Effects of understory removal and tree girdling on soil microbial community composition and litter decomposition in two Eucalyptus plantations in South China

1. Soil micro-organisms play important roles in ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. We examined how understory removal and tree girdling influence the composition of soil microbial community and the litter decomposition in two subtropical plantations. 2. Phospholipid fatty acids...

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Published in:Functional ecology Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 921 - 931
Main Authors: Wu, Jianping, Liu, Zhanfeng, Wang, Xiaoling, Sun, Yuxin, Zhou, Lixia, Lin, Yongbiao, Fu, Shenglei
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing 01.08.2011
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Wiley-Blackwell
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:
Abundance
Acid soils
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
China
Communities
Community ecology
community structure
Decomposition
Ecosystems
environmental factors
Eucalyptus
fatty acids
forest ecosystems
forest management
forest restoration
Forest soils
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
fungi
General aspects
girdling
Herbivores
Microbial ecology
Nitrogen
phospholipid fatty acids
phospholipids
Plantations
principal response curves
redundancy analysis
Soil composition
Soil ecology
Soil fungi
Soil microorganisms
soil temperature
Understory
Various environments (extraatmospheric space, air, water)
Asia
China
Community structure
Composition
redundancy analysis
Litter
Redundancy
principal response curves
Phospholipid
Lipids
Forest management
girdling
Decomposition
Woody plant
Fatty acids
Eucalyptus
Soil fauna
phospholipid fatty acids
Understory
Dicotyledones
Angiospermae
Myrtaceae
Tree
Spermatophyta
Microbial community
ISSN:0269-8463, 1365-2435
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:1. Soil micro-organisms play important roles in ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. We examined how understory removal and tree girdling influence the composition of soil microbial community and the litter decomposition in two subtropical plantations. 2. Phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis was used to characterize soil microbial community. Redundancy analysis and principal response curves (PRC) were used to investigate the relationships between soil microbial community and environmental factors. 3. Understory removal significantly reduced the amount of fungal PLFAs, the ratio of fungal to bacterial PLFAs, and the litter decomposition but did not affect bacterial PLFAs and total PLFAs. In contrast, tree girdling did not affect the soil microbial characteristics. The changes in soil microbial community caused by understory removal were mainly attributed to the indirect effects such as increased soil temperature and soil NO₃¯-N availability. In addition, PRC analysis showed that the relative abundance of most PLFAs increased in response to understory removal in the 2-year-old plantation but decreased in the 24-year-old plantation. 4. We propose that understory plants are important components in subtropical forest ecosystems, and play different roles in maintaining soil microbial community and driving litter decomposition processes in young vs. old plantations. The functions of understory plants should be considered in forest management and restoration. The negligible effect of tree girdling on the soil micro-organisms can be attributed to the resprouting trait and mycorrhizal interactions of Eucalyptus.
Bibliography:The authors contributed equally to this work.
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ISSN:0269-8463
1365-2435
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01845.x