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Nitrogen cycling-related functional genes exhibit higher sensibility in soil than leaf phyllosphere of different tree species in the subtropical forests

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Abstract

Aims

Forest ecosystems provide a large area inhabited by functional microbial communities and thus have an important influence on nitrogen (N) cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about how tree species alter the functional microorganisms involved in the leaf phyllosphere and soil N cycling.

Methods

The impacts of seven common subtropical tree species across different mycorrhizal types and leaf phenology on the abundance of N cycling-related functional genes were evaluated in phyllosphere and soil.

Results

We found that deciduous trees harbored significantly higher functional gene abundance of nifH, narK, and nrfA by 26.2–46.4% compared to evergreen trees in soils. Ectomycorrhizal trees harbored significantly higher gene abundance of nifH, AOA amoA, AOB amoA, nxrA, nxrB, comammox amoA, narG, narK, nirS, and nrfA by 22.1–131% in comparison to arbuscular mycorrhizal trees in soils. Leaf dry matter content, leaf C and N contents, and litter C and N contents were important drivers of soil N cycling-related functional genes. Nonetheless, there was no significant association between the N cycling-related functional genes in the phyllosphere and soil. Leaf phenology and mycorrhizal type had little effect on N cycling-related functional genes in the phyllosphere. Root density was the best predictor for leaf phyllosphere N cycling-related functional genes.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated that tree functional traits have a crucial role in driving leaf phyllosphere and soil functional microorganisms, and emphasized the potential of manipulating tree mycorrhizal type and taxonomic identity to increase ecosystem N retention in subtropical forests.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071631 and 32271679) and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2023J06024 and 2023R1002004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Humid Subtropical Eco-geographical Processes of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Geography, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350117, China

    Xiuzhen Shi, Liyan Wang, Jiawen Sun & Jianqing Wang

  2. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Subtropical Resources and Environment, School of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, 350117, China

    Xiuzhen Shi, Liyan Wang, Jiawen Sun & Jianqing Wang

  3. Higher Technical School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering, Castilla-La Mancha University, Campus Universitario s/n, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja

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  1. Xiuzhen Shi
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  2. Liyan Wang
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  4. Manuel Esteban Lucas-Borja
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  5. Jianqing Wang
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XZ, JW, LW and JS performed experiments, conducted fieldwork, and analyzed data. JW and XZ drafted the manuscript. XZ, JW and MEL improved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jianqing Wang.

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Shi, X., Wang, L., Sun, J. et al. Nitrogen cycling-related functional genes exhibit higher sensibility in soil than leaf phyllosphere of different tree species in the subtropical forests. Plant Soil 493, 173–185 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06223-z

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