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Characterization of the microbial communities in the modern and buried under kurgans soils of solonetzic complexes in the dry steppes of the Lower Volga region

  • Soil Biology
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Abstract

The microbial communities were studied in the modern and buried under kurgans (1st century AD) soils of solonetzic complexes on the dry steppes of the northern part of the Yergeni Upland. It was found that the changes in the numbers of microorganisms from different trophic groups and in the biomass of the fungal mycelium along the profiles of the modern and buried solonetzic chestnut soils and solonetzes do not differ significantly. The quantitative estimate of the impact of the solonetzic process on the spatial variability of the microbiological parameters of the soils was given on the basis of the ANOVA. As a rule, the values of the microbiological parameters in all the horizons of the modern and buried chestnut soils were 1.2–2.8 times higher than those in the modern and buried solonetzes. The influence of the degree of solonetzicity of the buried paleosols on the microbiological parameters manifested itself in the entire profile, though in each particular horizon it was only seen in the numbers of some particular trophic groups of microorganisms. The comparison between the mean weighted values of the microbiological parameters in the entire soil profiles (the A1 + B1 + B2 horizons) demonstrated an inverse relationship between the population density of the microorganisms utilizing easily available organic matter and the degree of solonetzicity of the buried paleosols. The maximum biomass of the fungal mycelium was found in the solonetzic chestnut paleosol; it exceeded the biomass of the fungal mycelium in the other paleosols (which did not differ significantly in that parameter from one another) by 1.5–1.6 times.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Moscow oblast, 142292, Russia

    T. S. Demkina, I. V. Popova & V. A. Demkin

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  1. T. S. Demkina
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  2. I. V. Popova
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  3. V. A. Demkin
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Correspondence to T. S. Demkina.

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Original Russian Text © T.S. Demkina, I.V. Popova, V.A. Demkin, 2013, published in Pochvovedenie, 2013, No. 7, pp. 840–849.

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Demkina, T.S., Popova, I.V. & Demkin, V.A. Characterization of the microbial communities in the modern and buried under kurgans soils of solonetzic complexes in the dry steppes of the Lower Volga region. Eurasian Soil Sc. 46, 768–777 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S106422931307003X

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