Fungal Communities Are More Sensitive to the Simulated Environmental Changes than Bacterial Communities in a Subtropical Forest: the Single and Interactive Effects of Nitrogen Addition and Precipitation Seasonality Change

Abstract

Increased nitrogen (N) deposition and changes in precipitation seasonality can greatly impact soil microbial communities in tropical/subtropical forests. Although knowledge about the effects of a single factor on soil microbial communities is growing rapidly, little is understood about the interactive effects of these two environmental change factors. In this study, we investigated the responses of soil bacterial and fungal communities to the simulated environmental changes (nitrogen addition, precipitation seasonality change, and their combination) in a subtropical forest in South China. The interaction between N and water treatments was signi cant for affecting some soil physicochemical properties (such as pH, soil water and NO 3 − contents). Fungi were more susceptible to treatment than bacteria in a variety of community traits (alpha, beta diversity, and network topological features). The N and water treatments act antagonistically to affect fungal alpha diversity, and the interaction effect was detected signi cant for the dry season. The topological features of the meta-community (containing both bacteria and fungi) network overrode the alpha and beta diversity of bacterial or fungal communities in explaining the variation of soil enzyme activities. The associations between Ascomycota fungi and Gammaproteobacteria or Alphaproteobacteria might be important in mediating the inter-kingdom interactions. In summary, our results suggested that fungal communities were more sensitive to N addition and precipitation seasonality change (and their interaction) than bacterial communities, and the treatments' effects were more prominent in the dry season, which may have great consequences in soil processes and ecosystem functions in subtropical forests.

Microsite Determines the Soil Nitrogen and Carbon Mineralization in Response to Nitrogen Addition in a Temperate Desert

“…Thus, the persistent increase in soil inorganic nitrogen led to the highest R m N and R NN in the last investigation. However, a persistent N addition could decrease the soil pH and depress microbial activities [61][62][63], which could subsequently decrease R m N and R NN . Although the pH was 10.43 beneath the shrubs and 10.08 in the interplant at the beginning of N treatment, N addition did not lead to soil acidification.…”

“…More importantly, increased C mic :N mic and F:B suggested that N addition had a preference for promoting fungal growth. Given that the fungal hyphae can absorb soil nitrogen, fungi can better avoid N accumulation relative to bacteria [63,64], and the variation in the microbial community composition might be responsible for the different changes of R CM with R m N and R NN .…”

The response of nutrient cycle, microbial community abundance and metabolic function to nitrogen fertilizer in rhizosphere soil of Phellodendron chinense Schneid seedlings

“…N addition has been reported to reduce the soil bacterial diversity, with significant correlation with physicochemical properties, and it also leads to increase relative abundances of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria ( Dai et al, 2018 ; Zhang X. et al, 2022 ). In addition, N application significantly enhances the fungal diversity and relative abundances of certain fungi, showing significant correlations with soil available nutrients, but it does not appear to impact fungal community composition in tropical/subtropical forests, suggesting that N input primarily influences microbial diversity and relative abundance by modulating soil physicochemical properties ( He et al, 2021 , 2022 ; Zhang X. et al, 2022 ). At the same time, N input influences the contents of proteins, amino acids, nucleic acids, and hormones containing N elements, all of which play pivotal roles in various metabolic processes in soil.…”

Seasonal variations of soil bacterial and fungal communities in a subtropical Eucalyptus plantation and their responses to throughfall reduction

“…Seasonal precipitation significantly increases soil rare bacteria and dominant fungi ( He et al, 2017 ; Zhao et al, 2017 ). Additionally, the composition and function of soil microbial communities are impacted by the availability of soil water ( Brockett et al, 2012 ; Diaz-Pereira et al, 2019 ); however, the direction and magnitude of soil microbial community composition and function following changes in precipitation remain uncertain ( Zhao et al, 2017 ; He et al, 2022 ). Furthermore, there is a lack of studies investigating the soil microbial community network structure in response to precipitation change ( He et al, 2017 ).…”