Soil Microbial Biomass Across a Gradient of Preserved Native Cerrado

Abstract

The different physiognomies and soil conditions across the Cerrado gradient may influence soil microbial biomass. The present study evaluated the soil microbial biomass and enzyme activity across a preserved Cerrado gradient and correlated these with environmental conditions. The site, sampling period and their interaction influenced soil microbial biomass and activity. Soil conditions, i.e., chemical and microclimatic properties, varied across the Cerrado gradient and influenced soil microbial biomass and activity. The highest and lowest values for microbial biomass and enzyme activity were found in Cerradao and Campo graminoide, respectively, during both seasons. Multivariate analysis showed that the sites were clearly separated into different groups, indicating that distinct physiognomies and environmental conditions influenced soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities.

Heavy Metals and Microbial Activity in Alluvial Soils Affected by Different Land-Uses

“…These findings are consistent with earlier studies, which have found higher soil microbial community under vegetation and cropland than monoculture of sugarcane (Novak et al 2017;Freitas et al 2017). Carvalho et al, (2018) and Melo et al, (2020) reported some explanations for higher soil microbial biomass under vegetation and cropland over sugarcane monoculture: a) higher vegetal variety and lowest disparity in temperature and moisture (b) higher organic material contributions (Lopes et al 2010). Soil is a dynamic natural resource and a significant part of the terrestrial ecosystem, and supports all terrestrial life forms.…”

“…The increase of fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis ranged from 86.25 to 201.25 mg kg -1 soil•h -1 in sugarcane monoculture fields, while the increase of diacetate fluorescein hydrolysis under crop rotation fields showed higher and significant values ranged from 207.25 to 266.67 mg kg -1 soil•h -1 . In this study, generally soil microbial biomass and enzymatic activity was usually and significantly higher under crop rotation than sugarcane monoculture possibly due to the existence of decomposable organic materials in soils available for microbiological utilization and enzymatic reactions (Freitas et al 2017;Carvalho et al, 2018). Associating some soil physicochemical properties under sugarcane monoculture agricultural systems and crop rotation, the main differences to explain this direction are lower content of SOM, lack of various sources of organic substrates on soil microbial biomass, lower plant diversity and lowest organic inputs following sugarcane residues burning in sugarcane fields (Novak et al 2017;Farhate, et al, 2020;Melo et al, 2020).…”

“…The increase in soil FDA is partially accredited to the higher organic substrates availability or improved physical conditions under crop rotation agricultural system (Carvalho et al, 2018 andMelo et al, 2020). The lower soil SOM and SOC content under sugarcane monoculture system, compared with the crop rotation, confirmed the role of different agricultural practices in contributing to the increased soil microbial and enzymatic activities.…”

Soil microbial biomass and enzyme activity in six Brazilian oxisols under cropland and native vegetation

“…In this study, soil microbial biomass was usually higher under native vegetation than cropped soils. Some reasons favor soil microbial biomass under native vegetation: a) higher plant diversity and lowest variation in temperature and moisture (Carvalho et al 2018); b) higher organic inputs and better quality and quantity of plant litter (Lopes et al 2010). These results are in agreement with previous studies, which have found higher soil microbial biomass under native vegetation than cropland (Viana et al 2011;Novak et al 2017;Freitas et al 2017).…”

Soil microbial C:N:P ratio across physiognomies of Brazilian Cerrado Soil microbial biomass across a gradient of preserved native Cerrado

“…These physiognomies present different types and structures of vegetation that influence soil environmental conditions and, consequently, can affect the soil microbial biomass. Indeed, previous studies have found the highest MBC in shrubby and arboreal vegetation than in grassland (Mendes et al 2012, Carvalho et al 2018). In addition, some studies have observed the influence of these different physiognomies on the structure and diversity of soil microbial community (Araujo et al 2018a(Araujo et al , b, 2019.…”