Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.5
2.9
Journals
Forests
Special Issues
Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions
share announcement

Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Soil".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 27 September 2024 | Viewed by 8851

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Fuxi Shi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Interests: forest ecology; biogeochemistry; isotope; climate change
Dr. Xianwei Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China
Interests: peatland; carbon cycle; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yang Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Interests: forest soil phosphorus cycling; forest soil microbial ecology; forest management
Dr. Jiusheng Ren

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang 330013, China
Interests: soil microbes; soil microbial interaction; soil carbon cycling; plant-soil interaction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forests are the most important terrestrial ecosystem in the world. These can provide diverse ecosystem services such as food production, biodiversity conservation, sand storm prevention, water and soil conservation, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration, etc. It is well-known that the plant, soil and microbes do not exist alone in forest ecosystem; rather, they are tightly linked to each other. However, there are still many gaps in our understanding of the plant, soil, microorganisms and their interactions in forest ecosystems. We welcome the contribution of studies on plant functional traits, soil chemical process, soil carbon cycling, soil microbial diversity and their interactions in forests, including case studies, meta-analysis and model studies, to this Special Issue with the aim of promoting forest management.

Dr. Fuxi Shi
Dr. Xianwei Wang
Dr. Yang Zhang
Dr. Jiusheng Ren
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant functional traits
  • soil carbon cycling
  • soil nitrogen cycling
  • soil phosphorus cycling
  • soil microbial diversity
  • plant–soil interaction
  • microbe–plant–soil interplay

Published Papers (9 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 2685 KiB  
Article
The Changes in Soil Microbial Communities and Assembly Processes along Vegetation Succession in a Subtropical Forest
by Jiusheng Ren, Kangxiang Huang, Fangfang Xu, Yuan Zhang, Bosen Yuan, Huimin Chen and Fuxi Shi
Forests 2024, 15(2), 242; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15020242 - 26 Jan 2024
Viewed by 661
Abstract
Soil microbes are the primary drivers of the material cycling of the forest ecosystem, and understanding how microbial structure and composition change across succession assists in clarifying the mechanisms behind succession dynamics. However, the response of soil microbial communities and assembly processes to [...] Read more.
Soil microbes are the primary drivers of the material cycling of the forest ecosystem, and understanding how microbial structure and composition change across succession assists in clarifying the mechanisms behind succession dynamics. However, the response of soil microbial communities and assembly processes to succession is poorly understood in subtropical forests. Thus, through the “space instead of time” and high throughput sequencing method, the dynamics of the soil bacterial and fungal communities and assembly process along the succession were studied, where five succession stages, including Abandoned lands (AL), Deciduous broad-leaved forests (DB), Coniferous forests (CF), Coniferous broad-leaved mixed forests (CB), and Evergreen broad-leaved forests (EB), were selected in a subtropical forest on the western slope of Wuyi Mountain, southern China. The results demonstrated that succession significantly decreased soil bacterial α-diversity but had little effect on fungal α-diversity. The composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities shifted along with the succession stages. LEfSe analysis showed the transition from initial succession microbial communities dominated by Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Ascomycota, and Chytridiomycota to terminal succession communities dominated by Actinobacteriota and Basidiomycota. Distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA) revealed that soil total organic carbon (TOC) was the main factor explaining variability in the structure of soil bacterial communities, and multiple soil environmental factors such as the TOC, soil total nitrogen (TN), C:N ratio, and pH co-regulated the structure of fungi. The null models illustrated that deterministic processes were dominant in the soil bacterial communities, while the stochastic processes contributed significantly to the soil fungal communities during succession. Collectively, our results suggest that different patterns are displayed by the soil bacterial and fungal communities during the succession. These findings enhance our comprehension of the processes that drive the formation and maintenance of soil microbial diversity throughout forest succession. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

20 pages, 3783 KiB  
Article
Soil Microbial Communities in Pseudotsuga sinensis Forests with Different Degrees of Rocky Desertification in the Karst Region, Southwest China
by Wangjun Li, Bin He, Tu Feng, Xiaolong Bai, Shun Zou, Yang Chen, Yurong Yang and Xuefeng Wu
Forests 2024, 15(1), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15010047 - 25 Dec 2023
Viewed by 779
Abstract
Rocky desertification (RD), a natural and human-induced process of land degradation in karst areas, has become the primary ecological disaster and one of the obstacles to sustainable ecological development in southwest China. Nevertheless, the variation of soil physical and chemical properties, bacterial and [...] Read more.
Rocky desertification (RD), a natural and human-induced process of land degradation in karst areas, has become the primary ecological disaster and one of the obstacles to sustainable ecological development in southwest China. Nevertheless, the variation of soil physical and chemical properties, bacterial and fungal communities, and their relationships in RD forests remains limited. Therefore, soil samples were collected from forests under four degrees of RD (NRD, non-RD; LRD, light RD; MRD, moderate RD; and SRD, severe RD) and subjected to high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA and ITS1 genes. The results showed a significant reduction in bacterial richness and diversity, while fungal richness and diversity decreased markedly and then showed a balanced trend with the increase in RD degree, indicating that bacteria and fungi did not present the same dynamics in response to the process of RD. The bacterial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Chloroflexi, while the fungal communities were dominated by Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, and Mortierellomycota. The PCoA and NMDS demonstrated significant differences in microbial communities in study sites, among which the fungal communities in non-RD forest and LRD forest clustered together, suggesting that fungal communities were more stable than bacteria in RD forest. The db-RDA, Mantel test, and random forest model confirmed the important role of soil BD, pH, SOC, AN, and AP in driving microbial diversity and communities. The IndVal analysis suggested that Chloroflexi, Patescibacteria, Atheliales, and Cantharellales with high indicator values were identified as potential bio-indicators for RD forests. This study could not only improve our understanding of bacterial and fungal community dynamics across RD gradients, but also could provide useful information for the further use of microorganisms as indicators to reflect the environmental changes and ecosystem status during forest RD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3258 KiB  
Article
Water Use Efficiency of Five Tree Species and Its Relationships with Leaf Nutrients in a Subtropical Broad-Leaf Evergreen Forest of Southern China
by Kang-Xiang Huang, Zi-Jing Xue, Jian-Cheng Wu, Hong Wang, Hui-Qian Zhou, Ze-Bing Xiao, Wei Zhou, Jin-Feng Cai, Long-Wei Hu, Jiu-Sheng Ren, Yang Zhang, Sheng-Sheng Xiao and Fu-Xi Shi
Forests 2023, 14(12), 2298; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14122298 - 23 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 725
Abstract
Water use efficiency (WUE) is key to linking the water, carbon, and nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the coupling between WUE and leaf nutrients is still poorly understood in subtropical forests. Here, the stable carbon isotope technique was employed to estimate the [...] Read more.
Water use efficiency (WUE) is key to linking the water, carbon, and nutrient cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the coupling between WUE and leaf nutrients is still poorly understood in subtropical forests. Here, the stable carbon isotope technique was employed to estimate the leaf-scale WUE of five common tree species (Castanopsis eyrei, Symplocos laurina, Machilus grijsii, Ternstroemia gymnanthera, and Rhododendron ovatum) in different habitat types (i.e., hillside, near the top of the peak, and peak) in a subtropical broad-leaf evergreen forest on the western slope of Wuyi Mountain, southern China. In addition, leaf carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents were also measured to assess plant nutrient utilization and its relationship with WUE. From the hillside to the peak, soil water content showed a decreasing trend, whereas the soil total C, N, and P contents showed an increasing trend. Regardless of species, the leaf δ13Cp value and WUE showed an increasing trend from the hillside to the peak, mainly due to an increase in soil water deficit and light. The leaf N and P contents showed an increasing trend from hillside to peak due to an increase in soil nutrients, while the leaf C: N ratio, C:P ratio, and N:P ratio showed a decreasing trend. The regression analysis showed that leaf-scale WUE was positively correlated with the leaf N and P contents but negatively correlated with the leaf N:P ratio, especially for the three species (C. eyrei, S. laurina, and T. gymnanthera). These results indicated that the differences in soil water availability, light, and soil development resulting from different habitats have a significant impact on leaf-scale WUE and nutrient status on Wuyi Mountain. Therefore, there may be a close relationship between WUE and leaf nutrients, which would help us to better understand the water-, carbon-, and nutrient-coupled relationships for the evergreen broad-leaved tree species in this region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 1917 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Pseudomonas sp. En3, an Endophytic Bacterium from Poplar Leaf Endosphere with Plant Growth-Promoting Properties
by Beiyan Deng, Ling Wu, Hongju Xiao and Qiang Cheng
Forests 2023, 14(11), 2203; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14112203 - 06 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1121
Abstract
Growth-promoting endophytic bacteria possess substantial potential for sustainable agriculture. Here, we isolated an endophytic bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. En3, from the leaf endosphere of Populus tomentosa and demonstrated its significant growth-promoting effects on both poplar and tomato seedlings. The phosphorus solubilization and nitrogen fixation [...] Read more.
Growth-promoting endophytic bacteria possess substantial potential for sustainable agriculture. Here, we isolated an endophytic bacterium, Pseudomonas sp. En3, from the leaf endosphere of Populus tomentosa and demonstrated its significant growth-promoting effects on both poplar and tomato seedlings. The phosphorus solubilization and nitrogen fixation abilities of strain En3 were confirmed via growth experiments on NBRIP and Ashby media, respectively. Salkowski staining and HPLC-MS/MS confirmed that En3 generated indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). The infiltration of En3 into leaf tissues of multiple plants did not induce discernible disease symptoms, and a successful replication of En3 was observed in both poplar and tobacco leaves. Combining Illumina and Nanopore sequencing data, we elucidated that En3 possesses a circular chromosome of 5.35 Mb, exhibiting an average G + C content of 60.45%. The multi-locus sequence analysis (MLSA) and genome average nucleotide identity (ANI) supported that En3 is a novel species of Pseudomonas and constitutes a distinct phylogenetic branch with P. rhizosphaerae and P. coleopterorum. En3 genome annotation analysis revealed the presence of genes associated with nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, sulfur metabolism, siderophore biosynthesis, synthesis of IAA, and ethylene and salicylic acid modulation. The findings suggest that Pseudomonas sp. En3 exhibits significant potential as a biofertilizer for crop and tree cultivation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 4110 KiB  
Article
Increased Vegetation Productivity of Altitudinal Vegetation Belts in the Chinese Tianshan Mountains despite Warming and Drying since the Early 21st Century
by Yong Zhang, Chengbang An, Lai Jiang, Liyuan Zheng, Bo Tan, Chao Lu, Wensheng Zhang and Yanzhen Zhang
Forests 2023, 14(11), 2189; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14112189 - 03 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 953
Abstract
Gaining a deep understanding of how climate change affects the carbon cycle in dryland vegetation is of utmost importance, as it plays a pivotal role in shaping the overall carbon cycle in global ecosystems. It is currently not clear how plant communities at [...] Read more.
Gaining a deep understanding of how climate change affects the carbon cycle in dryland vegetation is of utmost importance, as it plays a pivotal role in shaping the overall carbon cycle in global ecosystems. It is currently not clear how plant communities at varying elevations in arid mountainous regions will respond to climate change in terms of their productivity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of climate change on vegetation productivity in different altitudinal vegetation belts of the Tianshan Mountains between 2000 and 2021, utilizing satellite-derived vegetation productivity and climate data. The findings suggest a notable increase in vegetation productivity across diverse altitudinal vegetation belts. The productivity of vegetation in the coniferous forest and alpine meadow belts displayed a notably higher interannual trend compared to other vegetation belts. Notably, an increase in vegetation productivity was accompanied by warming and drying. The productivity of altitudinal vegetation belts, however, appears to be resilient to current climate trends and was not significantly impacted by the severity of atmospheric drought. The trend of increased vegetation productivity was primarily driven by CO2 fertilization. Our results highlight that the extent of climate change may need to reach a threshold to noticeably affect variations in vegetation productivity in arid mountainous. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 5179 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Curcin Protein and Jatropha Plantation on Soil Fungi
by Zhiping Lai, Bingbing Zhang, Xianfei Niu, Rui Ma, Ting Wang, Cheng Cheng, Yingying Ren, Xueying Wang, Na Hu, Nan Jiang and Ying Xu
Forests 2023, 14(10), 2088; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14102088 - 18 Oct 2023
Viewed by 881
Abstract
Jatropha curcas is widely planted as a highly drought-resistant biodiesel feedstock. Curcin protein is one of the Jatropha ribosomal inactivation proteins with broad-spectrum antifungal activity that may enter the soil ecosystem as a result of large-scale Jatropha cultivation and affect fungi and various [...] Read more.
Jatropha curcas is widely planted as a highly drought-resistant biodiesel feedstock. Curcin protein is one of the Jatropha ribosomal inactivation proteins with broad-spectrum antifungal activity that may enter the soil ecosystem as a result of large-scale Jatropha cultivation and affect fungi and various enzymatic activities in the soil. In this research, the influence of curcin protein and Jatropha planting on soil fungi was investigated, and the levels of curcin in various tissues and organs of Jatropha were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It was found that the content of curcin in seed kernels reaches 2 mg/g, which is much higher than that in other tissues. After the seeds have fallen into the soil, the level of curcin in the soil rises rapidly, reaching 59.22 µg/g soil and 67.49 µg/g soil in different soil samples, respectively. It then falls by more than 99% within six days. High-throughput sequencing technology was used to study the soils treated with different concentrations of curcin, and the results of the soil fungal alpha diversity index analysis showed that the fungal communities did not change significantly, but the abundance of each fungal community changed significantly. The degree of influence of different concentrations of curcin treatment on the abundance of the soil dominant fungal community were investigated for concentrations of 0.5 μg/g, 50 μg/g and 5 μg/g, and showed that concentrations of 0.5 μg/g and 50 μg/g are more likely to change fungal community structure in soil, and with the increasing extension of the treatment time, they may be detrimental to the conservation of soil ecosystems. Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing of soil fungi from Jatropha planted and unplanted areas in four regions with different climate types showed that Jatropha planting significantly altered the soil fungal communities in each region. There was a negative impact on soil fungal communities in tropical maritime monsoon and subtropical dry and hot monsoon climates, while a positive impact was observed in subtropical monsoon and tropical highland monsoon climates due to Jatropha cultivation. In conclusion, Jatropha plantations and curcin protein have an impact on soil fungi and thereby affect the ecological system of the soil. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 2717 KiB  
Article
Thinning Promotes Soil Phosphorus Bioavailability in Short-Rotation and High-Density Eucalyptus grandis × E. urophylla Coppice Plantation in Guangxi, Southern China
by Xiangsheng Xiao, Izhar Ali, Xu Du, Yuanyuan Xu, Shaoming Ye and Mei Yang
Forests 2023, 14(10), 2067; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14102067 - 16 Oct 2023
Viewed by 960
Abstract
Thinning can improve soil nutrient supply, but the effects of thinning on soil phosphorus (P) contents and bioavailable mechanisms in high-density and short-rotation Eucalyptus coppice forests are not well reported. Therefore, we conducted five intensities of thinning treatments, which were 83% (283 tree [...] Read more.
Thinning can improve soil nutrient supply, but the effects of thinning on soil phosphorus (P) contents and bioavailable mechanisms in high-density and short-rotation Eucalyptus coppice forests are not well reported. Therefore, we conducted five intensities of thinning treatments, which were 83% (283 tree ha−1, T1), 66% (566 tree ha−1, T2), 50% (833 tree ha−1, T3), 33% (1116 tree ha−1, T4), and 0% (1665 tree ha−1) in a 2nd 6-year-old E. grandis × E. urophylla coppice plantation with 8 years as a rotation, investigated soil nutrient contents, microbial biomass, and extracellular enzyme activities of 0–20 and 20–40 cm soil layers after two years of thinning, and analyzed the relationship between available phosphorus (AP) and other indicators. The results showed that soil total phosphorus (TP) contents in 2nd Eucalyptus coppice plantations were lower than in native forest ecosystems, but T1 significantly increased (p < 0.05) TP by 81.42% compared to CK of 0–20 cm, whereas T2 and T3 improved available phosphorus (AP) by 86.87%–212.86% compared to CK. However, soil organic carbon (SOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total nitrogen (TN), and alkaline hydrolysable nitrogen (AN) were not significantly different (p < 0.05) among all treatments. According to the analysis, soil TP contents were significantly positively related (p < 0.001) to SOC; soil total nutrients and DOC contents had the highest standardized total effect on AP; meanwhile, the quotient of microbial biomass directly conducted soil AP contents. These results highlighted that thinning can be used to alleviate soil P shortages by promoting multinutrient and biological cycles in Eucalyptus coppice forests. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 4214 KiB  
Article
Diversity and Structure of Soil Microbial Communities in Chinese Fir Plantations and Cunninghamia lanceolata–Phoebe bournei Mixed Forests at Different Successional Stages
by Weiyang Li, Huimin Sun, Minmin Cao, Liyan Wang, Xianghua Fang and Jiang Jiang
Forests 2023, 14(10), 1977; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14101977 - 29 Sep 2023
Viewed by 896
Abstract
Cunninghamia lanceolata is an important species in plantations and is widely planted in sub-tropical regions of China because of its fast-growing and productive characteristics. However, the monoculture planting is carried out in the pursuit of economic value. This planting mode has led to [...] Read more.
Cunninghamia lanceolata is an important species in plantations and is widely planted in sub-tropical regions of China because of its fast-growing and productive characteristics. However, the monoculture planting is carried out in the pursuit of economic value. This planting mode has led to problems such as the exhaustion of soil fertility, decrease in vegetation diversity, and decrease in woodland productivity. In order to restore soil fertility and increase timber production, the introduction of broad-leaved tree species to plantations is an effective transformation model. Understanding how forest age changes and stand structure differences drive the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities is helpful in understanding the trend of soil–microbial changes in plantations and evaluating the effects of the introduction of broad-leaved tree species in soil–plant–microbial ecosystems in plantations. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to investigate the effects of forest age and pure forest conversion on C. lanceolata–P. bournei-mixed forest soil microbial community structure and diversity by detecting soil nutrients, enzyme activities, and soil microbial 16S and ITS rRNA gene sequencing. According to the findings, the diversity and abundance of bacterial communities in C. lanceolata plantations of different ages increased first and then decreased with the increase in forest age, and the max value was in the near-mature forest stage. The fungal abundance decreased gradually with stand age, with the lowest fungal diversity at the near-mature stand stage. During the whole growth process, the bacterial community was more limited by soil pH, nitrogen, and phosphorus. After introducing P. bournei into a Chinese fir plantation, the abundance and diversity of the bacterial community did not improve, and the abundance of the fungal community did not increase. However, soil nutrients, pH, and fungal community diversity were significantly improved. The results of these studies indicate that the introduction of broad-leaved tree species not only increased soil nutrient content, but also had a significant effect on the increase in the diversity of soil fungal communities, making the microbial communities of mixed forests more diverse. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 3453 KiB  
Article
Characteristics of Microbial Abundance in Rhizosphere and Non-Rhizosphere Soils of Permafrost Peatland, Northeast China
by Chao Gong, Xiuyan Ma, Yanyu Song, Dan Zhang, Mengyuan Zhu, Xianwei Wang, Siqi Gao, Jinli Gao and Changchun Song
Forests 2023, 14(9), 1794; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14091794 - 03 Sep 2023
Viewed by 921
Abstract
The rhizosphere microenvironment is crucial to plant–soil physiological processes. The differences among microbial communities in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere peatland topsoil (0–15 cm) and subsoil (15–30 cm) in five plant communities dominated by Carex schmidtii, Chamaedaphne calyculata, Ledum palustre, Betula [...] Read more.
The rhizosphere microenvironment is crucial to plant–soil physiological processes. The differences among microbial communities in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere peatland topsoil (0–15 cm) and subsoil (15–30 cm) in five plant communities dominated by Carex schmidtii, Chamaedaphne calyculata, Ledum palustre, Betula fruticosa, and Vaccinium uliginosum, as well as non-rhizosphere soil in discontinuous and continuous permafrost regions, were studied. We found that the bacteria and nifH gene abundances in the C. calyculata rhizosphere soil in the discontinuous permafrost region were higher than those in continuous permafrost region, while the nirK and nifH gene abundances in the non-rhizosphere soil of the discontinuous permafrost region were lower than those in the continuous permafrost region. The ratio of bacteria to fungi decreased and that of nirK to nirS increased significantly from the discontinuous to the continuous permafrost region, indicating that permafrost degradation can change soil microbial community composition. Fungal abundance was higher in the rhizosphere than the non-rhizosphere soils, suggesting that plant roots provide a more suitable environment for fungi. Moreover, the abundances of the topsoil bacteria; the fungi; and the nirK, nirS, and nifH genes were higher than those in the subsoil because of the organic matter from plant litter as a source of nutrients. The microbial abundance in the subsoil was also more affected by nutrient availability. To sum up, the microbial abundance varied among the different types of rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils, and the carbon and nitrogen cycling processes mediated by soil microorganisms may be greatly altered due to permafrost degradation under climate warming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Plant, Soil, Microorganisms and Their Interactions)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-9
Back to TopTop