Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2023, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (6): 770-781.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2022.0318

Special Issue: 微生物生态学

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of shrub encroachment on plant and soil microbial in the forest-grassland ecotone

ZHANG Qi1,2, FENG Ke2, CHANG Zhi-Hui1, HE Shuang-Hui2,*(), XU Wei-Qi2   

  1. 1School of Grassland Science, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100091, China
    2School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100091, China
  • Received:2022-07-27 Accepted:2022-12-27 Online:2023-06-20 Published:2022-12-27
  • Contact: * (heshuanghui@bjfu.edu.cn)
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(31870011)

Abstract:

Aims Understanding the effects of shrub encroachment on plant and soil microorganisms in the forest-grassland ecotone will help improve the understanding and management of shrub encroachment in the forest-grassland ecotone.

Methods In this study, different levels (light, moderate and heavy) of shrub encroachment were selected in the forest-grassland ecotone of Dongling Mountain Nature Reserve in Beijing, to explore the effects of shrub encroachment on plant diversity, soil microbial diversity, plant individual trait and soil nutrients by plot method and high-throughput sequencing technology. The correlation between plant diversity, soil microbial diversity, plant individual trait and soil nutrients were also developed in order to further explore the effects of shrub encroachment on plants and soil microorganisms and associated mechanisms.

Important findings Our results showed that: 1) Shrub encroachment significantly reduced the diversity of plants with the different responses of arbor, shrub and herb, among which the diversity index of herb plants decreased in the largest level. 2) Shrub encroachment significantly increased the diversity of soil fungal microorganisms. 3) Shrub encroachment significantly increased the height and crown width of shrubs, while soil total nitrogen and organic carbon contents increased significantly with the increasing shrub encroachment level. 4) The partial least squares path model (PLS-PM) revealed that shrub encroachment had a direct impact on plant and soil microorganisms, whereas plant individual trait and soil nutrients did not have a direct impact on them. The redundancy analysis (RDA) further showed that shrub height made great contribution to the interpretation of changes in plant diversity, and soil total nitrogen content was the main factor in affecting soil microbial diversity. There was a stronger correlation of soil fungal microbial diversity with plant diversity than its relationship with soil bacterial microbial.

Key words: shrub encroachment, plant diversity, soil microbial diversity, forest-grassland ecotone, Dongling Mountain Nature Reserve