Different revegetation types alter soil physical-chemical characteristics and fungal community in the Baishilazi Nature Reserve

PeerJ. 2019 Jan 11:6:e6251. doi: 10.7717/peerj.6251. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The effects of different revegetation types on soil physical-chemical characteristics and fungal community diversity and composition of soils sampled from five different revegetation types (JM, Juglans mandshurica; QM, Quercus mongolica; conifer-broadleaf forest (CB); LG, Larix gmelinii; PK, Pinus koraiensis) in the Baishilazi Nature Reserve were determined. Soil fungal communities were assessed employing ITS rRNA Illunima Miseq high-throughput sequencing. Responses of the soil fungi community to soil environmental factors were assessed through canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and Pearson correlation analysis. The coniferous forests (L. gmelinii, P. koraiensis) and CB had reduced soil total carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), and available nitrogen (AN) values compared with the broadleaf forest (J. mandshurica, Q. mongolica). The average fungus diversity according to the Shannon, ACE, Chao1, and Simpson index were increased in the J. mandshurica site. Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Zygomycota, and Rozellomycota were the dominant fungal taxa in this region. The phylum Basidiomycota was dominant in the Q. mongolica, CB, L. gmelinii, and P. koraiensis sites, while Ascomycota was the dominant phylum in the J. mandshurica site. The clear differentiation of fungal communities and the clustering in the heatmap and in non-metric multidimensional scaling plot showed that broadleaf forests, CB, and coniferous forests harbored different fungal communities. The results of the CCA showed that soil environmental factors, such as soil pH, total C, total N, AN, and available phosphorus (P) greatly influenced the fungal community structure. Based on our results, the different responses of the soil fungal communities to the different revegetation types largely dependent on different forest types and soil physicochemical characteristic in Baishilazi Nature Reserve.

Keywords: Broadleaf forest; Coniferous forest; Fungal community diversity and composition; The Baishilazi Nature Reserve.

Grants and funding

This research was financially supported by the Sub-project of the National Key Research and Develepment Program (2017YFC050410501), the Cultivation Plan for Youth Agricultural Science and Technology Innovative Talents of Liaoning Province (2015047), the Startup Foundation for Doctor of Liaoning (20170520064) and the Special Fund for Forest Scientific Research in the Public Welfare (201304216). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.