Peer Review #2 of "Inconsistent response of soil bacterial and fungal communities in aggregates to litter decomposition during short-term incubation (v0.1)"

Background Soil aggregate-size classes and microbial communities within the aggregates are important factors regulating the soil organic carbon (SOC) turnover. However, the response of soil bacterial and fungal communities in aggregates to litter decomposition in different aggregate-size classes is poorly understand. Methods Soil samples from un-grazed natural grassland were separated into four dry aggregate classes of different sizes (2–4 mm, 1–2 mm, 0.25–1 mm and <0.25 mm). Two types of plant litter (leaf and stem) of Leymus chinensis were added to each of the four aggregate class samples. The CO2 release rate, SOC storage and soil microbial communities were measured at the end of the 56-day incubation. Results The results showed that the 1–2 mm aggregate had the highest bacterial Shannon and CO2 release in CK and leaf addition treatments, and the SOC in the <0.25 mm aggregate was higher than that in the others across the treatments. The relative abundance of Ascomycota was higher in the 2–4 mm and <0.25 mm aggregates than in the 1–2 mm and 0.25–1 mm aggregates in the treatment without litter addition, and the relative abundance of Aphelidiomycota was lower in the 2–4 mm and <0.25 mm aggregates than in the 1–2 mm and 0.25–1 mm aggregates. Also, litter addition increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, but decreased the relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Actinobacteria. The relative abundance of Ascomycota and Aphelidiomycota increased by more than 10% following leaf litter addition. The bacterial Shannon index had a significantly positive and direct effect on SOC concentration and CO2 release, while the fungal Shannon index was significantly correlated with SOC concentration. Our results indicate that the soil bacterial diversity contributes positively to both carbon emissions and carbon storage, whereas soil fungal diversity can promote carbon storage and decrease carbon emissions.

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Peer Review #2 of "Rapid response of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities to short-term fertilization in an alpine grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (v0.1)"

10.7287/peerj.2226v0.1/reviews/2 ◽

2016 ◽

Keyword(s):

Peer Review ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽

Rapid Response ◽

Alpine Grassland ◽

Fungal Communities ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Short Term ◽

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal ◽

Qinghai Tibet Plateau

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Differential Responses of Soil Bacterial and Fungal Community to Short-Term Crop Tree Management in a Larix gmelinii Plantation

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12101411 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 1411

Author(s):

Li Ji ◽

Jiangbo Yu ◽

Xingzhe Zhang ◽

Yue Liu ◽

Lixue Yang

Keyword(s):

Organic Carbon ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Dissolved Organic Nitrogen ◽

Organic Nitrogen ◽

Soil Fungi ◽

Fungal Communities ◽

Larix Gmelinii ◽

Short Term ◽

Soil Microbial ◽

Soil Bacterial

Crop tree management (CTM) is a widely applicable silviculture technology that is used to improve the performance of individual trees. However, only little information is available about the effects of the CTM regime on the soil microbial community structure. We conducted a study to explore the effects of short-term (five years) CTM on the soil bacterial and fungal diversity, community composition, and structure in the 0–10 cm soil layer in a Larix gmelinii (Rupr.) Kuzen. plantation. We set out to investigate the differential response of bacterial and fungal communities to variations in soil properties mediated by short-term CTM. Compared with the control plots, the soil microbial biomass carbon and microbial biomass nitrogen in CTM increased significantly by 64.2% and 32.3%, respectively. CTM significantly promoted the content of soil organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, and nitrate nitrogen, and reduced the content of dissolved organic nitrogen. CTM changed the Shannon and Simpson indices of soil fungi to a remarkable extent but had little effect on the α diversity of bacterial communities. The bacterial β diversity was more sensitive to CTM than fungi. The relative abundance of Verrucomicrobiae (the dominant class of soil bacteria) in CTM was significantly increased by 78.2%, while the relative abundance of Agaricomycetes (dominant class for soil fungi) was reduced by 43.3%. We observed a significantly increased number of unique OTUs for soil fungi in the CTM plots. Redundancy analysis showed that dissolved organic carbon, soil moisture, and total phosphorus content significantly affected the composition of bacterial communities, while soil dissolved organic nitrogen, C/N, and total phosphorus drove the high variation in fungal community composition. Overall, our results emphasize the divergent response of soil bacterial and fungal communities in Larix gmelinii plantations to short-term CTM. We must pay more attention to the functional role of soil microbiota in future forest management.

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