Catena
Catena
5 years ago

The restoration age of Robinia pseudoacacia plantation impacts soil microbial biomass and microbial community structure in the Loess Plateau

Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia, RP) has been widely grown for soil and water conservation in erosion regions. However, the effect on soil microbial profiles after long-term implementation of vegetation plantation was still unclear. In this study, soil samples from RP plantations of 10-, 15-, 30- and 38-year-old in a typical vegetation-recovering region on the Chinese Loess Plateau were investigated for microbial biomass carbon (MBC), nitrogen (MBN), phosphorous (MBP) and microbial community-profiles (revealed by phospholipid fatty acids, PLFAs). The results showed SOC, total N, MBC and MBP were significant (P < 0.05) higher in the older RP (30- and 38-year-old) than those in other younger plantations (10 and 15-year-old). Total viable microbial biomass (indicated by total PLFAs), bacterial PLFAs and MBP increased significantly (P < 0.05) with increasing plantation age. Soil microbial communities were distinctly differed in soils of younger- than in older- plantation plots. Redundancy analysis showed that the sampling site with various RP plantations (P < 0.05) was the most important factors in structuring various soil microbial communities. Soil C:N ratio, MBP and available P were also significant factors affecting soil microbial communities. These findings indicate that RP plantation has the potential to transform soil microbial biomass and microbial communities in the direction of improving soil P content in loess soil.

Publisher URL: www.sciencedirect.com/science

DOI: S0341816218300377

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.