Changes in soil microbial community structure during long‐term secondary succession

Abstract

Understanding the changes in microbial community composition that occur during succession can help elucidate the mechanisms that drive successional dynamics.However, the mechanisms underlying community assemblages and promoting temporal succession are often overlooked in microbial ecology, and comparisons of the relative roles of bacteria and fungi during long-term secondary succession are rare.Using both 16S and ITS rRNA gene sequencing, we studied shifts in bacterial and fungal communities in a well-established secondary successional chronosequence that spanned approximately 160 years in an ecosystem. Our results showed that the abundance of both bacteria and fungi increased with succession in the early stages but then reached a relatively stable state in later successional stages. Diversity showed a fairly linear increase with succession, and there were inconsistent changes between the bacterial and fungal communities. During succession, soil bulk density, soluble carbon, total nitrogen and plant richness had large effects on the microbial community. The abundance of most phyla showed parabolic trends with succession; however, Verrucomicrobia and Basidiomycota showed linear increases with succession, and Cercozoa and Chytridiomycota showed linear decreases with succession.These microbial taxa may be considered collaborative development microbial biomarkers of secondary succession. The predicted microbial functions related to C and N cycle genes showed corresponding changes in succession, which need further study. Our findings suggest that the relationships between soil physicochemical properties and microbial communities mutually influence one another, leading to their ongoing relationship in the course of secondary succession.

The Abundance and Diversity of Fungi in a Hypersaline Microbial Mat from Guerrero Negro, Baja California, México

“…The Shannon ( H ’) diversity index presented herein based on metagenomic read-based classifications averaged of 3.73. In other microbial ecosystems, based on varying measurements, values of Shannon ( H ’) ranged between 1.45 and 4.5 for conventional and non-conventional wastewater technology systems [ 33 , 35 ], 2 and 4 for a composting system [ 34 ], 2.52 and 5.38 for coastal wetland sediment [ 36 ], 3 and 5 for desert and mountains [ 37 , 38 ] and 6 and 7 for a soil ecosystem [ 39 ]. Though we note that diversity indices applied to sequencing data are heavily influenced at each stage from sample acquisition through to sequence processing, and metrics from different data types and studies are not necessarily comparable.…”

Effects of Soil Properties and Plant Diversity on Soil Microbial Community Composition and Diversity during Secondary Succession

“…Forest succession is driven by abovegroundbelowground interactions [2,3]. Because soil microbes have essential roles in key ecosystem processes [4][5][6], such as plant productivity [7], nutrient cycling, water regulation, and litter decomposition [8], they are increasingly regarded as vital edaphic variables affecting secondary succession [9,10]. To clarify the roles of soil microbial communities in secondary succession, it is necessary to identify the factors that drive the changes in soil microbial community structures in the successional process [11].…”

Changes in the soil microbial communities of different soil aggregations after vegetation restoration in a semiarid grassland, China

“…one of the strategies used to control land degradation (Liu et al, 2008;Lenka et al, 2012;Deng et al, 2018); in addition, enclosure is considered to be an effective and economical practice for restoring plant and soil communities (Walker et al, 2007;Herrera et al, 2016;. A growing body of ecological research on the plant-microbe interactions in soil during the restoration of plant diversity and under management practices have been a major focus of research (Fanin et al, 2016;Deng and Shangguan, 2017;Zhu et al, 2019).…”

“…A growing body of ecological research on the plant-microbe interactions in soil during the restoration of plant diversity and under management practices have been a major focus of research (Fanin et al, 2016;Deng and Shangguan, 2017;Zhu et al, 2019). The changes in microbial community composition that occur during succession are closely related to changes in ecosystem function (Li et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2020a;. Understanding the changes in the characteristics of the microbial community structure that occur throughout ecological succession could elucidate the mechanisms that drive successional dynamics, especially considering that less is known about the belowground microbial community and how it changes with long-term succession in an ecosystem (Liu et al, 2020b).…”