Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2023, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (4): 584-596.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2022.0072

• Research Articles • Previous Articles    

Effect of tourism disturbance on soil microbial diversity and community structure in a Pinus tabuliformis forest

FENG Ke1, LIU Dong-Mei2, ZHANG Qi1, AN Jing3, HE Shuang-Hui1,*()   

  1. 1. School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forest University, Beijing 100083, China
    2. Institute of Ecology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
    3. Beijing Songshan National Nature Reserve Management Office, Beijing 102199, China
  • Received:2022-02-22 Accepted:2022-07-27 Online:2023-04-20 Published:2022-09-16
  • Contact: *(heshuanghui@bjfu.edu.cn )
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(32070005);National Natural Science Foundation of China(31750001)

Abstract:

Aims Understanding the effect of tourism disturbances on soil microbial diversity and community structure is necessary for the restoration and management of environmental resources in tourist areas. Therefore, we conducted a field survey in Beijing Songshan National Nature Reserve, to reveal the effect of different tourism disturbance intensity on soil microorganisms in a Pinus tabuliformis forest.

Methods Three intensity groups, high disturbance (HD), low disturbance (LD) and no disturbance (ND), were conducted in the P. tabuliformis forest. We investigated microhabitat conditions and measured soil physicochemical properties. Next generation sequencing technique was used to determine the diversity and community structure of soil microorganisms. Then, we evaluated the impact of tourism disturbance intensity on soil microorganisms.

Important findings 1) HD significantly reduced soil fungal alpha diversity, and LD significantly reduced soil fungal phylogenetic diversity. Soil fungal diversity showed a decreasing trend, and soil bacterial diversity showed an increasing trend with increasing disturbance intensity. 2) For soil fungal community structure, the dominant phylum of three intensity groups were Basidiomycota and Ascomycota. HD disturbance significantly affected the relative abundance of Ascomycota, but had no effect on Basidiomycota, LD had no effect on both of them. LEfSe analysis showed that indicators of ND were Pseudogymnoascus and three species (Oidiodendron griseum, Acrodontium hydnicola, Metacordyceps chlamydosporia); indicator of HD was Clavariaceae; there was no indicator in LD. 3) For bacterial community structure, the dominant phylum of three intensity groups were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria, but HD and LD had no effect on them. LEfSe showed that indicators of ND accounted for 82.05% of total indicators, and the most indicative ones were Gaiellales and Solirubrobacterales; indicators of HD accounted for 17.95% of total indicators, they mainly manifested as pathogenic indicator bacteria and bacterial groups related to human activities, the most indicative ones were Flavobacteriia and one genus of Verrucomicrobia; there was no indicator in LD. 4) Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) found disturbance intensity significantly impacted microhabitat and alpha diversity of soil fungi. Redundancy analysis showed that soil and microhabitat condition explained 71.35% and 74.47% of variations in community structure of fungi and bacteria under different intensity group, respectively. Tree diameter at breast height, herb cover and litter cover were the main factors that altered fungal and bacterial community structure. In conclusion, tourism disturbance significantly reduced alpha diversity and impacted community structure of soil microbiota in the P. tabuliformis forest, and the degree of influence associated with disturbance intensity and the kind of microorganisms. Moreover, the impact was also controlled by microhabitat and soil physical and chemical properties. Therefore, future attentions should be paid to the restoration of microhabitats and soil conditions in tourism areas.

Key words: tourism disturbance, microhabitat, soil physicochemical property, microbial diversity, community structure, Songshan National Nature Reserve