Fire Alters Vegetation and Soil Microbial Community in Alpine Meadow

Abstract

Grassland fire, as an important ecological factor, is quite influential in determining the structural and functional stability of ecosystem. In this work, the fire‐induced changes on the vegetation and soil microbial community were studied in alpine meadow. Microbial community composition was assessed by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis, and functional diversity was determined by Biolog EcoPlate method. Our results showed that burning caused a significant increase in plant functional group coverage, biomass of grasses, soil bulk density and the ratio of roots to soils. Fire also caused an increase in soil pH and a decrease in total soil nutrient contents and soil moisture. The average well colour development of soil microorganism, the microbial functional diversity and the number of carbon source utilisation were also significantly affected by fire. Total bacteria PLFA, Gram‐positive bacteria (G+) PLFA, Gram‐negative bacteria (G−) PLFA and total PLFA of the burnt sites all increased significantly in burnt soil. The BACT/FUNG, SAT/MONO and G+/G− ratio also appeared to be higher in burnt sites. The total PLFA, G+ PLFA and G− PLFA are closely related to the plant community quantitative characteristics and soil nutrients. The total PLFA, bacteria and G+ PLFA are significantly correlated with the soil total nutrients and available nutrients. These results suggest that the ability of soil microorganisms to use a single‐carbon substrate was increased after a fire event. Grassland fire not only has direct impacts on plant community structure and function but also indirectly alters the soil microbial properties because of fire‐induced changes in plant community. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Effect of Re-Planting Trees on Soil Microbial Communities in a Wildfire-Induced Subalpine Grassland

“…Hedo et al [11] reported that post-fire silvicultural treatment did not have a direct effect on soil microbial properties and soil enzyme activities. However, little is known about the response of microbial communities to the succession of vegetation after fire [12]. A decade after a forest fire in a tropical rainforest, the dominant soil bacteria and actinobacteria did not differ between unburnt and burnt areas [13].…”

Predicting parameters of degradation succession processes of Tibetan <i>Kobresia</i> grasslands

“…An important prerequisite for this is how to diagnose the degree to which alpine grasslands have degraded (Li et al, 2014). So far, numerous studies have separately used plant community (Han et al, 2008;Lin et al, 2013a, b;Angassa, 2014;Giangiacomo, 2014) or environmental indexes (Lin et al, 2010(Lin et al, , 2013a as indicators to diagnose grassland degradation (Li et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2015). However, grassland degradation caused by grazing is a very complicated ecological process, including changes in both vegetation and soil.…”

“…Therefore, the vegetation cover plays a fundamental role in the soil development and soil erosion (Cerdà, 2002;Keesstra et al, 2014), and soil degradation (Ziadat and Taimeh, 2013), and also in the geomorphological (Nanko et al, 2015) and hydrological behavior of the Earth system (Keesstra, 2007;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013) and their interactions with the biota (Araújo et al, 2014;Bochet et al, 2015). At the same time, plants can shape soil microenvironments through living roots (Bardgett, 2002;Puente et al, 2004;Cerdà, 2002;Dai et al, 2013;Keesstra et al, 2014;Shang et al, 2014;Keesstra, 2014;Gabarrón-Galeote et al, 2013) and affect microbial function (Wang et al, 2015;Pereg and McMillan, 2015). In contrast to vegetation, the soil system provides an important carrier for growth of plants and microorganisms.…”

Community-weighted mean traits but not functional diversity determine the changes in soil properties during wetland drying on the Tibetan Plateau

“…2015; Wang et al, 2016). Hence, it is imperative that we examine the changes in vegetation and soil and the relationships between them during this process of wetland drying for prediction and conservation efforts.…”