Consistent effects of vegetation patch type on soil microbial communities across three successional stages in a desert ecosystem

Bibliographic Data

ID21648418
AuthorsJie Yu (0000-0001-5717-5520, Institute of Grassland Research Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Hohhot PR China), Qiang Yin (0000-0003-1389-1802, Institute of Grassland Research Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Hohhot PR China), Jianming Niu (0000-0002-8557-5537, School of Ecology and Environment Inner Mongolia University Hohhot PR China), Zhijian Yan (Institute of Grassland Research Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Hohhot PR China), Hui Wang (0000-0001-5109-8691, Institute of Grassland Research Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Hohhot PR China), Yuqing Wang (0000-0002-1691-8161, Institute of Grassland Research Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Hohhot PR China, corresponding author), Dima Chen (0000-0002-1687-0401, Engineering Research Center of Eco‐Environment in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region of Ministry of Education China Three Gorges University Yichang PR China, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume33
Issue10
Pages1552-1563
Publication date2022-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.4194
OpenAlexW4205253904
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited65

Desertification is a worldwide problem caused by climate change and human activity in dryland regions. In China, approximately 27% of the land surface is desertified. In these desertified ecosystems, aboveground interactions are known to greatly affect ecological succession, but belowground soil microbial communities are relatively unstudied. It is not yet clear how these communities change with different vegetation patch types (e.g., shrub vs. grass) across successional stages in dryland ecosystems. In this study, we assessed the effects of shrub patches (dominated by Artemisia ordosica ) and grass patches on soil microbial community diversity, soil environment, and soil substrates across three successional stages (mobile, semi‐mobile, and fixed dunes) in a sand dune ecosystem in the Kubuqi Desert, China. Microbial alpha diversity, as indicated by the Shannon index or operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness, was not affected by patch type but increased with successional stages. Patch type‐ or successional stage‐induced changes in soil bacterial and fungal alpha diversity were mainly associated with soil organic carbon. Unlike alpha diversity, soil microbial beta diversity was greatly affected by successional stage and patch type. The Mantel test revealed that changes in soil bacterial beta diversity were mainly associated with soil organic carbon, and changes in soil fungal beta diversity were mainly associated with soil organic carbon and soil pH. Microbial OTU richness responded more strongly to the successional stage than the microbial Shannon index, indicating that microbial OTU richness can be used as an indicator of successional status in desert ecosystems. The consistent differences in microbial beta diversity between shrub and grass patches across the three successional stages indicate that shrubs significantly influence soil microbial communities in desert ecosystems

Alpha diversity · Beta diversity · Biology · Diversity index · Ecological succession · Ecosystem · Plant community · Soil carbon · Soil water · Species richness · Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology · Environmental Science · Polar Research and Ecology · Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics · Ecology

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