Abstract
Soil microbial communities play an important role in maintaining the ecosystem during forest secondary succession. However, the underlying mechanisms that drive change in soil microbial community structures during secondary succession remain poorly defined in species-rich subtropical coniferous forests. In this study, Illumina high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the variations in soil microbial community structures during forest secondary succession in subtropical coniferous forests in China. The role of soil properties and plant diversity in affecting soil bacterial and fungal communities was determined using random forest and structural equation models. Highly variable soil microbial diversity was observed in different stages of secondary succession. Bacterial community diversity rose from early to middle and late successional stages, whereas fungal community diversity increased from early to middle successional stages and then declined in the late stage. The relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Eremiobacterota(WPS-2), Rokubacteria, and Mortierellomycota increased during succession, whereas the relative abundance of Ascomycota and Mucoromycota decreased. The community composition and diversity of the soil microbial community were remarkably influenced by plant diversity and soil properties. Notably, tree species richness (TSR) displayed a significant and direct correlation to the composition and diversity of both bacterial and fungal communities. The carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio had a direct impact on the bacterial community composition and diversity, and pH had a marked impact on the fungal community composition and diversity. Furthermore, succession stage and plant diversity indirectly impacted the composition and diversity of soil bacterial and fungal communities via soil properties. Overall, it can be concluded that soil intrinsic properties and plant diversity might jointly drive the changes in soil microbial community composition and diversity during secondary succession of subtropical coniferous forests.
Highlights
IntroductionSecondary succession is becoming one of the research focuses of terrestrial ecosystems with global land use changes [1]
Our results showed that fungi usually form symbioses, the increase in plant diversity with succession significantly the differences in fungal community diversity between successional stages were greater than those in soil bacterial community diversity, with the highest fungal community diversity in the middle successional stage (Figure 1)
The structure of soil bacterial and fungal communities showed significant differences at the three stages in the secondary succession of a P. kesiya forest, and the changes in plant diversity and those of most soil properties during succession could explain the differences in the microbial communities
Summary
Secondary succession is becoming one of the research focuses of terrestrial ecosystems with global land use changes [1]. Because soil microbes have essential roles in key ecosystem processes [4,5,6], such as plant productivity [7], nutrient cycling, water regulation, and litter decomposition [8], they are increasingly regarded as vital edaphic variables affecting secondary succession [9,10]. To clarify the roles of soil microbial communities in secondary succession, it is necessary to identify the factors that drive the changes in soil microbial community structures in the successional process [11]. How the soil microbial community structure varies during long-term succession needs to be determined
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