Climax forest has a higher soil bacterial diversity but lower soil nutrient contents than degraded forests in temperate northern China

Abstract

Bacteria are a crucial component of forest soil biodiversity and play an important role in numerous ecosystem processes. Here, we studied the patterns of soil bacterial community diversity and structure in a climax forest (Larix gmelinii; LG) compared with those in degraded forest ecosystems of four forest vegetation types (BD, Betula dahurica; BP, Betula platyphylla; QM, Quercus mongolica; and LGQM, a mixed coniferous–broadleaved forest composed of Larix gmelinii and Quercus mongolica) in the Heilongjiang Zhongyangzhan Black‐billed Capercaillie Nature Reserve in northern China, using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16 S rRNA genes. Soil physicochemical properties (pH, soil organic carbon = SOC, total nitrogen = TN, carbon/nitrogen = C/N, total phosphorous = TP, available nitrogen = AN, available phosphorous = AP) differed significantly (p < .05) among the five forests. SOC, C/N, TP, AN, and AP were highest in QM, whereas SOC was lowest in LGQM. Soil pH was lowest in BD and highest in LGQM. α diversity was highest in LG and lowest in QM. The soil bacterial community composition in the climax forest was significantly different from that in the four degraded forests (p < .05). The dominant bacterial phyla were Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi, and Rokubacteria. The highest relative abundances of these phyla were: 30.7% for Acidobacteria in LGQM, 42.6% for Proteobacteria in LG, 17.6% for Verrucomicrobia in BD, 5.5% for Firmicutes in BP, and 6.9% for Actinobacteria in QM. The dominant bacterial genera across the five forest vegetation types were Bryobacter and some poorly characterized taxa (e.g., Candidatus_Udaeobacter and Candidatus_Solibacter). Redundancy analysis indicated that SOC, C/N, TP, AN, and AP were the main soil physicochemical properties that shaped the bacterial communities. Our study revealed distinct bacterial diversity and composition in the climax forest compared with values in degraded forests, suggesting that the biotic and abiotic factors associated with climax ecosystems play an important role in shaping soil bacterial community structure and thus biogeochemical functions. The results of this study contribute to a deeper understanding and better predictions of the network among belowground systems and of the functions and services of degraded forests compared with climax ecosystems.

Association between Soil Physicochemical Properties and Bacterial Community Structure in Diverse Forest Ecosystems

“…In agreement with previous studies [60,61], our study identified significant differences in the bacterial community composition across Bro forests, Mix forests, and Con forests. The most likely explanation would be the differences in amount and quality of litter and root exudates.…”

“…Our results, combined with previous studies, demonstrate that forest vegetation types select specific bacterial communities [2,[59][60][61]. We observed a higher Chao1 index, observed ASVs, and faith-PD index of the soil bacterial community in Sec Forest compared to other forest vegetation types (Figure 2).…”

Diversity and Composition of Soil Acidobacterial Communities in Different Temperate Forest Types of Northeast China

“…In addition, PCA analyses revealed that soil Acidobacterial β-diversity in Larix gmelinii (LG) forest was significantly different from that under the other four forest types [(Betula dahurica (BD) forest, Betula platyphylla (BP) forest, Quercus mongolica (QM) forest, and Q. mongolica and L. gmelinii mixed (LGQM) forest)] (Figure 2). This is consistent with Sui et al's study [47], which confirmed that the soil bacterial β-diversity of Larix gmelinii (LG) was different from the other four forest types. β-diversity, also known as betweenhabitat diversity, is the dissimilarity of species composition between different habitat communities along an environmental gradient or the rate of species turnover along an environmental gradient [48,49].…”

The Effects of Korean Pine and Manchurian Walnut Monocultures and Mixed Plantations on Soil Fungal and Bacterial Communities

“…However, there is a contradiction in studies of bacterial alpha diversity between broadleaved forests and conifer forests. Some studies found that the bacterial alpha diversity was relatively higher in conifer forests than in broadleaved forests or mixed forests [30,31]. In this study, our results supported the findings of some studies showing that broadleaved forests had higher bacterial alpha diversity than conifer forests [28,32].…”