Patterns and drivers of soil microbial communities along a precipitation gradient on the Mongolian Plateau

Chen, Dima; Mi, Jia; Chu, Pengfeir; Cheng, Jenhui; Zhang, Lixia; Pan, Qingmin; Xie, Yichun; Bai, Yongfei

doi:10.1007/s10980-014-9996-z

Cited by 112 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Many previous studies have demonstrated that vegetation types, soil properties and spatial structure can influence soil microbial community function and abundance through providing suitable habitats and food sources (Kourtev et al, 2003;Šantrucková et al, 2003;Han et al, 2007;Chen et al, 2014), whereas our findings of microbial community composition were not related to these factors across this region. In the current study, soils were sampled in different vegetation types and soil nutrient content, but the microbial community composition was very similar at the same geographical location in natural habitats (e.g., meadow vs. wood and shrub; data not shown) (Fig.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 72%

“…It has been shown that land use changes lead to great variation in soil microbial community composition in diverse ecosystems (Drenovsky et al, 2010), though their impacts depend on many factors, including the original vegetation that is being replaced and associated land management practices such as tillage and fallow periods, as well as related water and nutrient applications such as irrigation and fertilization (Scanlon et al, 2007;Ma et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2013;Chen et al, 2014). In one study, Drenovsky et al (2010) reported that distinct microbial communities were associated with land use types and disturbance at the regional scale in California.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soil moisture and land use are major determinants of soil microbial community composition and biomass at a regional scale in northeastern China

Guo

Lü

et al. 2015

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Global environmental factors impact soil microbial communities and further affect organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling and vegetation dynamic. However, little is known about the relative contributions of climate factors, soil properties, vegetation types, land management practices and spatial structure (which serves as a proxy for underlying effects of temperature and precipitation for spatial variation) on soil microbial community composition and biomass at large spatial scales. Here, we compared soil microbial communities using phospholipid fatty acid method across 7 land use types from 23 locations at a regional scale in northeastern China (850 × 50 km). The results showed that soil moisture and land use changes were most closely related to microbial community composition and biomass at the regional scale, while soil total C content and climate effects were weaker but still significant. Factors such as spatial structure, soil texture, nutrient availability and vegetation types were not important. Higher contributions of grampositive bacteria were found in wetter soils, whereas higher contributions of gram-negative bacteria and fungi were observed in drier soils. The contributions of gram-negative bacteria and fungi were lower in heavily disturbed soils than historically disturbed and undisturbed soils. The lowest microbial biomass appeared in the wettest and driest soils. In conclusion, dominant climate and soil properties were not the most important drivers governing microbial community composition and biomass because of inclusion of irrigated and managed practices, and thus soil moisture and land use appear to be primary determinants of microbial community composition and biomass at the regional scale in northeastern China.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 72%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil moisture and land use are major determinants of soil microbial community composition and biomass at a regional scale in northeastern China

Guo

Lü

et al. 2015

Biogeosciences

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“…Consistent with Zhao et al (2014), they also found that precipitation was a major determinant for the spatial patterns and inter-annual variations of NDVI at the regional scale, whereas human activities played a more important role on the local scale. Chen et al (2014a) investigated the shrub encroachment which occurred widely in Inner Mongolia, and indicated that precipitation was the major controller for shrub cover and patch size, while temperature was the primary factor influencing shrub height and patch density. Thus, shrub cover and patch size were greater in dry and warm areas than moist and cool sites.…”

Section: Land Use Change and Vegetation Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, it is an ideal region to examine the landscape Understanding patterns and drivers of soil microbial communities on landscape and regional scales is an important but inadequately-studied topic. Chen et al (2014a) examined these patterns and drivers using data from 24 arid and semiarid sites, covering a broad range of community types, soils, and climatic conditions on the Mongolia plateau. They demonstrated that the total soil microbial biomass, as well as fungal, bacterial, and actinomycete biomass, increased with mean annual precipitation, soil organic carbon, total soil nitrogen, and belowground biomass, but decreased with increasing soil pH and mean annual temperature.…”

Section: Biodiversity and Community Structures Along Environmental Grmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a better understanding of landscape patterns and ecosystem processes of the Mongolian Plateau

Fang

Bai

2015

Landscape Ecol

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“…The Inner Mongolia grassland covers an area of about 8.67×10 7 hm 2 and is one of the most well-known rangelands in the eastern part of the Eurasian steppe (Coupland 1993), from east to west, presenting a natural precipitation gradient, which is extremely waterlimited (Bai et al 2008). Chen et al (2014) indicated that the important impact of precipitation on microbial community can be based on phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA), but this technology was limited to detect the biomass of living microorganism; the population size of microbial functional groups has not been explored so far. Grazing-induced grassland degradation has profoundly affected the grassland ecosystems and led to significant depletion in soil organic matter and biomass production (Li et al 1997.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of grazing on the abundance of functional genes associated with N cycling in three types of grassland in Inner Mongolia

et al. 2014

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Purpose The aim of the study was to investigate the patterns of soil nitrogen (N)-cycling functional gene abundance along a precipitation gradient on the Mongolian Plateau, and the effects of grazing on the population size of microbial functional group under different precipitation regimes. Materials and methods Soil samples were taken from grazing and non-grazing plots of meadow steppe, typical steppe, and desert steppe plots on the Mongolian Plateau for soil gravimetric moisture content, pH, and soil organic carbon (SOC), total N, and inorganic N (NH 4 + -N and NO 3 − -N)concentrations, and the abundance of functional genes associated with N 2 fixation (nifH gene), nitrification (AOA and AOB genes), and denitrification (narG, nirS, nirK, and nosZ genes) was studied. The relationships between environmental variables, soil physicochemical properties, and functional microbial abundance were examined. Results and discussion Soil properties (soil moisture, pH, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, NH 4 + -N, and NO 3 − -N content) and abundance of N-cycling groups all varied with precipitation. Compared with desert steppe, precipitation significantly decreased the abundance of nifH gene by 1 order of magnitude, but markedly increased the abundance of AOA and AOB genes by 1.32 to 4.72 times and denitrifying genes narG, nirS, nirK, and nosZ by 0.66 to 9.02 times in meadow steppe. Grazing significantly decreased the abundance of functional groups in desert steppe and typical steppe (p<0.001), while there was no difference between grazing and non-grazing treatments in meadow steppe which had the highest precipitation level. Soil pH was the main factor affecting the abundance of nifH gene according to simple linear regression (R 2 = 0.934, p<0.001), while moisture was positively related with population sizes of nitrifier and denitrifier groups, explaining 53.8-92.34 % of the variation in the abundance of AOA, narG, nirS, and nosZ genes in all three steppes. Conclusions Soil pH was the major factor that significantly affected the gene abundance of nitrogen fixation process, and soil moisture was the dominant factor controlling the gene abundance of nitrification and denitrification process along the precipitation gradient. Grazing had no effect on the gene abundance of N-cycling process in meadow steppe but decreased it in desert and typical steppe. Our results suggest that grazing may not necessarily be associated with a reduction in microbial functional potentials when soil moisture was relatively good but will decrease the soil microbial functional

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Patterns and drivers of soil microbial communities along a precipitation gradient on the Mongolian Plateau

Cited by 112 publications

References 53 publications

Soil moisture and land use are major determinants of soil microbial community composition and biomass at a regional scale in northeastern China

Soil moisture and land use are major determinants of soil microbial community composition and biomass at a regional scale in northeastern China

Towards a better understanding of landscape patterns and ecosystem processes of the Mongolian Plateau

Effect of grazing on the abundance of functional genes associated with N cycling in three types of grassland in Inner Mongolia

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