Abstract
Characterizing the spatial distribution patterns of soil microorganisms is helpful in understanding the biogeochemical processes they perform, but has been less studied relative to those of macroorganisms. In this study, we investigated and compared the spatially explicit distribution patterns of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) abundance and the influential factors between an early (ES) and a late successional (LS) subtropical forest stand. The average AOA abundance, vegetational attributes, and soil nutrient contents were mostly greater in the LS than the ES stand (P = 0.085 or smaller), but their spatial variations were more pronounced in the ES than the LS stand. The spatial distribution patches of AOA abundance were smaller and more irregular in the ES stand (patch size <50 m) than in the LS stand (patch size about 120 m). Edaphic and vegetational variables contributed more to the spatial variations of AOA abundance for the ES (9.3%) stand than for LS stand, whereas spatial variables (MEMs) were the main contributors (62%) for the LS stand. These results suggest that environmental filtering likely influence the spatial distribution of AOA abundance at early successional stage more than that at late successional stage, while spatial dispersal is dominant at late successional stage.
Highlights
Nutrient demand and more frequent disturbances such as timber harvesting and fire[11,12]
We aimed to address the following questions: i) Will the magnitude and spatial distribution of Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) abundance differ between the two forest successional stages? ii) How are the spatial variations in AOA abundance related to environmental and spatial factors? iii) What are the relative effects of spatial and environmental factors on the distribution patterns of AOA abundance? We hypothesized that the magnitude and spatial distribution patterns of AOA abundance, and determinant factors would differ between early and late successional forest stands, since many studies have found that soil properties such as microbial biomass and composition, and physicochemical parameters change with forest succession[9,30]
Our results showed that the availability of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN) and available nitrogen (AN) was lower in the early stage of forest succession (Table 1), which might have resulted in the lower AOA abundance in the ES stand
Summary
Nutrient demand and more frequent disturbances such as timber harvesting and fire[11,12]. We analyzed the spatial distribution patterns of the AOA abundance, soil physicochemical properties, and vegetational attributes in an early (ES) and a late successional (LS) subtropical forest stand. These forest stands are typical in southern China and eastern Asia due to long-term anthropogenic disturbances such as deforestation and firewood harvesting. We hypothesized that the magnitude and spatial distribution patterns of AOA abundance, and determinant factors would differ between early and late successional forest stands, since many studies have found that soil properties such as microbial biomass and composition, and physicochemical parameters change with forest succession[9,30]
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