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Scientia Silvae Sinicae ›› 2019, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (10): 193-202.doi: 10.11707/j.1001-7488.20191019

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Changes on Community Structure and Diversity of Soil Bacterial Community during the Succession of Quercus wutaishanica

Xiao Zhang1,2,Shirong Liu2,*,Yongtao Huang1,Shenglei Fu1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Geospatial Technology for the Middle and Lower Yellow River Regions, Ministry of Education College of Environment and Planning, Henan University Kaifeng 475004
    2. Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Forestry Administration Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry Beijing 100091
  • Received:2018-06-22 Online:2019-10-25 Published:2019-11-26
  • Contact: Shirong Liu
  • Supported by:
    国家国际科技合作专项项目(2015DFA31440);国家自然科学基金项目(31700383)

Abstract:

Objective: Soil microorganisms play a critical role in maintaining forest ecosystem structure and function. This study aimed to investigate the structure and diversity of forest soil microbial community during succession, to understand the restoration and driving mechanism of soil bacterial community structure during succession. Method: A total of 60 (20 m×20 m) quadrats, 20 each for three forest types (30-year-, 80-year- and 150-year-old secondary forests of Quercus wutaishanica after clear cutting in Taiyue Mountains), were established in June 2015. Soil samples in the 0-10 cm layers were collected with a 10 cm diameter earth drill. High throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene was conducted to examine soil bacterial community composition, structure and diversity during natural restoration after clear cutting.Result: During the natural restoration of Q. wutaishanica forest, the relative abundances of Proteobacteria and Chloroflex gradually increased with the succession process, the relative abundances of Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria decreased gradually, while that of Verrucomicrobia and Planctomycetes did not change significantly. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in 80-year-old forest was significantly lower than that in 30-year-old forest, but there was no significant difference between 150-year-old forest and 80-year-old forest. Principal coordinate analyses (PCoA) based on weighted UniFrac distance showed that there were significant differences in soil bacterial community structure among 30-year-old, 80-year-old, and 150-year-old forests. Bray-Curtis similarity based on OTU level further indicated that the average similarity of bacterial community structure between 30-year-old young growth forest and 150-year-old mature forest was 37.9%, and that between 80-year-old forest and 150-year-old forest was 47.2%. These findings suggested that soil bacterial communities at different succession stages in the natural restoration process after clear cutting showed a recovery trend to the old forest. Bacterial species richness and phylogenetic diversity showed a descending trend during natural recovery process. Species richness and phylogenetic diversity of bacterial communities in 30-year-old secondary forest were higher than those in 150-year-old growth forest, whereas there were no significant differences in soil bacterial diversity between middle-aged forest and old forest. Chao1 index and phylotype richness did not show obvious difference between 30-year-old young growth forest and 80-year-old secondary forest, but decreased significantly in 150-year-old mature forest. Variation partitioning analysis showed that bacterial community structure was significantly correlated with soil carbon and nitrogen content. Soil carbon and nitrogen explained 20.2% and 26.3% of variations on soil bacterial structure, respectively, and the unexplained part was 43.4%. Objective: Soil bacterial community structure changed significantly during the succession of oak secondary forest after clear cutting. The difference of bacterial community structure between 30-year-old secondary forest and 150-year-old secondary forest was obvious, and then the structure in 80-year-old secondary forest become more similar with communities in old growth forest during secondary succession. Bacterial diversity showed descending trend during succession. Bacterial diversity in young forest were higher than those in 80-year-old secondary and old growth forest, and the diversity in 80-year-old secondary forest was more close to the level in old growth forest. These findings suggest that bacterial community structure and diversity may be predictable during the secondary succession.

Key words: forest succession, bacteria, community structure, community similarity, diversity

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