Abstract
PurposeThe soil microbial community is an important bioactive component of terrestrial ecosystems. Its structural and functional diversity directly affects carbon and nitrogen processes. This study aimed to investigate the variations in the functional diversity of soil microbial communities in forests with different types of vegetation.MethodsWe selected three typical vegetation types, larch (LG), black birch (BD), and larch and black birch mixed (LGBD) forests, located in the Heilongjiang Zhongyangzhan Black-billed Capercaillie Nature Reserve. The Biolog-Eco microplate technology was selected to perform these analyses.ResultOur results showed clear differences between microorganisms in the three typical forests. The average well colour development (AWCD) change rate gradually increased with incubation time. The BD type had the highest AWCD value, followed by LGBD; the LG forest type had the lowest value. The difference in the soil microbial alpha diversity index between BD and LG was significant. A principal component analysis showed that PC1 and PC2 respectively explained 62.77% and 13.3% of the variance observed. The differences in the soil microbial carbon-source utilisation patterns under different vegetation types were mainly caused by esters and carbohydrates. Redundancy analysis showed that soil microbial functional diversity was strongly affected by soil physicochemistrical properties (e.g. organic carbon, total nitrogen and pH).ConclusionThese results provide a reference for further exploring the relationship between forest communities and soil microbes during the process of forest succession.
Highlights
As important constituents of ecosystems and essential active components in the process of biological evolution, microorganisms are widely involved in soil biological and biochemical processes (Gao et al 2015a, 2015b)
Betula dahurica (BD) had the highest value of soil organic carbon (SOC) (60.3 g.kg−1), whilst Larix gmelinii (LG) had the Forest type pH
The same trend was observed for total nitrogen (TN), with BD having the highest (4.12 mg.kg−1) and LG the lowest (2.76 mg.kg−1) values
Summary
As important constituents of ecosystems and essential active components in the process of biological evolution, microorganisms are widely involved in soil biological and biochemical processes (Gao et al 2015a, 2015b). Soil microorganisms are an important driving factor for material conversion and nutrient cycling. They play key roles in ecosystem functional maintenance and biogeochemical cycle processes, directly or indirectly promote plant growth, influence vegetation succession processes, and can significantly impact ecosystem development (Fierer and Jackson 2006; Zhang et al 2012; Bellingham et al 2001). Changes in aboveground vegetation composition influence soil microbial biomass, activity, community structure and function (Hua et al 2004; Sarah et al 2010; Yoshitake et al 2013; Glanville et al 2012). Changes in soil microbial community and function impact aboveground plant composition and diversity. The study of how vegetation impacts soil microbes is an increasingly popular topic for ecologists, especially research regarding the functional mechanisms of ecosystems
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