Soil fungal communities of montane natural secondary forest types in China

Abstract

Distinctive plant communities may provide specific physical and chemical properties with soils by specific litters and root exudates to exert effects on soil microorganisms. Past logging activities in the Qinling Mountains induced diverse natural secondary forest types (NSFTs). How these recovered NSFTs regulate patterns of soil microbial communities remain limited. In the study, we used terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) to precisely determine forest type-specific soil fungal diversity and composition in five NSFTs. Our results indicated that NSFTs had significant impacts on the soil fungal communities. The most diverse fungal species were found in the Armand pine (Pinus armandi) and Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis) forest soils, followed by sharptooth oak (Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata) and Chinese pine-sharptooth oak forest soils, the wilson spruce (Picea wilsonii) forests had the lowest soil fungal diversity. The analyses of community composition suggested that the fungal communities of Armand pine forest soils were similar to those of Chinese pine forest soils, while other communities prominently differed from each other. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that soil silt, clay, pH, and ammonium nitrogen had intimate linkages with soil fungal diversity. Furthermore, the patterns of soil fungal communities were strongly governed by the specific soil environments of the tested NSFTs, as described by canonical correspondence analysis (CCA). Finally, our study showed that soil fungal communities may be mediated by NSFTs via specific soil edaphic status. Hence, such a comparable study may provide fundamental information for fungal diversity and community structure of natural forests and assist with better prediction and understanding how soil fungal composition and function alter with forest type transformation.

Short-Term Effects of Different Forest Management Methods on Soil Microbial Communities of a Natural Quercus aliena var. acuteserrata Forest in Xiaolongshan, China

“…Fungi prefer acid soil environments [57,58], and its diversity indices had a significantly negative association with pH value [57]. Hence, soil pH can influence and determine soil fungal communities [59].…”

Seasonal dynamics of bacterial communities in aBetula albosinensisforest

“…The depth of the organic layer ranged from 5 to 15 cm within the sampling site. Soil development has been relatively consistent, with a history free of human disturbances (Cheng et al ., ).…”

“…() investigated the bacteria in the rhizosphere of Sophora viciifolia in October. Moreover, these studies used traditional approaches, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)‐denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, phospholipid fatty acid analysis (Ding et al ., ) and terminal‐restriction fragment length polymorphism assays (Cheng et al ., ). Currently, next‐generation, high‐throughput DNA sequencing techniques facilitate a more comprehensive analysis of bacterial diversity, richness and the relative abundance of individual taxa, especially those from groups with low abundance.…”

Peer Review #1 of "A comparison of species composition and community assemblage of secondary forests between the birch and pine-oak belts in the mid-altitude zone of the Qinling Mountains, China (v0.1)"

“…Although the forests with rich species compositions, and many forest fragments remain at risk (Cheng et al 2015;Wang et al 2015), so their conservation must be given priority to avoid the loss of species, especially endemic and nearly endemic species. In addition, the forests have been harvested since the 1950s, and much of the area is now covered by secondary growth that has low productivity and poor community stability and with varying patterns of natural succession (Chai & Wang 2016;Cheng et al 2015;Li et al 2004). Enhancing the multi-functionality of forests is a goal of modern and sustainable forest management, which tries to balance a multitude of economic, ecological, and societal demands.…”