Abstract
Soil microorganisms play an important role in the circulation of materials and nutrients between plants and soil ecosystems, but the drivers of microbial community composition and diversity remain uncertain in different vegetation restoration patterns. We studied soil physicochemical properties (i.e., soil moisture, bulk density, pH, soil nutrients, available nutrients), plant characteristics (i.e., Shannon index [HPlant] and Richness index [SPlant], litter biomass [LB], and fine root biomass [FRB]), and microbial variables (biomass, enzyme activity, diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities) in different plant succession patterns (Robinia pseudoacacia [MF], Caragana korshinskii [SF] and grassland [GL]) on the Loess Plateau. The herb communities, soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities were strongly affected by vegetation restoration. And soil bacterial and fungal communities were significantly different from each other at the sites. Furthermore, LB and FRB were significantly positively correlated with SBacteria, soil microbial biomass, enzyme activities, Proteobacteria, Zygomycota and Cercozoa, while negatively correlated with Actinobacteria and Basidiomycota. In addition, soil water content (SW), pH and nutrients have important effects on the bacterial and fungal diversities, Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, Zygomycota and microbial biomass. Furthermore, plant characteristics and soil properties modulated the composition and diversity of soil microorganisms, respectively. Overall, the relative contribution of vegetation and soil to the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities illustrated that plant characteristics and soil properties may synergistically modulate soil microbial communities. And soil bacterial and fungal communities mainly depend on plant biomass and soil nutrients.
Soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen in forest ecosystems of Northeast China: a comparison between natural secondary forest and larch plantation
