Premium
Soil moisture effect on bacterial and fungal community in B eilu R iver ( T ibetan P lateau) permafrost soils with different vegetation types
Author(s) -
Zhang X.F.,
Zhao L.,
Xu S.J.,
Liu Y.Z.,
Liu H.Y.,
Cheng G.D.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/jam.12106
Subject(s) - soil water , steppe , permafrost , actinobacteria , decomposer , unifrac , vegetation (pathology) , microbial population biology , environmental science , ecology , desert climate , proteobacteria , firmicutes , ecosystem , biology , arid , bacteria , 16s ribosomal rna , pathology , medicine , genetics
Abstract Aim This study investigated the effects of environmental variables on the bacterial and fungal communities of the B eilu R iver (on the T ibetan P lateau) permafrost soils with different vegetation types. Methods and Results Microbial communities were sampled from meadow, steppe and desert steppe permafrost soils during M ay, J une, A ugust and N ovember, and they were analysed by both pyrosequencing and the use of B iolog E co P lates. The dominant bacterial and fungal phyla in meadow and steppe soils were P roteobacteria and A scomycota, whereas A ctinobacteria and B asidiomycota predominated in desert steppe soils. The bacterial communities in meadow soils degraded amines and amino acids very rapidly, while polymers were degraded rapidly by steppe communities. The RDA patterns showed that the microbial communities differed greatly between meadow, steppe and desert steppe, and they were related to variations in the soil moisture, C / N ratio and pH . A UniFrac analysis detected clear differences between the desert steppe bacterial community and others, and seasonal shifts were observed. The fungal U ni F rac patterns differed significantly between meadow and steppe soils. There were significant correlations between the bacterial diversity ( H ′) and soil moisture ( r = 0·506) and C / N ( r = 0·527). The fungal diversity ( H f′) was significantly correlated with the soil pH ( r = 0·541). Conclusion The soil moisture, C / N ratio and pH were important determinants of the microbial community structure in B eilu R iver permafrost soils. Significance and Impact of the Study These results may provide a useful baseline for predicting the variation in microbial communities in response to climate changes.