Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China
The rapid growth and expansion ofCryptomeria japonica (Thunb. ex L. f.) D. Don in karst area strongly affects plant composition of native deciduous broad-leaved forest, which seriously threat ecosystem function and service. Given the importance of soil microorganisms in regulating nutrients cycling...
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PeerJ Inc.
2022-03-01
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| author | Liling Liu Ninghua Zhu Guangyi Zhou Peng Dang Xiaowei Yang Liqiong Qiu Muyi Huang Yingyun Gong Suya Zhao Jie Chen |
| author_facet | Liling Liu Ninghua Zhu Guangyi Zhou Peng Dang Xiaowei Yang Liqiong Qiu Muyi Huang Yingyun Gong Suya Zhao Jie Chen |
| author_sort | Liling Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The rapid growth and expansion ofCryptomeria japonica (Thunb. ex L. f.) D. Don in karst area strongly affects plant composition of native deciduous broad-leaved forest, which seriously threat ecosystem function and service. Given the importance of soil microorganisms in regulating nutrients cycling and plant species coexistence, understanding soil microbial attributes and their relationships with soil and vegetation features in forests harboring different C. japonica abundance will help understanding the drivers of ecosystem function changes. Here we examined the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities and their correlations with plant diversity as well as soil physicochemical properties in karst broad-leaved forests with different relative abundances of C. japonica (i.e., a high, moderate, low and no proportion level with a stem density of 1,487, 538, 156 and 0 plant/hm2, respectively) in Mid-Subtropical China. We found that soil pH decreased while soil water content (SWC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK) tended to increase with the increase in C. japonica abundance. In contrast, soil available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) content declined by 26.1%∼49.3% under the high level of C. japonica abundance. A gradual decrease in relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi while a pronounced increase in relative abundance of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were observed with increase of C. japonica abundance. Alternations in bacterial composition were closely related to changes in AP and AK, while the change of fungal structure was mainly related to SWC, soil organic carbon (SOC) and pH, indicating that bacterial community was sensitive to declines in soil available nutrients and fungal structure was sensitive to changes in soil physicochemical properties (i.e., pH and SWC) and organic carbon resource. Understory plants had the highest α-diversity in forest containing moderate abundance of C. japonica, which might be related to the high bacterial diversity. Our findings suggest conservation of soil bacterial and fungal taxa that are responsible for nutrients availability and carbon sequestration is of great significance for improving the resistance of natural deciduous broad-leaved forests to the rapid spread of C. japonica in karst areas. Moreover, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are potential indicators for soil properties changes, which should be taken into consideration in karst forest managements. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:24:00Z |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
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| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:24:00Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-613eb450a8d845c5af7673afba2e85592023-12-03T07:09:45ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592022-03-0110e1273910.7717/peerj.12739Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical ChinaLiling Liu0Ninghua Zhu1Guangyi Zhou2Peng Dang3Xiaowei Yang4Liqiong Qiu5Muyi Huang6Yingyun Gong7Suya Zhao8Jie Chen9Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaResearch Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaCentral South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, ChinaResearch Institute of Tropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, ChinaThe rapid growth and expansion ofCryptomeria japonica (Thunb. ex L. f.) D. Don in karst area strongly affects plant composition of native deciduous broad-leaved forest, which seriously threat ecosystem function and service. Given the importance of soil microorganisms in regulating nutrients cycling and plant species coexistence, understanding soil microbial attributes and their relationships with soil and vegetation features in forests harboring different C. japonica abundance will help understanding the drivers of ecosystem function changes. Here we examined the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities and their correlations with plant diversity as well as soil physicochemical properties in karst broad-leaved forests with different relative abundances of C. japonica (i.e., a high, moderate, low and no proportion level with a stem density of 1,487, 538, 156 and 0 plant/hm2, respectively) in Mid-Subtropical China. We found that soil pH decreased while soil water content (SWC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK) tended to increase with the increase in C. japonica abundance. In contrast, soil available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) content declined by 26.1%∼49.3% under the high level of C. japonica abundance. A gradual decrease in relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi while a pronounced increase in relative abundance of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were observed with increase of C. japonica abundance. Alternations in bacterial composition were closely related to changes in AP and AK, while the change of fungal structure was mainly related to SWC, soil organic carbon (SOC) and pH, indicating that bacterial community was sensitive to declines in soil available nutrients and fungal structure was sensitive to changes in soil physicochemical properties (i.e., pH and SWC) and organic carbon resource. Understory plants had the highest α-diversity in forest containing moderate abundance of C. japonica, which might be related to the high bacterial diversity. Our findings suggest conservation of soil bacterial and fungal taxa that are responsible for nutrients availability and carbon sequestration is of great significance for improving the resistance of natural deciduous broad-leaved forests to the rapid spread of C. japonica in karst areas. Moreover, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are potential indicators for soil properties changes, which should be taken into consideration in karst forest managements.https://peerj.com/articles/12739.pdfVegetation compositionMicrobial communitySoil nutrientsPlant diversityKarst ecosystemCryptomeria japonica |
| spellingShingle | Liling Liu Ninghua Zhu Guangyi Zhou Peng Dang Xiaowei Yang Liqiong Qiu Muyi Huang Yingyun Gong Suya Zhao Jie Chen Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China PeerJ Vegetation composition Microbial community Soil nutrients Plant diversity Karst ecosystem Cryptomeria japonica |
| title | Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China |
| title_full | Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China |
| title_fullStr | Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China |
| title_short | Response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad-leaved forests of the karst area in Mid-Subtropical China |
| title_sort | response of soil microbial community to plant composition changes in broad leaved forests of the karst area in mid subtropical china |
| topic | Vegetation composition Microbial community Soil nutrients Plant diversity Karst ecosystem Cryptomeria japonica |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/12739.pdf |
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