Title |
Variations in bacterial and fungal communities through soil depth profiles in a Betula albosinensis forest |
Author |
Can Du1, Zengchao Geng1*, Qiang Wang1, Tongtong Zhang1, Wenxiang He1, Lin Hou2, and Yueling Wang1 |
Address |
1Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, P. R. China, 2College of Forestry, Northwest A & F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, P. R. China |
Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 55(9),684–693, 2017,
|
DOI |
10.1007/s12275-017-6466-8
|
Key Words |
microbial communities, deeper soil horizons, natural
secondary forest, high-throughput sequencing, alphadiversity |
Abstract |
Microbial communities in subsurface soil are specialized for
their environment, which is distinct from that of the surface
communities. However, little is known about the microbial
communities (bacteria and fungi) that exist in the deeper
soil horizons. Vertical changes in microbial alpha-diversity
(Chao1 and Shannon indices) and community composition
were investigated at four soil depths (0–10, 10–20, 20–40,
and 40–60 cm) in a natural secondary forest of Betula albosinensis
by high-throughput sequencing of the 16S and internal
transcribed spacer rDNA regions. The numbers of operational
taxonomic units (OTUs), and the Chao1 and Shannon
indices decreased in the deeper soil layers. Each soil layer
contained both mutual and specific OTUs. In the 40–60 cm
soil layer, 175 and 235 specific bacterial and fungal OTUs
were identified, respectively. Acidobacteria was the most dominant
bacterial group in all four soil layers, but reached its
maximum at 40–60 cm (62.88%). In particular, the 40–60 cm
soil layer typically showed the highest abundance of the fungal
genus Inocybe (47.46%). The Chao1 and Shannon indices
were significantly correlated with the soil organic carbon content.
Redundancy analysis indicated that the bacterial communities
were closely correlated with soil organic carbon
content (P = 0.001). Collectively, these results indicate that
soil nutrients alter the microbial diversity and relative abundance
and affect the microbial composition. |