Dataset Information

Plant-facilitated effects of exotic earthworm Pontoscolex corethrurus on the soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and soil microbial community in a subtropical field ecosystem.

ABSTRACT: Earthworms and plants greatly affect belowground properties; however, their combined effects are more attractive based on the ecosystem scale in the field condition. To address this point, we manipulated earthworms (exotic endogeic species Pontoscolex corethrurus) and plants (living plants [native tree species Evodia lepta] and artificial plants) to investigate their combined effects on soil microorganisms, soil nutrients, and soil respiration in a subtropical forest. The manipulation of artificial plants aimed to simulate the physical effects of plants (e.g., shading and interception of water) such that the biological effects of plants could be evaluated separately. We found that relative to the controls, living plants but not artificial plants significantly increased the ratio of fungal to bacterial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and fungal PLFAs. Furthermore, earthworms plus living plants significantly increased the soil respiration and decreased the soil NH ₄⁺-N, which indicates that the earthworm effects on the associated carbon, and nitrogen processes were greatly affected by living plants. The permutational multivariate analysis of variance results also indicated that living plants but not earthworms or artificial plants significantly changed the soil microbial community. Our results suggest that the effects of plants on soil microbes and associated soil properties in this study were largely explained by their biological rather than their physical effects.

SUBMITTER: Wu J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5677479 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Plant-facilitated effects of exotic earthworm Pontoscolex corethrurus on the soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and soil microbial community in a subtropical field ecosystem.

Wu Jianping J Zhang Weixin W Shao Yuanhu Y Fu Shenglei S

Ecology and evolution 20170918 21

Earthworms and plants greatly affect belowground properties; however, their combined effects are more attractive based on the ecosystem scale in the field condition. To address this point, we manipulated earthworms (exotic endogeic species Pontoscolex corethrurus) and plants (living plants [native tree species Evodia lepta] and artificial plants) to investigate their combined effects on soil microorganisms, soil nutrients, and soil respiration in a subtropical forest. The manipulat ...[more]

PMID: 29152171

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Project description:The activity and spread of exotic earthworms often are spatially correlated with N deposition because both arise from human activities. Exotic earthworms, in turn, can also greatly affect soil abiotic and biotic properties, as well as related ecological processes. Previous studies showed, for example, that earthworms can counteract the detrimental effects of plant-feeding nematodes on plant growth. However, potential interactive effects of N deposition and exotic earthworms on ecosystems are poorly understood. We explored the changes in density of plant-feeding nematodes in response to the presence of exotic earthworms, and whether these changes are altered by elevated N deposition in a two-factorial field mesocosm experiment at the Heshan National Field Research Station of Forest Ecosystem, in southern China. Our results show that earthworm addition marginally significantly increased the density of exotic earthworms and significantly increased the mass of earthworm casts. The total density of plant-feeding nematodes was not significantly affected by exotic earthworms or N deposition. However, exotic earthworms tended to increase the density of plant-feeding nematode taxa that are less detrimental to plant growth (r-strategists), while they significantly reduced the density of more harmful plant-feeding nematodes (K-strategists). Importantly, these earthworm effects were restricted to the ambient N deposition treatment, and elevated N deposition cancelled out the earthworm effect. Although exotic earthworms and N deposition interactively altered foliar N : P ratio in the target tree species, this did not result in significant changes in shoot and root biomass in the short term. Overall, our study indicates that N deposition can cancel out exotic earthworm-induced reductions in the density of harmful plant-feeding nematodes. These results suggest that anthropogenic N deposition can alter biotic interactions between exotic and native soil organisms with potential implications for ecosystem functioning.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Earthworm communities are generally very sensitive to physico-chemical properties of the soil in different agro-ecosystem i.e. cultivated or non-cultivated which directly or indirectly influence the earthworm survival. The difference in physico-chemical properties of soil at different sites contributed to the formation of population patches for earthworm species. Understanding the physico-chemical properties of soil at a particular site could facilitate the prediction of earthworm species at that site. The objective of the present study was to investigate the diversity, abundance, and distribution of earthworms in cultivated and non-cultivated agroecosystems and their physico-chemical properties affecting the earthworm diversity and abundance. RESULTS:Total 10 species of earthworms i.e. Amynthas alexandri, Amynthas morrisi, Eutyphoeus incommodus, Eutyphoeus waltoni, Metaphire birmanica, Metaphire houlleti, Metaphire posthuma, Octochaetona beatrix, Perionyx excavatus, and Polypheretima elongata, were reported. Out of all the reported species, Metaphire posthuma was found to be the most abundant earthworm species in both cultivated and non-cultivated agroecosystems with the occurrence at 56.81% sites. The Shannon-Wiener index (H), Margalef species richness index (DMg) and Pielou species evenness (E) was ranged from 0 to 0.86, 0 to 0.64 and 0.78 to 1 respectively. The principal component analysis resulted in four principal components i.e. PC1, PC2, PC3 and PC4 which contributing variance (%) of 22.96, 19.37, 14.23 and 10.10 respectively. The principal component analysis also showed that physico-chemical parameters of soil such as EC, pH, TDS, texture, OC, moisture, etc. play a critical role in earthworm distribution. CONCLUSION:The conventional farming system has a negative effect on the earthworm diversity in the soil while the physico-chemical properties of soil also have a determinant effect on the same. Earthworms abundance in the present study have significant direct relation with soil properties at a particular site and vice versa. The diversity indices also change due to the conventional farming system which directly affects the earthworm abundance.

Project description:This study was conducted to investigate the capability of the microbial community characteristics and soil variables to promote carbon and nitrogen cycles in maize fields under straw mulch. We covered the surface soil of the maize field with different amounts of wheat straw (0 kg/ha, 2,250 kg/ha, and 4,500 kg/ha) and used 16S rRNA and ITS sequencing, Biology ECO-plate, traditional enzymology, TOC analyzer, and HPLC to measure bacterial and fungal community composition and functions, characteristics of microbial carbon source metabolism, carbon and nitrogen fraction, enzyme activity, and organic acid content in the maize rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere. The results indicated that short-term straw mulch insignificantly affected the alpha diversity of bacterial and fungal communities whereas significantly influenced their beta diversity. The results of functional prediction revealed that straw mulch considerably boosted the relative abundances of bacteria belonging to chemoheterotrophy, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, ureolysis, and nitrogen fixation and inhibited fermentation and nitrate reduction in maize rhizosphere soil. These processes primarily drove the C and N cycles in soil. Straw mulch also improved fungal saprotrophs by raising the proportion of Chaetomiaceae and Chaetosphaeriaceae. The Biology ECO-plate results illustrated that straw mulch weakened the metabolism capacity of microbial labile carbon resources. As a result, the labile C and N fractions were raised under straw mulch. Our results also showed that straw mulch primarily regulated the microbial community structure in rhizosphere soil by significantly decreasing Firmicutes and Ascomycota relative abundance while increasing Basidiomycota. The fungal community structure is more than bacterial for affecting soil microbial biomass carbon, readily oxidizable organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, available nitrogen, ammonium, and nitrate directly and indirectly through malic acid content and cellulase, protease, and amylase activity. Overall, our findings imply that straw mulch might influence the bacterial and fungal community structures, thereby boosting the production of labile C and N components and accelerating the C and N cycle in maize fields.

Dataset Information

Plant-facilitated effects of exotic earthworm Pontoscolex corethrurus on the soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and soil microbial community in a subtropical field ecosystem.

Publications

Plant-facilitated effects of exotic earthworm <i>Pontoscolex corethrurus</i> on the soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics and soil microbial community in a subtropical field ecosystem.

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