Abstract
Evergreen broad‐leaved (EBF) and deciduous broad‐leaved (DBF) forests are two important vegetation types in terrestrial ecosystems that play key roles in sustainable biodiversity and global carbon (C) cycling. However, little is known about their associated soil fungal community and the potential metabolic activities involved in biogeochemical processes. In this study, soil samples were collected from EBF and DBF in Shennongjia Mountain, China, and soil fungal community structure and functional gene diversity analyzed based on combined Illumina MiSeq sequencing with GeoChip technologies. The results showed that soil fungal species richness (p = 0.079) and fungal functional gene diversity (p < 0.01) were higher in DBF than EBF. Zygomycota was the most dominant phylum in both broad‐leaved forests, and the most dominant genera found in each forest varied (Umbelopsis dominated in DBF, whereas Mortierella dominated in EBF). A total of 4, 439 soil fungi associated functional gene probes involved in C and nitrogen (N) cycling were detected. Interestingly, the relative abundance of functional genes related to labile C degradation (e.g., starch, pectin, hemicellulose, and cellulose) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in DBF than EBF, and the functional gene relative abundance involved in C cycling was significantly negatively correlated with soil labile organic C (r = −0.720, p = 0.002). In conclusion, the soil fungal community structure and potential metabolic activity showed marked divergence in different broad‐leaved forest types, and the higher relative abundance of functional genes involved in C cycling in DBF may be caused by release of loss of organic C in the soil.
Highlights
Broad‐leaved forests are one of the most common and import‐ ant forest types in terrestrial ecosystems
Many soil fungal functional gene relative intensities of both labile and recalcitrant C decompo‐ sition were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in evergreen broad‐leaved forests (EBF) with gene relative intensities of C fixation being significantly lower (p = 0.027) in deciduous broad‐leaved forests (DBF). These results indicated soil fungal functional genes may play a large role in the turnover of soil C and N contents in EBF and DBF
The relative abundance of C cycling genes was significantly correlated with both soil temperature and moisture, consistent with the results reported by Zumsteg et al (2013)
Summary
Broad‐leaved forests are one of the most common and import‐ ant forest types in terrestrial ecosystems. There are numerous evergreen broad‐leaved forests (EBF) and deciduous broad‐leaved forests (DBF) in subtropical China (Ding et al, 2015) These forest ecosystems are known for both their quantity and quality of plant leaf litter (Guo et al, 2016), which greatly impacts underground. Careful atten‐ tion has been paid to the impacts of broad‐leaved forest conversion on plant species diversity (Huang et al, 2015) and soil labile organic matter (Chen et al, 2016; Yang et al, 2009), as well as differences in plant photosynthetic activity (Villar, Robleto, Jong, & Poorter, 2006) and soil nutrient requirements (Aerts, 1995; Givnish, 2002) between EBF and DBF. This difference in correlation strength may be due to climatic factors that overshadow plant influence at global scales (Bahram, Põlme, Kõljalg, Zarre, & Tedersoo, 2012)
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