Bacterial Community Changes Associated with Land Use Type in the Forest Montane Region of Northeast China

Abstract

Soil microorganisms play a vital role in the biogeochemical cycle, whereas land use change is one of the primary factors that affects the biodiversity and functionality of terrestrial ecosystems. The composition and diversity of bacterial communities (by high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene) were evaluated in the soils of the Montane Region of Northeast China, across different land use types, e.g., natural secondary forest (Quercus mongolica, QM), shrubland (SL), coniferous plantation (Larix gmelinii, LG, and Pinus koraiensis, PK), and agricultural land (Zea mays, ZM). Significant differences in the chemical characteristics and bacterial communities in soils under different land uses were observed in this study. Soil resident TC (total carbon) and TN (total nitrogen) were much higher in secondary natural forest soils, than in coniferous plantation and agricultural soils. Compared with forest and shrubland soils, soil bacterial OTUs, the Chao1 index, and the ACE index were the lowest in the ZM. There were high proportions of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Saccharibacteria, and Nitrospirae in agricultural and forest soils, which accounted for over 90% of the reads in each sample. We found that the dominant group in the forest and shrubland soils was Proteobacteria, while the most dominant group in the ZM was Actinobacteria. The results of both heatmap and principal component analyses displayed groups according to land use types, which indicated that the bacterial communities in the areas under study were significantly influenced by long term differently managed land use. Furthermore, redundancy and Pearson correlation analyses revealed that the bacterial communities were primarily regulated by soil characteristics. This suggested that altered land use patterns initiated changes in the chemical properties of the soils, which affected the composition of microbial communities in this area. This provides a scientific basis for the evolutionary mechanism of soil quality, as well as the rational development and utilization of land resources.

The Shift of Soil Bacterial Community After Afforestation Influence Soil Organic Carbon and Aggregate Stability in Karst Region

“…However, the Gemmatimonadota population remarkably decreased after afforestation, although abundant nutrients (e.g., higher carbon) were found in afforested soils than in CL ( Figure 2 ). This finding is consistent with the study conducted by Wu et al (2019) , who reported the higher relative abundance of Gemmatimonadota in agricultural soil than that in natural secondary forest, coniferous plantation, and shrubland. The members of Gemmatimonadota are aerobes, that are widely distributed in agricultural soils ( Li et al, 2020 ; Sun et al, 2020 ).…”

Metagenomic Analysis of Bacterial Communities in Agricultural Soils from Vietnam with Special Attention to Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria

“…Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were also found to be the most abundant phyla in a temperate deciduous broadleaved forest and a tropical mountain rainforest in China [ 46 ]. High abundance of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Planctomycetes, Saccharibacteria and Nitrospirae was found in agricultural and forest soils from China [ 47 ]. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes are considered as copiotrophic microbes dominating soils with higher carbon availability with a higher net carbon mineralization rate, whereas Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi, as well as Verrumicrobia and Gemmatimonadetes (also present in our samples), are oligotrophic microbes [ 48 ].…”

Microbial Diversity of Temperate Pine and Native Forest Soils Profiled by 16S rRNA Gene Amplicon Sequencing

“…The conversion of native forests to plantations alters the diversity and functioning of forest ecosystems. Land use practices that can diminish land degradation garner enormous attention globally ( 4 – 6 ). A keen understanding of the influence of land conversion from native forests to plantations on bacterial communities that control key biogeochemical processes is significant for environmental sustainability.…”