Biochar dose-dependent impacts on soil bacterial and fungal diversity across the globe

Abstract

Biochar, a widely used material for soil amendment, has been found to offer numerous advantages in improving soil properties and the habitats for soil microorganisms. However, there is still a lack of global perspectives on the influence of various levels of biochar addition on soil microbial diversity and primary components. Thus, in our study, we performed a global meta-analysis of studies to determine how different doses of biochar affect soil total carbon (C), nitrogen (N), pH, alpha- and beta-diversity, and the major phyla of both bacterial and fungal communities. Our results revealed that biochar significantly increased soil pH by 4 %, soil total C and N by 68 % and 22 %, respectively, in which the positive effects increased with biochar doses. Moreover, biochar promoted soil bacterial richness and evenness by 3–8 % at the biochar concentrations of 1–5 % (w/w), while dramatically shifting bacterial beta-diversity at the doses of >2 % (w/w). Specifically, biochar exhibited significantly positive effects on bacterial phyla of Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Gemmatimonadetes, and Proteobacteria, especially Deltaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria, by 4–10 % depending on the concentrations. On the contrary, the bacterial phylum of Verrucomicrobia and fungal phylum of Basidiomycota showed significant negative responses to biochar by −8 % and −24 %, respectively. Therefore, our meta-analysis provides theoretical support for the development of optimized agricultural management practices by emphasizing biochar application dosing.