Plant growth and oil contamination alter the diversity and composition of bacterial communities in agricultural soils across China

Abstract

The dynamics of microbial diversity in response to biotic and abiotic disturbances provide a sensitive indicator for evaluating the potential stability and degradation of soils in agro‐ecosystems. To determine the effect on soil bacterial communities of disturbances by plant growth (Robinia pseudoacacia) and oil contamination, we sequenced 16S rRNA genes using MiSeq technology. A greenhouse experiment was conducted using 21 agro‐soils from 19 provinces in China. Abiotic and biotic disturbances, including treating the soils with sterile water, crude oil, and/or an invasive plant, altered the bacterial community structure in the soils, increased bacterial richness, and reduced bacterial dispersion. Oil contamination exerted stronger effects on the bacterial α‐ and β‐diversity than plant growth. The different responses of bacterial communities and the core microbiome indicated that the disturbances shifted the prevalent soil microbial groups in agro‐ecosystems. Among different sampling sites, community dissimilarity increased with spatial distance. Edaphic factors (deterministic processes) exerted the primary influence on the assembly of soil microbiomes in agricultural fields, whereas geographic factors (stochastic processes) were less influential. The bacterial communities in agro‐soils from warmer regions were more sensitive to the disturbances. This study provides new insight into the alteration of soil microbiota by plant growth and oil contamination in agro‐ecosystems across a large spatial scale.

Remediation of Crude Oil-Polluted Soil by the Bacterial Rhizosphere Community of Suaeda Salsa Revealed by 16S rRNA Genes

“…Meanwhile, Azoarcus (2.67%) related to the N cycle showed a significant positive correlation with NO 3 -NThe correlation of the crude oil degradation bacteria with crude oil/oil components and nitrogen is mostly significant and negative, indicating the significant effect of crude oil on the related degradation bacteria. A similar effect was also observed in other studies [56,57]. Meanwhile, both negative correlations were caused by crude oil in Shengli Oilfield with a high nitrogen content.…”

“…Similar results i.e., a decline in the overall microbial diversity owing to contamination has been documented in the literature [54,55]. Therefore, the impact of high crude oil contamination on the bacterial diversity is greater than the effect of plant [56], which may be used to explain the decline in the bacterial diversity in the high contamination treatment group.…”

Soil microbiomes with distinct assemblies through vertical soil profiles drive the cycling of multiple nutrients in reforested ecosystems

“…Studies have shown that reforestation contributes to changed edaphic properties via root exudates, mucilage, and plant litter provided by trees [ 32 , 65 ]. However, these environmental changes can also lead to an altered microbial community [ 66 ], whose microorganisms are vital engines that drive Earth’s biogeochemical cycles [ 11 , 67 ]. A recent study investigating biotic and abiotic factors on the Tibetan Plateau demonstrated positive associations between aboveground and belowground biodiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality, which was mediated by climate [ 35 ].…”

Temporal dynamics of soil bacterial communities and multifunctionality are more sensitive to introduced plants than to microbial additions in a multicontaminated soil

“…Microorganisms play key roles in maintaining multiple ecosystem functions and services simultaneously (hereafter ‘multifunctionality’), such as primary production, litter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and climate regulation (Delgado‐Baquerizo et al, ; Delgado‐Baquerizo et al, ; Haroon et al, ; Hicks Pries, Castanha, Porras, & Torn, ). In addition, microbial communities respond rapidly to environmental disturbances, and their sensitive responses can be monitored to assess the potential soil stability and degradation (Jiao et al, ). Therefore, it is of fundamental significance to understand the mechanism(s) involved in the maintenance of microbial communities and to discern their intrinsic dynamic processes occurring at the species‐level following environmental disturbances.…”