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Soil microbial community is resilient to thinning disturbance

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Abstract

To engage sustainable forest management, understanding the impact of disturbances on the stability of soil microorganisms is important. This study reported the immediate effects of two-level thinning intensities on the soil microbial population, community composition and functions of a plantation forest over two years. Results showed that the thinning of Cryptomeria japonica forest significantly increased viable counts of soil bacteria from 7.7 × 106 to 1.4 × 107 or 1.6 × 107 in the 3rd month and the effect subsided in the 6th month post-thinning. The counts of actinobacteria, cellulolytic, nitrogen-fixing and phosphate-solubilizing bacteria groups maintained stable populations in the forest soils. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profiles indicated that soil bacterial communities significantly differed among 25% thinning, 50% thinning and control treatment from the 12th to 18th month post-thinning, with no significant differences after 22 months. The community level physiological profiles were significantly different between control and thinning treatments in the 12th month post-thinning, the impacts of thinning then subsided by the 22nd month post-thinning as well. Soil bacteria were sensitive to thinning disturbances, but with resilience, their community and function approached to the control status in 2 years. This study demonstrates that the soil microbes of Taiwanese C. japonica forests are very sensitive to thinning disturbances, but recover stability after a relatively short period of time.

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by grants from the Taiwan Forestry Bureau, Taiwan (97-00-5-02, 98-00-5-31). We thank Dr. I-Fang Sun, Dr. Chih-Ming Chiu and Dr. Hen-Biao King for their role in setting up the dynamic plots; and Dr. Kuo-Ching Tzeng for his advice concerning Biolog.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioresource Collection and Research Center (BCRC), Food Industry Research and Development Institute (FIRDI), Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Wan-Rou Lin

  2. Department of Life Science, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan

    Wen-Cheng Chen & Pi-Han Wang

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  1. Wan-Rou Lin
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  2. Wen-Cheng Chen
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Correspondence to Pi-Han Wang.

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Lin, WR., Chen, WC. & Wang, PH. Soil microbial community is resilient to thinning disturbance. Trop Ecol 64, 62–71 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42965-022-00243-z

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