Dataset Information

Nutrient availability is a dominant predictor of soil bacterial and fungal community composition after nitrogen addition in subtropical acidic forests.

ABSTRACT: Nutrient addition to forest ecosystems significantly influences belowground microbial diversity, community structure, and ecosystem functioning. Nitrogen (N) addition in forests is common in China, especially in the southeast region. However, the influence of N addition on belowground soil microbial community diversity in subtropical forests remains unclear. In May 2018, we randomly selected 12 experimental plots in a Pinus taiwanensis forest within the Daiyun Mountain Nature Reserve, Fujian Province, China, and subjected them to N addition treatments for one year. We investigated the responses of the soil microbial communities and identified the major elements that influenced microbial community composition in the experimental plots. The present study included three N treatments, i.e., the control (CT), low N addition (LN, 40 kg N ha-1 yr-1), and high N addition (HN, 80 kg N ha-1 yr-1), and two depths, 0-10 cm (topsoil) and 10-20 cm (subsoil), which were all sampled in the growing season (May) of 2019. Soil microbial diversity and community composition in the topsoil and subsoil were investigated using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rDNA genes and fungal internal transcribed spacer sequences. According to our results, 1) soil dissolved organic carbon (DOC) significantly decreased after HN addition, and available nitrogen (AN) significantly declined after LN addition, 2) bacterial ?-diversity in the subsoil significantly decreased with HN addition, which was affected significantly by the interaction between N addition and soil layer, and 3) soil DOC, rather than pH, was the dominant environmental factor influencing soil bacterial community composition, while AN and MBN were the best predictors of soil fungal community structure dynamics. Moreover, N addition influence both diversity and community composition of soil bacteria more than those of fungi in the subtropical forests. The results of the present study provide further evidence to support shifts in soil microbial community structure in acidic subtropical forests in response to increasing N deposition.

SUBMITTER: Cui J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7901772 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Nutrient availability is a dominant predictor of soil bacterial and fungal community composition after nitrogen addition in subtropical acidic forests.

Cui Juyan J Yuan Xiaochun X Zhang Qiufang Q Zhou Jiacong J Lin Kaimiao K Xu Jianguo J Zeng Yaozhong Y Wu Yue Y Cheng Lei L Zeng Quanxin Q Mei Kongcan K Chen Yuehmin Y

PloS one 20210223 2

Nutrient addition to forest ecosystems significantly influences belowground microbial diversity, community structure, and ecosystem functioning. Nitrogen (N) addition in forests is common in China, especially in the southeast region. However, the influence of N addition on belowground soil microbial community diversity in subtropical forests remains unclear. In May 2018, we randomly selected 12 experimental plots in a Pinus taiwanensis forest within the Daiyun Mountain Nature Reserve, Fujian Pro ...[more]

PMID: 33621258

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Project description:The soil fungal community plays an important role in forest ecosystems and is crucially influenced by forest secondary succession. However, the driving factors of fungal community and function during temperate forest succession and their potential impact on succession processes remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the dynamics of the soil fungal community in three temperate forest secondary successional stages (shrublands, coniferous forests, and deciduous broad-leaved forests) using high-throughput DNA sequencing coupled with functional prediction via the FUNGuild database. We found that fungal community richness, α-diversity, and evenness decreased significantly during the succession process. Soil available phosphorus and nitrate nitrogen decreased significantly after initial succession occurred, and redundancy analysis showed that both were significant predictors of soil fungal community structure. Among functional groups, fungal saprotrophs and pathotrophs represented by plant pathogens were significantly enriched in the early-successional stage, while fungal symbiotrophs represented by ectomycorrhiza were significantly increased in the late-successional stage. The abundance of both saprotroph and pathotroph fungal guilds was positively correlated with soil nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus content. Ectomycorrhizal fungi were negatively correlated with nitrate nitrogen and available phosphorus content and positively correlated with ammonium nitrogen content. These results indicate that the dynamics of fungal community and function reflected the changes in nitrogen and phosphorus availability caused by the secondary succession in temperate forests. The fungal plant pathogen accumulated in the early-successional stage and ectomycorrhizal fungi accumulated in the late-successional stage may have a potential role in promoting forest succession. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the response of soil fungal communities to secondary forest succession and highlight the importance of fungal communities during the successional process.

Project description:BackgroundLeaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) resorption is a fundamental adaptation strategy for plant nutrient conservation. However, the relative roles that environmental factors and plant functional traits play in regulating N and P resorption remain largely unclear, and little is known about the underlying mechanism of plant functional traits affecting nutrient resorption. Here, we measured leaf N and P resorption and 13 plant functional traits of leaf, petiole, and twig for 101 representative broad-leaved tree species in our target subtropical transitional forests. We integrated these multiple functional traits into the plant economics spectrum (PES). We further explored whether and how elevation-related environmental factors and these functional traits collectively control leaf N and P resorption.ResultsWe found that deciduous and evergreen trees exhibited highly diversified PES strategies, tending to be acquisitive and conservative, respectively. The effects of PES, rather than of environmental factors, dominated leaf N and P resorption patterns along the elevational gradient. Specifically, the photosynthesis and nutrient recourse utilization axis positively affected N and P resorption for both deciduous and evergreen trees, whereas the structural and functional investment axis positively affected leaf N and P resorption for evergreen species only. Specific leaf area and green leaf nutrient concentrations were the most influential traits driving leaf N and P resorption.ConclusionsOur study simultaneously elucidated the relative contributions of environmental factors and plant functional traits to leaf N and P resorption by including more representative tree species than previous studies, expanding our understanding beyond the relatively well-studied tropical and temperate forests. We highlight that prioritizing the fundamental role of traits related to leaf resource capture and defense contributes to the monitoring and modeling of leaf nutrient resorption. Therefore, we need to integrate PES effects on leaf nutrient resorption into the current nutrient cycling model framework to better advance our general understanding of the consequences of shifting tree species composition for nutrient cycles across diverse forests.

Dataset Information

Nutrient availability is a dominant predictor of soil bacterial and fungal community composition after nitrogen addition in subtropical acidic forests.

Publications

Nutrient availability is a dominant predictor of soil bacterial and fungal community composition after nitrogen addition in subtropical acidic forests.

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