Effects of simulated warming on soil properties and bacterial community composition in the Bashania faberi ecosystem

Abstract

The terrestrial environment is significantly impacted by global warming. Uncertainty exists on how the Bashania faberi ecosystem, which contains the staple-food bamboo for giant pandas, respond to climate change. A two years OTC (open-top chamber) experiment was conducted in the Bashania faberi ecosystem to measure the impact of warming on soil properties and composition of bacterial community across four different warming levels in surface (0–10 cm) and subsurface (10–20 cm) soil. In 0–10 cm soil layer, warming had significant impact on nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N). In 10–20 cm soil layer, warming significantly increased the soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), and soil carbon to phosphorus ratio (C/P), while reduced bacterial diversity and nitrification. The nitrate nitrogen concentration in surface soil first decreased and then increased with increasing temperature, whereas it exhibited the opposite trend in subsurface soil. Warming significantly reduced bacterial α diversity and nitrification function in the subsurface soil. pH, SOC, C/N, and C/P were the main factors affecting the bacterial community, according to redundancy analysis (RDA). Overall, our research revealed that warming altered soil properties and bacterial community, with subsurface soil being more strongly affected than surface soil in terms of these changes, which further impacted the Bashania faberi ecosystem functions.