Variation of soil bacterial communities along a chronosequence of Eucalyptus plantation

PeerJ

article

Jiayu Li¹  Jiayi Lin¹  Chenyu Pei¹  Kaitao Lai³  Thomas C. Jeffries²  Guangda Tang¹ 

[1] College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Limestone Plants Research Center, South China Agricultural University;School of Science and Health, University of Western Sydney;Health and Biosecurity, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

关键词: Eucalyptus plantation;    Soil microorganisms;    Soil microbial ecology;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5648

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Eucalyptus is harvested for wood and fiber production in many tropical and sub-tropical habitats globally. Plantation has been controversial because of its influence on the surrounding environment, however, the influence of massive Eucalyptus planting on soil microbial communities is unclear. Here we applied high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to assess the microbial community composition and diversity of planting chronosequences, involving two, five and ten years of Eucalyptus plantation, comparing to that of secondary-forest in South China. We found that significant changes in the composition of soil bacteria occurred when the forests were converted from secondary-forest to Eucalyptus. The bacterial community structure was clearly distinct from control and five year samples after Eucalyptus was grown for 2 and 10 years, highlighting the influence of this plantation on local soil microbial communities. These groupings indicated a cycle of impact (2 and 10 year plantations) and low impact (5-year plantations) in this chronosequence of Eucalyptus plantation. Community patterns were underpinned by shifts in soil properties such as pH and phosphorus concentration. Concurrently, key soil taxonomic groups such as Actinobacteria showed abundance shifts, increasing in impacted plantations and decreasing in low impacted samples. Shifts in taxonomy were reflected in a shift in metabolic potential, including pathways for nutrient cycles such as carbon fixation, which changed in abundance over time following Eucalyptus plantation. Combined these results confirm that Eucalyptus plantation can change the community structure and diversity of soil microorganisms with strong implications for land-management and maintaining the health of these ecosystems.

【 授权许可】

CC BY