Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2021, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (3): 298-308.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2020.0217

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of long-term simulated acid rain on soil microbial community structure in a monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest in southern China

HU Yuan-Liu1,2, CHEN Guo-Yin1,2, CHEN Jing-Wen1,2, SUN Lian-Wei1,2, LI Jian-Ling1, DOU Ning1, ZHANG De-Qiang1, DENG Qi1,*()   

  1. 1South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China
    2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2020-06-29 Accepted:2020-09-27 Online:2021-03-20 Published:2021-05-17
  • Contact: DENG Qi
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(31870461);Young Top-Notch Talent Project in “Pearl River Talent Plan” of Guangdong, China(2019QN01L763)

Abstract:

Aims Soil microorganisms are an important component of terrestrial ecosystems and play a critical role in regulating multiple ecological processes such as nutrient acquisition, carbon cycle, and soil formation, especially in the tropical forests where soils are highly weathered with poor nutrients. The objective of this study was to examine the response of soil microbial community under long-term simulated acid rain (SAR) and investigate the most important factors influencing microbial community structure.
Methods Based on a long-term (10-year) field SAR experiment, we investigate the response of soil microbial community structure to soil acidification in the south subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest of Dinghushan National Nature Reserve. Four levels of SAR treatments were set by adding the following amount of H+: 0 (CK), 9.6, 32 and 96 mol·hm-2·a-1.
Important findings 1) The SAR treatment significantly reduced the pH value of soil (i.e., increased soil acidification). 2) Soil acidification did not significantly influence microbial carbon (C) content, but changed microbial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents, leading to significant increases in microbial C:P and N:P in topsoil (0-10 cm). This result indicated that soil acidification might aggravate microbial P limitation. 3) Soil acidification also altered the microbial community structure and significantly increased the fungal/bacterial ratio in the subsoil (10-20 cm). Further analysis showed that soil pH and available P content were the most important factors affecting the soil microbial communities under the SAR treatment.

Key words: soil acidification, microbial stoichiometry, fungal:bacterial, phosphorus limitation