Abstract
Soil microorganisms provide valuable ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling, soil remediation, and biotic and abiotic stress resistance. There is increasing interest in exploring total belowground biodiversity across ecological scales to understand better how different ecological aspects, such as stand density, soil properties, soil depth, and plant growth parameters, influence belowground communities. In various environments, microbial components of belowground communities, such as soil fungi, respond differently to soil features; however, little is known about their response to standing density and vertical soil profiles in a Chinese fir monoculture plantation. This research examined the assemblage of soil fungal communities in different density stands (high, intermediate, and low) and soil depth profiles (0–20 cm and 20–40 cm). This research also looked into the relationship between soil fungi and tree canopy characteristics (mean tilt angle of the leaf (MTA), leaf area index (LAI), and canopy openness index (DIFN)), and general growth parameters, such as diameter, height, and biomass. The results showed that low-density stand soil had higher fungal alpha diversity than intermediate- and high-density stand soils. Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucromycota, and Mortierellomycota were the most common phyla of the soil fungal communities, in that order. Saitozyma, Penicillium, Umbelopsis, and Talaromyces were the most abundant fungal genera. Stand density composition was the dominant factor in changing fungal community structure compared to soil properties and soil depth profiles. The most significant soil elements in soil fungal community alterations were macronutrients. In addition, the canopy openness index and fungal community structure have a positive association in the low-density stand. Soil biota is a nutrient cycling driver that can promote better plant growth in forest ecosystems by supporting nutrient cycling. Hence, this research will be critical in understanding soil fungal dynamics, improving stand growth and productivity, and improving soil quality in intensively managed Chinese fir plantations.
Highlights
Soil microorganisms are an essential component of forest soils, as they help with energy flow and nutrient conversion in forest ecosystems
Three Chinese fir monoculture stands established at different stand densities, i.e., low density (1450 trees hm2 with 2.36 × 2.36 m spacing), intermediate density (2460 trees hm2 with 1.83 × 1.83 m spacing), and high density (1450 trees hm2 with 1.44 × 1.44 m spacing) were selected
We find substantiation of the complexity of belowground ecology by displaying a divergence of patterns of relative abundance and richness between soil fungi at different stand density levels using various factors such as vertical soil profiles, stand density, and soil physiochemical properties to study the composition and diversity of soil fungi across Chinese fir plantation systems
Summary
Soil microorganisms are an essential component of forest soils, as they help with energy flow and nutrient conversion in forest ecosystems. Despite extensive research on soil microorganisms worldwide, the functions of the majority of microbes remain unknown, as only a small percentage (1–2%) of microbes can be isolated, cultured, and identified [4]. Fungi (eukaryotic microorganisms) play an important ecological fundamental role as mutualists, decomposers, and pathogens of animals and plants [5]. They mediate plant mineral nutritional status, promote carbon (C) cycling in soils, and alleviate C limitations in other soil microbiota [6]. Plantation productivity, stand growth, canopy structure, and soil fertility all are influenced by various forest management practices, such as stand density and spacing [7,8,9], stand structure [10], species genotype [11], use of cutting [12], seed germination methods [13,14], use of inorganic and organic amendments [15], and planting pattern [16]
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