Changes in rhizosphere bacterial and fungal community composition with vegetation restoration in planted forests

Abstract

Soil microbial communities affect nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning. However, the variations in microbial diversity and community composition within degraded landscapes remain unclear. Using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA genes and internal transcribed spacer fungal sequences, we investigated the rhizosphere microbial diversity and community of coniferous Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. forests in degraded lands across a chronosequence that spanned over 60 years (10, 25, 40, and 60 years since restoration, four forest stands). We found significant differences in soil bacterial and fungal communities among stand ages. Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Acidobacteria dominated the rhizosphere, whereas Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, and Zygomycota prevailed as fungal components.With stand development, bacterial diversity decreased, but fungal diversity increased.Nonmetric multidimensional scaling analysis separated bacterial community clusters well by stands. Fungal community clusters of 25-and 60-year-old stands overlapped.The dominant bacteria Acidobacteria showed the highest relative abundance at the 40-year-old stands. Soil microbial communities correlated significantly with the macro-nutrients (soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous). Additionally, the relative abundance of Acidobacteria at the phylum level correlated positively with soil total phosphorous; Deltaproteobacteria at the class level correlated positively with soil organic carbon and total nitrogen. Thus, restoring vegetation in degraded temperate forests enhanced some macronutrients and influenced microbial communities. Our results revealed that restoring vegetation in degraded lands decreased the diversity of bacterial communities over time. In contrast, the soil fungal diversity increased after restoration, and fungal communities in the 25-and 60-year-old forest stands overlapped on degraded soils.

Effect of selective logging on soil microbial communities in a Pinus yunnanensis forest

“…Different letters over the box-and-whisker figures indicate significant differences highest in areas that had been selectively logged three times (Figure 4). Previous study confirmed that the surrounding local properties influenced the distribution and relative abundance of most fungi (Liu, Chen et al, 2019). In our study, soil properties exhibited considerable variation among the selective logging intensities (Table 1), which suggests that various soil properties can affect the composition of fungal communities.…”

“…Furthermore, the intensity of selective logging affected the composition of fungal communities by affecting AP, which is in contrast to other types of the soil microbial community. Although AP is usually limited in soil, microbial communities can transform the soil nutrient elements and increase availability (Liu, Chen, et al, 2019). We also observed a significant correlation between AP and the composition of fungal communities, indicating that AP is an important determinant.…”

“…The ubiquitous soil microbial communities constitute most of the global biodiversity and are the key drivers of multiple ecosystem functions, including soil fertility, soil nutrient cycling, and plant growth (Banerjee, Schlaeppi, & van der Heijden, 2018;Delgado-Baquerizo, Fry, et al, 2018;Delgado-Baquerizo, et al, 2019;Li, Liu, Chen, Zheng, & Wang, 2018;Liu, Chen, et al, 2019;Tripathi et al, 2016). Loss in microbial diversity is likely to reduce this multifunctionality in terrestrial ecosystems, thereby impacting ecosystem functions and services (Delgado-Baquerizo et al, 2016).…”

Variation of Soil Bacterial and Fungal Communities from Fluvo-Aquic Soil Under Chemical Fertilizer Reduction Combined with Organic Materials in North China Plain

“…As the main decomposer of organic matter (cellulose, lignin, and pectin) in soil, Ascomycota had the ability of degrading rotten organic substrates (Yelle et al 2008). Basidiomycota, which was typically saprotrophic (Guo et al 2018), like Ascomycota, was characterized with environment-loving and the decomposition of organic matter (Liu et al 2019), and played a vital role in degrading litters especially with high lignin content in soil (Ye et al 2020). Furthermore, previous studies had shown that there might be a competitive relationship between the microbial groups of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, resulting in a negative correlation between the relative abundances of the two phyla (Ye et al 2020).…”

Vertical changes in bacterial community composition down to a depth of 20 m on the degraded Loess Plateau in China

“…In general, the physical and chemical properties of soils change considerably with depth (de Araujo Pereira et al, ). Nutrients are typically more concentrated in the topsoil than in the subsoil, mainly due to plant root exudates, root detritus, plant litter, and animal activities (Eldridge, Delgado‐Baquerizo, Woodhouse, & Neilan, ; Liu et al, ). Generally, subsoil exhibits a firmer, finer texture, with much lower organic matter content than topsoil.…”