Dataset Information

Effects of Spartina alterniflora Invasion on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Ecological Functions.

ABSTRACT: It has been reported that the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changed the soil microbial community in the mangrove ecosystem in China, especially the bacterial community, although the response of soil fungal communities and soil microbial ecological functions to the invasion of Spartina alterniflora remains unclear. In this study, we selected three different communities (i.e., Spartina alterniflora community (SC), Spartina alterniflora-mangrove mixed community (TC), and mangrove community (MC)) in the Zhangjiangkou Mangrove Nature Reserve in China. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the impact of Spartina alterniflora invasion on mangrove soil microbial communities. Our results indicate that the invasion of Spartina alterniflora does not cause significant changes in microbial diversity, but it can alter the community structure of soil bacteria. The results of the LEfSe (LDA Effect Size) analysis show that the relative abundance of some bacterial taxa is not significantly different between the MC and SC communities, but different changes have occurred during the invasion process (i.e., TC community). Different from the results of the bacterial community, the invasion of Spartina alterniflora only cause a significant increase in few fungal taxa during the invasion process, and these taxa are at some lower levels (such as family, genus, and species) and classified into the phylum Ascomycota. Although the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changes the taxa with certain ecological functions, it may not change the potential ecological functions of soil microorganisms (i.e., the potential metabolic pathways of bacteria, nutritional patterns, and fungal associations). In general, the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changes the community structure of soil microorganisms, but it may not affect the potential ecological functions of soil microorganisms.

SUBMITTER: Cao M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7827921 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Effects of Spartina alterniflora Invasion on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Ecological Functions.

Cao Minmin M Cui Lina L Sun Huimin H Zhang Xiaomian X Zheng Xiang X Jiang Jiang J

Microorganisms 20210109 1

It has been reported that the invasion of Spartina alterniflora changed the soil microbial community in the mangrove ecosystem in China, especially the bacterial community, although the response of soil fungal communities and soil microbial ecological functions to the invasion of Spartina alterniflora remains unclear. In this study, we selected three different communities (i.e., Spartina alterniflora community (SC), Spartina alterniflora-mangrove mixed community (TC), ...[more]

PMID: 33435501

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Project description:BackgroundSince Spartina alterniflora (simplified as Spartina) has strong ecological competitiveness and rapid growth, it has been introduced and living in the coastal wetland regions of China for more than 30 years. Taking coastal wetland in the Beibu Gulf of south China as an example, the effects of Spartina invasion on soil quality were investigated to provide scientific basis for soil management.MethodologyThe soil quality of six different coastal wetlands, i.e. mangrove (vegetation coverage is above 95%), mangrove- Spartina ecotones (vegetation coverage is above 95%), sparse mangrove (vegetation coverage is 10%-20%), sparse mangrove- Spartina ecotones (vegetation coverage is about 80%), Spartina (vegetation coverage is about 80%) and bare beach (no plants), were analyzed using the following indicators: pH, cation exchange capacity, contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, microbial carbon / organic carbon, and activities of urease, acid phosphatase, invertase, polyphenol oxidase and catalase.Principal findingsThe results showed that compared to mangrove wetland, most indicators in the mangrove-Spartina wetland showed a decline tendency except pH value, and the contents of total phosphorus and organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and soil microbial biomass nitrogen, and the activities of acid phosphatase and invertase were significantly reduced (P<0.05). Compared to sparse mangrove wetland and bare beach, the Spartina invasion wetland (sparse mangrove-Spartina wetland and Spartina wetland) had higher contents of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, microbial biomass nitrogen, cation exchange capacity and the activities of urease and acid phosphatase, so soil quality in the sparse mangrove wetland and bare beach was significantly improved. Factor Analysis and PCA also showed that: the quality of mangrove wetland soil is better than that of mangrove-Spartina ecotones wetland soil; the quality of sparse mangrove-Spartina ecotones wetland soil is better than that of sparse mangrove wetland soil; the quality of Spartina wetland soil is better than that of bare beach wetland soil.Conclusions/significanceTherefore, in the invaded Beibu Gulf wetland ecosystems of south China, for the mangrove wetlands where the productivity of native plant was higher than that of Spartina, the Spartina invasion can cause soil degradation significantly and it must be strictly controlled, while for sparse mangrove wetland and bare beach where the productivity of native plant was lower than that of Spartina, Spartina invasion can improve the soil quality. Thus our study may help to better understand the effect of plant invasion.

Project description:The effect of plant invasion on the microorganisms of soil sediments is very important for estuary ecology. The community structures of methanogens and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) as a function of Spartina alterniflora invasion in Phragmites australis-vegetated sediments of the Dongtan wetland in the Yangtze River estuary, China, were investigated using 454 pyrosequencing and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) of the methyl coenzyme M reductase A (mcrA) and dissimilatory sulfite-reductase (dsrB) genes. Sediment samples were collected from two replicate locations, and each location included three sampling stands each covered by monocultures of P. australis, S. alterniflora and both plants (transition stands), respectively. qPCR analysis revealed higher copy numbers of mcrA genes in sediments from S. alterniflora stands than P. australis stands (5- and 7.5-fold more in the spring and summer, respectively), which is consistent with the higher methane flux rates measured in the S. alterniflora stands (up to 8.01 ± 5.61 mg m(-2) h(-1)). Similar trends were observed for SRB, and they were up to two orders of magnitude higher than the methanogens. Diversity indices indicated a lower diversity of methanogens in the S. alterniflora stands than the P. australis stands. In contrast, insignificant variations were observed in the diversity of SRB with the invasion. Although Methanomicrobiales and Methanococcales, the hydrogenotrophic methanogens, dominated in the salt marsh, Methanomicrobiales displayed a slight increase with the invasion and growth of S. alterniflora, whereas the later responded differently. Methanosarcina, the metabolically diverse methanogens, did not vary with the invasion of, but Methanosaeta, the exclusive acetate utilizers, appeared to increase with S. alterniflora invasion. In SRB, sequences closely related to the families Desulfobacteraceae and Desulfobulbaceae dominated in the salt marsh, although they displayed minimal changes with the S. alterniflora invasion. Approximately 11.3 ± 5.1% of the dsrB gene sequences formed a novel cluster that was reduced upon the invasion. The results showed that in the sediments of tidal salt marsh where S. alterniflora displaced P. australis, the abundances of methanogens and SRB increased, but the community composition of methanogens appeared to be influenced more than did the SRB.

Dataset Information

Effects of Spartina alterniflora Invasion on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Ecological Functions.

Publications

Effects of <i>Spartina alterniflora</i> Invasion on Soil Microbial Community Structure and Ecological Functions.

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