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

Abstract

Selective logging strongly affects forest structure and functions, which has direct and indirect effects on the soil microbial community. However, the effect of selective logging on soil microbial community composition remains unclear. We analyzed the soil microbial diversity and community composition in a pine (Pinus yunnanensis) forest using the Illumina platform for bacterial and fungal sequencing. The results showed that selective logging significantly altered most soil properties and stand attributes. Dominant phyla abundance varied significantly with change of selective logging intensity, affecting soil microbial community composition. The diversity of bacterial community decreased with the increase of selective logging intensity, whereas the diversity of fungi initially decreased and then increased. Soil properties accounted for most of the variation in the soil microbial communities, followed by stand attributes. Stand density (SD), soil pH, and soil moisture directly influenced the diversity of the bacterial communities, and understory species richness (USR), soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil hydrolysable nitrogen (HN) also directly influenced bacterial community composition. However, selective logging intensity affected the diversity and composition of the bacterial communities indirectly via SD, soil pH, HN, SOC, and USR. Similarly, the intensity of selective logging directly affected the diversity of fungal communities and also showed indirect effect on it via SD, soil pH, SOC, HN, C:N ratio, and soil available potassium. Further, selective logging intensity indirectly affected fungal community composition via soil available phosphorus. Our findings could be used to predict the change in the soil microbial community for the management of P. yunnanensis forest.

Selective logging enhances ecosystem multifunctionality via increase of functional diversity in a Pinus yunnanensis forest in Southwest China

“…P. yunnanensis forest is mainly divided into two layers, the upper layer is P. yunnanensis, which occupies the absolute dominant position, the main species of the lower layer is yunnanensis forests is the selective logging for valuable timber. The Yongren National Forest Farm has been producing timber since the 1950s (Li et al 2020).…”

“…Finally, the aboveground woody plant biomass was used as the proxy of wood production (Mensah et al 2020). We used the allometric equation form Li et al (2020) to estimate the aboveground biomass of individual trees of P. yunnanensis forest. A list of the allometric regressions used in our study is included in Table S3.…”

“…is the main pioneer species in forests of southwest China and is widely used in construction (Xu et al 2016). The P. yunnanensis forests range 23° to 30° N and 96° to 108° E. They grow mainly in river valleys between 700 and 3000m above sea level (Li et al 2020). The P. yunnanensis forests can provide a large amount of high-quality timber and industrial raw materials, which play an important role in maintaining species diversity, conserving water resources and retaining soil (Xu et al 2016;Li et al, 2020).…”

“…The P. yunnanensis forests range 23° to 30° N and 96° to 108° E. They grow mainly in river valleys between 700 and 3000m above sea level (Li et al 2020). The P. yunnanensis forests can provide a large amount of high-quality timber and industrial raw materials, which play an important role in maintaining species diversity, conserving water resources and retaining soil (Xu et al 2016;Li et al, 2020). However, due to excessive human disturbance activities and the invasion of pests, diseases and alien species, the EFs of P. yunnanensis forests are not fully developed (Xu et al 2016;Liu et al 2019).…”

Selective logging enhances ecosystem multifunctionality via increase of functional diversity in a Pinus yunnanensis forest in Southwest China

“…The P. yunnanensis forests range 23°to 30°N and 96°to 108°E. They grow mainly in river valleys between 700 and 3000 m above sea level (Li et al 2020). The P. yunnanensis forests can provide a large amount of high-quality timber and industrial raw materials, which play an important role in maintaining species diversity, conserving water resources and retaining soil (Xu et al 2016;Li et al 2020).…”