explain the Variation of Soil Microbial Communities During Secondary Succession on the Loess Plateau

Xu, Miao-ping, Zhu, Yu-fan, Han, Xin-hui, Yang, Gai-he, Wang, Jia-yi, Ren, Cheng-jie

2022

Overview

Soil microorganisms play an important role in the circulation of materials and nutrients between plants and soil ecosystems, but the drivers of microbial community composition and diversity remain uncertain in different vegetation restoration patterns. We studied soil physicochemical properties (i.e., soil moisture, bulk density, pH, soil nutrients, available nutrients), plant characteristics (i.e., Shannon index [HPlant ] and Richness index [SPlant ], litter biomass [LB], and fine root biomass [FRB]), and microbial variables (biomass, enzyme activity, diversity, and composition of bacterial and fungal communities) in different plant succession patterns (Robinia pseudoacacia [MF], Caragana korshinskii [SF], and grassland [GL]) on the Loess Plateau. The herb communities, soil microbial biomass, and enzyme activities were strongly affected by vegetation restoration, and soil bacterial and fungal communities were significantly different from each other at the sites. Correlation analysis showed that LB and FRB were significantly positively correlated with the Chao index of soil bacteria, soil microbial biomass, enzyme activities, Proteobacteria, Zygomycota, and Cercozoa, while negatively correlated with Actinobacteria and Basidiomycota. In addition, soil water content (SW), pH, and nutrients have important effects on the bacterial and fungal diversities, as well as Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Nitrospirae, Zygomycota, and microbial biomass. Furthermore, plant characteristics and soil properties modulated the composition and diversity of soil microorganisms, respectively. Overall, the relative contribution of vegetation and soil to the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities illustrated that plant characteristics and soil properties may synergistically modulate soil microbial communities, and the composition and diversity of soil bacterial and fungal communities mainly depend on plant biomass and soil nutrients.

• Publisher: Springer Science + Business Media,Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Acidobacteria / Actinobacteria / Bacteria / Basidiomycota / Biomass / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Bulk density / Caragana korshinskii / Cercozoa / China / Community composition / community structure / Correlation analysis / ecological restoration / Ecological succession / Ecology / Enzymatic activity / Enzyme activity / Enzymes / fine roots / Fungi / Geoecology/Natural Processes / Grasslands / Life Sciences / Microbial activity / microbial biomass / Microbial Ecology / Microbiology / Microbiomes / Microbiota / Microorganisms / Mineral nutrients / Moisture content / Nature Conservation / Nitrospirae / Nutrient availability / Nutrients / pH effects / Physicochemical processes / Physicochemical properties / phytomass / Plant biomass / Plant communities / Proteobacteria / Restoration / Robinia pseudoacacia / secondary succession / Soil - chemistry / Soil bacteria / Soil composition / SOIL MICROBIOLOGY / Soil microorganisms / Soil moisture / Soil nutrients / Soil properties / Soil water / soil water content / Vegetation / Water content / Water Quality/Water Pollution / Zygomycota