Mixed plantations of Metasequoia glyptostroboides and Bischofia polycarpa change soil fungal and archaeal communities and enhance soil phosphorus availability in Shanghai, China

Abstract

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Effects of Plantation Type and Soil Depth on Microbial Community Structure and Nutrient Cycling Function

“…This study found that mixed plantations did not significantly change general soil fertility or organic C and total N contents, compared with monoculture plantations. These results were consistent with the findings of previous studies, in which no significant differences were observed in soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and available nitrogen contents among the three plantation types ( Zhang et al, 2021 ). However, our study showed that plantation types and soil depths significantly affected the total soil phosphorus and available phosphorus contents.…”

“…With increasing soil depth, available phosphorus content significantly decreased in all three plantation types. In contrast, some studies found significant increases in available phosphorus contents in the mixed-species treatments ( Rachid et al, 2013 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ). One explanation is that faster growth leads to decreases in available phosphorus contents in mixed Larix – Fraxinus plantations ( Feng et al, 2021 ).…”

“…It is widely accepted that mixed plantations exhibit significant effects on soil microbial community structure ( Chen et al, 2013 ; Pereira et al, 2017 ), although this effect might depend on soil depth. For example, Zhang et al (2021) showed that mixed plantations did not significantly alter bacterial community structure in the upper soil. In this study, ANOSIM analysis revealed that there were significant differences in bacterial community composition among different soil depths rather plantation type.…”