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Diversity of soil bacteria and fungi communities in artificial forests of the sandy-hilly region of Northwest China

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Abstract

Soil erosion is a serious issue in the sandy-hilly region of Shanxi Province, Northwest China. There has been gradual improvement due to vegetation restoration, but soil microbial community characteristics in different vegetation plantation types have not been widely investigated. To address this, we analyzed soil bacterial and fungal community structures, diversity, and microbial and soil environmental factors in Caragana korshinskii Kom., Populus tomentosa Carr., Populus simonii Carr., Salix matsudana Koidz, and Pinus tabulaeformis Carr. forests. There were no significant differences in the dominant bacterial community compositions among the five forest types. The alpha diversity of the bacteria and fungi communities showed that ACE (abundance-based coverage estimator), Chao1, and Shannon indices in C. korshinskii forest were significantly higher than those in the other four forest types (P<0.05). Soil organic matter, total nitrogen, and urease had a greater impact on bacterial community composition, while total nitrogen, β-glucosidase, and urease had a greater impact on fungal community composition. The relative abundance of beneficial and pathogenic microorganisms was similar across all forest types. Based on microbial community composition, diversity, and soil fertility, we ranked the plantations from most to least suitable as follows: C. korshinskii, S. matsudana, P. tabulaeformis, P. tomentosa, and P. simonii.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42171033, 41807518, 41701045), the Shanxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (201801D221336), and the Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institutions in Shanxi Province, China (2019L0457, 2019L0463). We thank Mr. John B BRADFORD and Dr. LIU Baoli for giving us so many good suggestions for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geographical Sciences, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan, 030000, China

    Qianqian Gou, Gailing Ma & Guohua Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Jianjun Qu & Guohua Wang

  3. Laboratory of Watershed Hydrology and Ecology, Linze Inland River Basin Comprehensive Research Station, Chinese Ecosystem Research Network, Northwest Institute of Ecology and Environmental Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Guohua Wang

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  1. Qianqian Gou
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  2. Gailing Ma
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Correspondence to Guohua Wang.

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Gou, Q., Ma, G., Qu, J. et al. Diversity of soil bacteria and fungi communities in artificial forests of the sandy-hilly region of Northwest China. J. Arid Land 15, 109–126 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-023-0003-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-023-0003-x

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