Recent research conducted by the Forest Ecology and Regulation Project Group at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by Dr. Qing Liu, has revealed novel insights into the dynamics of soil microbial communities across different successional stages of natural and artificial forests in the high-altitude mountains of western Sichuan, China. The study utilized high-throughput sequencing to analyze the changes in indigenous microbial communities in both rhizospheric and non-rhizospheric soil at various successional stages and investigated the influences of both biotic and abiotic factors on the formation of these microbial communities. The findings of this research were published online on February 14th in the journal "Soil Biology and Biochemistry."
Indigenous microorganisms, as core members of soil microbial communities, play pivotal roles in influencing plant growth and development by modulating soil nutrient cycles. Furthermore, they engage in intricate interactions with bacteria and fungi through predation and ecological niche competition. Forest succession represents a dynamic process involving both above-ground and below-ground interactions. While previous studies have primarily focused on the coordinated changes of soil microorganisms (including bacteria, archaea, and fungi) during forest succession, questions regarding the compositional changes and diversity dynamics of soil indigenous microbial communities during this process, as well as the biotic (bacteria and fungi) and abiotic drivers, remained unanswered.
The research findings indicate that the alpha diversity of soil indigenous microorganisms and their functional groups increases during natural forest succession but remains constant or decreases during artificial forest succession. Both soil abiotic and biotic factors jointly determine the compositional variations of indigenous microorganisms across different successional stages, although the key influencing factors differ between natural and artificial forests. Moreover, the dynamics of soil indigenous microbial communities during plant succession exhibit directional patterns rather than random changes.
This study underscores significant differences in the characteristics of soil indigenous microbial community changes and influencing factors between natural and artificial forest successions. The directional succession patterns of indigenous microorganisms may offer new insights into predicting forest succession processes and understanding the underground dynamics of forest succession.
The first author of the paper is Dr. Kai Fang, a Special Research Assistant at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with Dr. Qing Liu and Associate Researcher Yongping Kou serving as corresponding authors.
Link to the paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2024.109365
