Soil microbial community diversity and distribution characteristics under three vegetation types in the Qilian Mountains, China
TONG Shan1,2,3, CAO Guangchao2,3,*(), ZHANG Zhuo1,2,3, ZHANG Jinhu1,2,3, YAN Xin1,2,3
1Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Land Surface Processes and Ecological Conservation (Ministry of Education), Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China 2Qinghai Province Key Laboratory of Physical Geography and Environmental Process, College of Geographical Science, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China 3Academy of Plateau Science and Sustainability, People's Government of Qinghai Province and Beijing Normal University, Xining 810008, China
Qilian Mountains in Northwest China is a significant ecological security barrier due to its distinctive geographic setting, which has significant biological resource and gene pool. In order to assess the soil quality and ecosystem health in this area, we identified the structural characteristics and functional groups of soil microbial communities. This study focused on Amidongsuo, a typical watershed of the Qilian Mountains, and researched the vertical distribution and dominant populations of soil microorganisms in different habitats, and the relationship between soil microorganisms and environmental factors. Soil microorganisms from three grassland plots, five shrubland plots, and five forest plots in Amidongsuo were studied using high-throughput sequencing. The Venn diagram showed that the types of bacteria were fewer than those of fungi in Amidongsuo. Soil bacteria Acidobacteriota, Proteobacteria, and Methylomirabilota as well as fungi Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, and Mortierellomycota played dominant roles in Amidongsuo, according to the LEfSe (linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size) and community structure analyses. According to the ANOSIM (analysis of similarities) result, for both bacteria and fungi, R values of grassland and shrubland were small (R2=0.045 and R2=0.256, respectively), indicating little difference between these two ecosystems. RDA (redundancy analysis) showed a closer relationship between soil nutrients and fungi, and a gradually decreasing correlation between soil nutrients and microorganisms with increasing soil depth. Bacteria were mainly affected by pH, nitrogen (N), and potassium (K), while fungi were mainly affected by K. Overall, fungi had more effect on soil quality than bacteria. Therefore, adjustment of soil K content might improve the soil environment of Amidongsuo in the Qilian Mountains.
TONG Shan, CAO Guangchao, ZHANG Zhuo, ZHANG Jinhu, YAN Xin. Soil microbial community diversity and distribution characteristics under three vegetation types in the Qilian Mountains, China. Journal of Arid Land, 2023, 15(3): 359-376.
Fig. 1Sample points in the Amidongsuo watershed, Qilian Mountains, China. Grassland plots: CD1, CD2, and CD3; shrubland plots: GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, and GC5; forest plots: LD1, LD2, LD3, LD4, and LD5.
Ecological system
Code
Latitude
Longitude
Altitude (m)
Slope (°)
Aspect (°)
Vegetation coverage (%)
Grassland
CD1
38°05′08″N
100°19′08″E
2928
3.0
53
93
Grassland
CD2
38°04′04″N
100°18′14″E
3043
11.0
76
87
Grassland
CD3
38°03′46″N
100°16′33″E
3187
14.5
70
76
Forest
LD1
38°04′55″N
100°19′04″E
2980
30.5
328
72
Forest
LD2
38°04′55″N
100°19′08″E
3018
32.0
330
68
Forest
LD3
38°04′51″N
100°18′57″E
2958
35.5
345
57
Forest
LD4
38°03′39″N
100°16′33″E
3208
23.5
22
51
Forest
LD5
38°04′01″N
100°18′03″E
3078
18.5
29
56
Shrubland
GC1
38°05′02″N
100°19′04″E
2929
7.5
47
60
Shrubland
GC2
38°04′04″N
100°18′10″E
3041
2.0
46
58
Shrubland
GC3
38°03′46″N
100°16′33″E
3187
14.0
62
67
Shrubland
GC4
38°03′57″N
100°15′07″E
3064
17.5
67
46
Shrubland
GC5
38°03′57″N
100°14′24″E
3530
20.5
51
49
Table 1 Sample information in this study
Ecological systems
Soil nutrient
Min (g/kg)
Max (g/kg)
Mean (g/kg)
SD (g/kg)
Variance
Skewness
Kurtosis
CV (%)
Grassland
TN
4.65
9.69
6.75
2.02
4.09
0.46
-1.63
29.96
TP
1.31
2.53
1.92
0.39
0.16
0.01
-0.83
20.54
TK
20.45
24.37
22.13
1.17
1.38
0.74
0.50
5.31
SOM
111.12
213.70
157.81
31.83
1013.04
0.24
-0.25
20.17
pH
6.60
8.10
7.24
0.55
0.30
0.67
-1.34
7.56
Shrubland
TN
1.00
11.99
5.46
3.58
12.80
0.57
-1.10
65.48
TP
1.16
2.38
1.61
0.37
0.13
0.74
-0.39
22.72
TK
17.67
25.29
21.45
2.09
4.35
-0.25
-0.32
9.72
SOM
24.90
205.87
118.54
61.49
3781.13
0.10
-1.44
51.87
pH
6.54
8.26
7.33
0.57
0.33
0.40
-1.60
7.79
Forest
TN
1.08
7.28
3.44
1.39
1.93
1.30
3.86
40.37
TP
1.17
1.91
1.49
0.23
0.05
0.52
-1.00
15.40
TK
17.85
21.96
20.15
1.09
1.20
-0.44
0.09
5.43
SOM
24.22
172.12
88.43
34.31
1177.42
0.53
1.87
38.80
pH
6.39
7.96
7.15
0.48
0.23
0.01
-1.11
6.65
Table 2 Soil nutrient characteristics in the study area
Fig. 2Physical-chemical characteristics of soil in different ecosystems. Different uppercase letters within the same ecosystem indicate significant differences among different soil layers at P<0.05 level; different lowercase letters within the same soil layer indicate significant differences among different ecosystems at P<0.05 level. CD, grassland; GC, shrubland; LD, forest; TK, total potassium; TN, total nitrogen; SOM, soil organic matter; TP, total phosphorus. The abbreviations are the same in the following figures. (a), pH; (b), TK; (c), TN; (d), SOM; (e), TP. Bars are standard errors.
Fig. 3Dilution curves of soil microbial samples. (a), bacteria; (b), fungi. OTUs, operational taxonomic units
Table 3 Alpha diversity index of bacteria in different ecosystems
Ecological systems
Soil layer (cm)
ACE
Chao1
Shannon
Simpson
Grassland
0-10
563.03±35.14a
569.07±32.27a
5.60±0.56a
0.94±0.03a
10-20
532.40±47.18a
542.06±55.10a
5.43±1.04a
0.85±0.11a
20-30
576.54±52.63a
582.42±52.11a
6.22±0.76a
0.94±0.04a
Shrubland
0-10
566.65±39.65a
570.91±38.30a
5.49±0.44a
0.92±0.03a
10-20
554.05±28.73a
559.62±27.26a
5.33±0.40a
0.92±0.02a
20-30
541.54±43.03a
548.26±45.57a
4.96±0.48a
0.86±0.03a
Forest
0-10
395.9±52.24a
390.96±49.98a
3.73±0.55a
0.77±0.09a
10-20
404.26±38.15a
403.06±37.07a
3.98±0.67a
0.78±0.11a
20-30
327.51±18.77a
327.25±20.63a
3.96±0.57a
0.81±0.07a
Table 4 Alpha diversity index of fungi in different ecosystems
Fig. 8ANOSIM (analysis of similarities) of the soil microbial community. (a1-a4), bacteria; (b1-b4), fungi. In Figure 8, boxes indicate the IQR (interquartile range, 75th to 25th of the data). The median value is shown as a line within the box. Whiskers extend to the most extreme value within 1.5×IQR. Outlier is shown as circle.
Fig. 9RDA (redundancy analysis) of soil nutrients and microorganisms at the phylum level. (a), (c), and (e) are the RDA of bacteria and soil nutrients; (b), (d), and (f) are the RDA of fungi and soil nutrients; (a) and (b), 0-10 cm soil layer; (c) and (d), 10-20 cm soil layer; (e) and (f), 20-30 cm soil layer.
Ecological systems
Bacteria
ACE
Chao1
Shannon
Simpson
Grassland
TN
-0.73*
-0.73*
0.34
0.72*
TP
-0.80*
-0.79*
0.11
0.46
TK
-0.38
-0.31
0.09
0.45
SOM
-0.37
-0.41
0.26
0.48
pH
0.82**
0.77*
-0.10
-0.53
Shrubland
TN
0.01
-0.04
0.31
0.26
TP
-0.05
-0.11
0.11
0.20
TK
0.46
0.46
0.08
-0.08
SOM
0.01
-0.07
0.12
0.11
pH
0.53*
0.52*
0.24
0.03
Forests
TN
-0.08
-0.14
0.22
0.47
TP
-0.75**
-0.76**
-0.54*
-0.06
TK
0.10
0.15
-0.19
-0.24
SOM
-0.25
-0.28
0.12
0.50
pH
-0.10
-0.04
-0.39
-0.44
Table 5 Correlation between bacterial diversity and soil nutrients
Ecological systems
Fungi
ACE
Chao1
Shannon
Simpson
Grassland
TN
-0.60
-0.56
-0.66
-0.42
TP
-0.47
-0.44
-0.41
-0.20
TK
-0.45
-0.41
-0.34
-0.12
SOM
-0.48
-0.48
-0.56
-0.36
pH
0.73*
0.70*
0.60
0.38
Shrubland
TN
0.04
0.02
-0.29
-0.25
TP
-0.04
-0.04
-0.34
-0.41
TK
0.22
0.23
0.34
0.11
SOM
0.04
0.04
-0.40
-0.42
pH
0.46
0.44
0.72**
0.62*
Forest
TN
-0.05
-0.05
0.09
0.11
TP
-0.00
-0.02
0.02
0.06
TK
-0.18
-0.17
-0.29
-0.35
SOM
-0.23
-0.24
0.02
0.05
pH
0.09
0.12
0.05
-0.15
Table 6 Correlation between fungal diversity and soil nutrients
Fig. 10Differences in diversity value across different ecosystems. (a), bacteria; (b), fungi. Different uppercase letters within the same diversity index indicate significant differences among different ecosystems at P<0.05 level. ACE, abundance-based coverage estimator.
Soil nutrient
ACE
Chao1
Shannon
Simpson
TN
0.33*
0.33*
0.11
0.13
TP
0.12
0.14
0.18
0.18
TK
0.34*
0.36*
0.36*
0.20
SOM
0.35*
0.35*
0.15
0.15
pH
0.20
0.21
0.42**
0.21
Table 7 Correlation between soil nutrients and fungal alpha diversity index
Soil nutrient
ACE
Chao1
Shannon
Simpson
TN
0.10
0.06
0.37*
0.52**
TP
-0.21
-0.23
0.04
0.36*
TK
0.27
0.28
0.17
0.23
SOM
0.05
0.01
0.28
0.47**
pH
0.17
0.19
-0.05
-0.14
Table 8 Correlation between soil nutrients and bacterial alpha diversity index
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