Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China
Natural revegetation has been widely confirmed to be an effective strategy for the restoration of degraded lands, particularly in terms of rehabilitating ecosystem productivity and soil nutrients. Yet the mechanisms of how natural revegetation influences the variabilities and drivers of soil residin...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.967565/full |
| _version_ | 1798026352689938432 |
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| author | Wen Yang Longfei Diao Yaqi Wang Xitong Yang Huan Zhang Jinsong Wang Yiqi Luo Shuqing An Xiaoli Cheng |
| author_facet | Wen Yang Longfei Diao Yaqi Wang Xitong Yang Huan Zhang Jinsong Wang Yiqi Luo Shuqing An Xiaoli Cheng |
| author_sort | Wen Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Natural revegetation has been widely confirmed to be an effective strategy for the restoration of degraded lands, particularly in terms of rehabilitating ecosystem productivity and soil nutrients. Yet the mechanisms of how natural revegetation influences the variabilities and drivers of soil residing fungal communities, and its downstream effects on ecosystem nutrient cycling are not well understood. For this study, we investigated changes in soil fungal communities along with ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China, employing Illumina MiSeq DNA sequencing analyses. Our results revealed that the soil fungal abundance was greatly enhanced during the later stages of revegetation. As revegetation progresses, soil fungal richness appeared first to rise and then decline at the climax Quercus liaotungensis forest stage. The fungal Shannon and Simpson diversity indexes were the lowest and highest at the climax forest stage among revegetation stages, respectively. Principal component analysis, Bray–Curtis similarity indices, and FUNGuild function prediction suggested that the composition, trophic modes, and functional groups for soil fungal communities gradually shifted along with natural revegetation. Specifically, the relative abundances of Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, and ectomycorrhizal fungi progressively increased, while that of Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Tremellomycetes, saprotrophic, pathotrophic, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and endophyte fungi gradually decreased along with natural revegetation, respectively. The most enriched members of Basidiomycota (e.g., Agaricomycetes, Agaricales, Cortinariaceae, Cortinarius, Sebacinales, Sebacinaceae, Tricholomataceae, Tricholoma, Russulales, and Russulaceae) were found at the climax forest stage. As important carbon (C) sources, the most enriched symbiotic fungi (particularly ectomycorrhizal fungi containing more recalcitrant compounds) can promote organic C and nitrogen (N) accumulation in soils of climax forest. However, the most abundant of saprotrophic fungi in the early stages of revegetation decreased soil organic C and N accumulation by expediting the decomposition of soil organic matter. Our results suggest that natural revegetation can effectively restore soil fungal abundance, and modify soil fungal diversity, community composition, trophic modes, and functional groups by altering plant properties (e.g., plant species richness, diversity, evenness, litter quantity and quality), quantity and quality of soil nutrient substrates, soil moisture and pH. These changes in soil fungal communities, particularly their trophic modes and functional groups along with natural revegetation, impact the accumulation and decomposition of soil C and N and potentially affect ecosystem C and N cycling in the Loess Plateau of China. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:35:10Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
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| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T18:35:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
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| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-2fc3dca729834d20ab8140a3a1086e5f2022-12-22T04:09:19ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2022-09-011310.3389/fmicb.2022.967565967565Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of ChinaWen Yang0Longfei Diao1Yaqi Wang2Xitong Yang3Huan Zhang4Jinsong Wang5Yiqi Luo6Shuqing An7Xiaoli Cheng8College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, ChinaCollege of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, ChinaKey Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, United StatesSchool of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, ChinaSchool of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming, ChinaNatural revegetation has been widely confirmed to be an effective strategy for the restoration of degraded lands, particularly in terms of rehabilitating ecosystem productivity and soil nutrients. Yet the mechanisms of how natural revegetation influences the variabilities and drivers of soil residing fungal communities, and its downstream effects on ecosystem nutrient cycling are not well understood. For this study, we investigated changes in soil fungal communities along with ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China, employing Illumina MiSeq DNA sequencing analyses. Our results revealed that the soil fungal abundance was greatly enhanced during the later stages of revegetation. As revegetation progresses, soil fungal richness appeared first to rise and then decline at the climax Quercus liaotungensis forest stage. The fungal Shannon and Simpson diversity indexes were the lowest and highest at the climax forest stage among revegetation stages, respectively. Principal component analysis, Bray–Curtis similarity indices, and FUNGuild function prediction suggested that the composition, trophic modes, and functional groups for soil fungal communities gradually shifted along with natural revegetation. Specifically, the relative abundances of Basidiomycota, Agaricomycetes, Eurotiomycetes, and ectomycorrhizal fungi progressively increased, while that of Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes, Dothideomycetes, Tremellomycetes, saprotrophic, pathotrophic, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and endophyte fungi gradually decreased along with natural revegetation, respectively. The most enriched members of Basidiomycota (e.g., Agaricomycetes, Agaricales, Cortinariaceae, Cortinarius, Sebacinales, Sebacinaceae, Tricholomataceae, Tricholoma, Russulales, and Russulaceae) were found at the climax forest stage. As important carbon (C) sources, the most enriched symbiotic fungi (particularly ectomycorrhizal fungi containing more recalcitrant compounds) can promote organic C and nitrogen (N) accumulation in soils of climax forest. However, the most abundant of saprotrophic fungi in the early stages of revegetation decreased soil organic C and N accumulation by expediting the decomposition of soil organic matter. Our results suggest that natural revegetation can effectively restore soil fungal abundance, and modify soil fungal diversity, community composition, trophic modes, and functional groups by altering plant properties (e.g., plant species richness, diversity, evenness, litter quantity and quality), quantity and quality of soil nutrient substrates, soil moisture and pH. These changes in soil fungal communities, particularly their trophic modes and functional groups along with natural revegetation, impact the accumulation and decomposition of soil C and N and potentially affect ecosystem C and N cycling in the Loess Plateau of China.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.967565/fulldegraded ecosystemsfungal functional groupsFUNGuildsoil fungal richness and diversitysoil organic carbon and nitrogenLoess Plateau |
| spellingShingle | Wen Yang Longfei Diao Yaqi Wang Xitong Yang Huan Zhang Jinsong Wang Yiqi Luo Shuqing An Xiaoli Cheng Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China Frontiers in Microbiology degraded ecosystems fungal functional groups FUNGuild soil fungal richness and diversity soil organic carbon and nitrogen Loess Plateau |
| title | Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China |
| title_full | Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China |
| title_fullStr | Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China |
| title_short | Responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to ~160 years of natural revegetation in the Loess Plateau of China |
| title_sort | responses of soil fungal communities and functional guilds to 160 years of natural revegetation in the loess plateau of china |
| topic | degraded ecosystems fungal functional groups FUNGuild soil fungal richness and diversity soil organic carbon and nitrogen Loess Plateau |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.967565/full |
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