Temporal dynamics of soil bacterial communities and multifunctionality are more sensitive to introduced plants than to microbial additions in a multicontaminated soil

Abstract

Soil microbial communities are crucial for regulating the stability and degradation of contaminated land. However, the temporal response strategies of particular microbial groups to biotic introductions and their contributions to ecosystem functions and services (i.e., ‘multifunctionality’) in contaminated soils have yet to be investigated. Here, we present results from a 90‐day microcosm experiment aiming to evaluate the temporal changes in bacterial communities and functions in response to microbial and plant additions in a contaminated agricultural soil. In addition, we quantified the contributions of specific bacterial taxa with different response strategies over time to alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in pollutant degradation (polyphenol oxidase) and the cycling of carbon (dehydrogenase), nitrogen (urease and available nitrogen), phosphorus (available phosphorus), and potassium (available potassium). Results showed that native bacterial communities exhibited strong resilience to the introduced microbial consortium and were altered by plant growth. Plant‐enriched bacterial taxa were located in the core and central positions of the co‐occurrence networks and had considerable influence on the other nodes. Plant growth substantially influenced soil multifunctionality, in a process driven by specific bacterial taxa with different response strategies. The more tolerant taxa contributed most to multienzyme activities, whereas the more affected taxa largely determined multinutrient levels in the soil. These results provide a new perspective in disentangling the roles of plant‐associated bacteria in the assembly of community interactions and ecosystem multifunctionality of contaminated agricultural soils.

Core phylotypes enhance the resistance of soil microbiome to environmental changes to maintain multifunctionality in agricultural ecosystems

“…In particular, we revealed that community resistance exhibited positive effect on ecosystem multifunctionality, indicating the importance of community resistance in maintaining ecosystem functions in agricultural ecosystems. This could be supported that the tolerant microbial taxa were closely related to nutrient cycling under disturbances (Jiao, Du, et al, 2019; Qi et al, 2021). In addition, key soil taxa had a positive effect on the resistance of multiple ecosystem functions related to soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling following simulated climate change (Delgado‐Baquerizo et al, 2017).…”

Plant-Soil Feedbacks for the Restoration of Degraded Mine Lands: A Review

“…To evaluate the consequences of the ecological restoration in degraded lands ( Fry et al, 2018b ; Jiao et al, 2019 ), increasing attention has been focused on ecosystem multifunctionality ( Sanderson et al, 2004 ). These ecosystem functions include pollutant control, primary productivity, decomposition, nutrient availability, and cycling, etc ( Loreau et al, 2001 ; Society For Ecological Restoration International Science [SER], and Policy Working Group, 2004 ; Delgado-Baquerizo et al, 2020 ).…”

Mechanism of Intermittent Deep Tillage and Different Depths Improving Crop Growth From the Perspective of Rhizosphere Soil Nutrients, Root System Architectures, Bacterial Communities, and Functional Profiles

“…Recent studies have shown that root exudates, such as arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs), benzoxazinoids, peroxidases, and glycosyl hydrolase family 17, are able to attract potentially beneficial microbes and repel plant root pathogens ( Cannesan et al, 2012 ; Neal et al, 2012 ; Huang et al, 2014 ). They also help to explain why the enriched beneficial taxa are located in the key positions of the network and strongly affected the other nodes ( Jiao et al, 2019 ). Overall, network analysis provided information for us to postulate that rhizosphere environmental factors, especially for crop root traits, exert great influence on the network structure of the rhizosphere bacterial community, which ultimately caused changes in community composition.…”