Abstract
Aims The process of karst rocky desertification has been closely related to improper land use in southwest China. Now this habitat is the subject of an important ecological restoration project. However, the changes in soil properties and microbial characteristics in response to this vegetation restoration remain poorly understood.Methods We investigated four vegetation types, including dragon fruit, Chinese pepper, walnut teak, with corn as a control, in southwest China, in 2019. We measured the impacts of these vegetation types on soil properties and microbial biomass, enzyme activity, and microbial community composition (using high-throughput sequencing technology).Results The different vegetation types had significantly different impacts on soil exchangeable Ca2+, soil organic carbon and available nutrients. The vegetation types also significantly affected microbial biomass. Soil enzyme activity, including b-1,4-glucosidase, b-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase, alkaline phosphatase, and catalase, were significantly different among vegetation types. All vegetation types were dominated by the bacterial phyla Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria and the fungal phylum Ascomycota, except for corn which was dominated by the fungal phylum Mucoromycota. Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) showed that the vegetation type exhibited different microbial b-diversity, especially in winter. The vegetation type, season, and soil properties collectively explained 46% and 59% of soil bacterial and fungal community composition, respectively. The bacterial-fungal interactions under the six vegetation types were distinctly different between summer and winter.Conclusions Compared with traditional corn, the restoration of natural vegetation partially reversed KRD by improving soil properties, increasing microbial biomass, and differentiating the microbial community structures in the different vegetation types.