植物、土壤及土壤管理对土壤微生物群落结构的影响

土壤微生物是土壤生态系统的重要组成部分,对土壤微生物群落结构多样性的研究是近年来土壤生态学研究的热点。本文综述了有关植物、土壤类型以及土壤管理措施对土壤微生物群落结构影响的最新研究结果,指出植物的作用因植物群落结构多样性、植物种类、同种植物不同的基因型,甚至同一植物不同根的区域而异;而土壤的作用与土壤质地和有机质含量等因素有关;植物和土壤类型在对土壤微生物群落结构影响上的作用存在互作关系。不同的土壤管理措施对土壤微生物群落结构影响较大,长期连作、大量的外援化学物质的应用降低了土壤微生物的多样性;而施用有机肥、免耕可以增加土壤微生物群落结构多样性,有利于维持土壤生态系统的功能。     

植物与土壤微生物在调控生态系统养分循环中的作用

陆地生态系统的地上、地下是相互联系的。植物与土壤微生物作为陆地生态系统中的重要组成部分,它们之间的相互作用是生态系统地上、地下结合的重要纽带。该文首先介绍了植物在养分循环中对营养元素的吸收、积累和归还等作用,阐述了土壤微生物对养分有效性及土壤质量具有重要的作用。其次,重点综述了植物与土壤微生物之间相互依存、相互竞争的关系。植物通过其凋落物与分泌物为土壤微生物提供营养,土壤微生物作为分解者提供植物可吸收的营养元素,比如共生体菌根真菌即可使植物根与土壤真菌达到互惠。然而,植物的养分吸收与微生物的养分固持同时存在,因而两者之间存在对养分的竞争。通过植物多样性对土壤微生物多样性的影响分析,以及土壤微生物直接或间接作用于植物多样性和生产力的分析,探讨了植物物种多样性与土壤微生物多样性之间的内在联系。针对当前植物与土壤微生物对养分循环的调控机制的争论,提出植物凋落物是调节植物与土壤微生物养分循环的良好媒介,植物与土壤微生物的共同作用对维持整个生态系统的稳定性具有重要意义。也指出了目前在陆地生态系统地上、地下研究中存在的不足和亟待解决的问题。     

不同矿区废物的微生物生态分布

根据对安徽铜陵三个不同矿区里废物土壤中微生物分布情况的研究所获的资料,发现近年来由于对自然资源的掠夺式开发使得生物多样性遭到严重破坏.生态系统渐趋波动.土壤微生物作为稳定生态系统、监测土壤质量变化的敏感指标,其多样性研究在评价生态系统、维护生态平衡中发挥了巨大作用,因此越来越多的学者将目光投向土壤微生物多样性的研究和保护.目前的研究主要集中于多样性特征分析和环境因素对多样性的影响两个方面.     

植物对土壤微生物多样性的影响研究进展

土壤微生物作为土壤中较为主要的组成部分,在一定程度上反映了微生物构成的要素,同时对植物正常的生长以及发育具有重要的作用。植物与土壤微生物之间存在着多种多样的联系,植物类型、植物多样性、植物的基因组成、植物根系的发展以及植物不同的生长状况都对土壤微生物有着重要影响。本文从土壤微生物多样性出发,针对植物对土壤微生物多样性的影响进行了研究,希望进一步促进土壤微生物的发展以及生态系统的稳定。     

植物多样性对亚热带森林土壤微生物群落的影响

植物群落组成的改变能够直接或间接地影响土壤生态过程并调节参与这些过程的土壤生物,树种特性和多样性是影响土壤微生物多样性和群落结构的关键因素。本项目利用江西新岗山建立的中国亚热带森林生物多样性与生态系统功能(Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Experiment China)BEF-China研究平台,观测了样方水平下不同多样性组成(单物种、2物种、4物种和8物种)对土壤微生物群落结构的影响。结果表明:在森林生态系统演替初期,植物多样性的改变对土壤微生物群落结构具有显著影响,在不同多样性水平处理下,微生物磷脂脂肪酸含量随着植物多样性的增加,表现出先升高后降低的趋势,但各类群微生物磷脂脂肪酸含量并未表现出对植物多样性的明显响应。其中,土壤和凋落物的理化指标能够分别解释微生物群落结构变异的28.4%和12.3%。森林生态系统较高的异质性和地下生态过程响应的滞后性,导致了土壤微生物对植物多样性组成的响应需要较长时间才能显现出来,因此,为了更好地评价地上生物多样性与生态系统功能的关联,应长期监测森林生态系统多样性组成对地下生态过程的影响。     

转基因作物对土壤微生物多样性影响的研究方法

土壤微生物是土壤生态系统的一个重要组成部分,对土壤中的生物化学循环起着不可替代的驱动作用。转基因作物在生长过程中会不可避免地与土壤微生物发生交流,开展转基因作物对土壤微生物群落影响的研究对于科学评价转基因作物的潜在风险具有重要意义。随着现代生物技术的不断发展,土壤微生物多样性及其分析方法已经从传统的分离培养发展到从种群角度去研究整个土壤微生态系统内的微生物。但是由于土壤微生物的各种特性(如大部分不可培养、体积微小及群体效应等)和仪器设备检测性能的局限性,单一的研究方法会存在一些弊端,还需要结合其他的手段共同研究土壤生态系统中的微生物多样性。目前,人们对土壤微生物多样性的研究主要包括物种多样性、功能多样性、结构多样性及遗传多样性等4个方面,国内外关于转基因作物对土壤微生物多样性及其群落结构影响的研究方法很多,对常见的研究方法进行了总结,并提出了今后转基因作物对土壤微生物多样性及群落结构影响的研究策略。     

城市土壤微生物多样性研究进展

城市化对生物多样性的影响是当前生态学研究的热点之一, 引起了人们的广泛关注。土壤微生物多样性是城市生物多样性的重要组成部分, 对维持城市生态系统的健康稳定具有重要意义和作用。近年来, 已有研究关注城市土壤微生物群落结构及多样性, 回答了一些关键问题, 但缺乏系统的总结与论述。基于此, 本文分析了城市化对土壤微生物特性、群落组成、功能和多样性的影响, 总结了影响城市土壤微生物多样性的主要因素, 发现城市化改变了土壤微生物组成和功能, 并且对细菌和真菌多样性的影响存在差异, 城市环境因子通过直接和间接作用共同影响土壤微生物多样性。进一步探讨了城市土壤微生物多样性的维持与保护, 并对今后城市土壤微生物研究需要关注的问题进行了展望, 包括: (1)城市化对城市绿地土壤微生物多样性的影响机制; (2)城市土壤微生物多样性变化对生态系统多功能性的影响; (3)土壤微生物多样性与人类健康的关系。以期为城市土壤生物多样性保护研究提供参考。     

土壤生态系统微生物多样性-稳定性关系的思考

自20世纪50年代以来,生物多样性与生态系统稳定性的关系一直是生态学中重点讨论的理论问题之一.在当今人类活动对自然生态系统产生重大影响的情况下,全面理解生态系统多样性与稳定性的关系,有助于我们更好地应对环境变化和生物多样性丧失等生态问题.在陆地生态系统中,关注重点多集中在地上植物生态系统;而对地下生态系统,尤其是对微生物多样性与系统稳定性关系的研究尚重视不够.事实上,土壤微生物作为生命元素循环的驱动者,主导和参与地下生态系统中一系列重要生态过程,对土壤能否正常有序地执行各项生态功能至关重要.对土壤微生物多样性的研究,能使我们明确土壤中微生物对各种环境条件(包括自然和人为因素)变化的响应机制,更好地维持土壤生态系统的稳定性及其生态服务功能.本文在介绍土壤微生物多样性概念、研究方法、地下生态系统稳定性的基础上,重点讨论了土壤微生物多样性对土壤生态系统稳定性的影响,对多样性-稳定性关系在土壤微生物生态学中的应用进行了较为深入和全面的思考.作者提出,土壤微生物系统是一个动态变化的自组织系统,通过遗传来维持其组成和结构的相对稳定性,通过变异而适应外界干扰,共同构成土壤微生物系统的抵抗力(resistance)和恢复力(resilience),维护土壤生态系统的稳定性.今后土壤微生物多样性-稳定性关系的研究,需要注重地上与地下生态系统的结合与统一,借鉴宏观生态学理论来构建微生物生态学的理论框架,建立微生物多样性-稳定性关系的机理模型,从定性描述向定量表征方向发展.     

中国土壤微生物多样性监测的现状和思考

土壤微生物多样性研究是整个生态系统研究中最薄弱的环节之一。高通量测序技术和生物信息学方法的快速发展极大地促进了土壤微生物多样性监测研究的深度和广度。目前世界范围内已经开展了一些综合的微生物多样性研究计划,如地球微生物计划。这些计划存在的主要问题是缺少动态的监测、研究方法不统一、数据整合困难等。中国土壤微生物多样性监测网(Soil Microbial Observation Network,SMON)是中国生物多样性监测与研究网络(Chinese Biodiversity Monitoring and Research Network,Sino BON)的重要组成部分,本文中我们对该监测网的建设提出了一些思考。在监测布局上建议选择我国南北水热梯度下的森林生态系统、东西降雨梯度下的草原生态系统、典型湿地生态系统及重要农田生态系统,同时依托现已建成的生物多样性监测网络观测点或大样地,布设监测样点,利用现代环境基因组学和生物信息学技术,重点围绕土壤微生物群落和功能基因组的组成与多样性,开展长期定点的动态监测。监测的结果将以名录、数据集或图鉴的形式发布,包括中国典型生态系统中土壤细菌、古菌、真菌与地衣、土壤宏基因组和重要功能基因的组成和多样性等数据,同时建设土壤生物大数据平台,达到监测数据的储存、查询、分析、下载、成图的功能。通过土壤微生物多样性监测,将阐明我国重要森林、草地、湿地、农田生态系统中土壤微生物组成、多样性、功能基因的时空变化特征和驱动机制,建立土壤微生物多样性变化与生态系统功能的关系及相关的模型,预测全球环境条件变化下土壤微生物的演变规律,为土壤微生物多样性资源的保护和利用提供科学依据。     

不同植被覆盖对黑土微生物功能多样性的影响

为探讨黑土开垦前后土壤微生物代谢功能多样性差异,在海伦农业生态试验站长期定位试验区,采用Biolog方法研究了不同季节草地、农田和裸地等3个利用时间相同(21年)的生态系统土壤微生物功能多样性的动态变化.结果表明:在春季和夏季,土壤微生物平均颜色变化率(AWCD)和Shannon多样性指数均表现为草地最高,农田次之,裸地最低;在草地和农田生态系统中,土壤微生物代谢活性和功能多样性随季节变化趋势均为夏季升高,秋季降低;在裸地生态系统中,土壤微生物代谢活性和功能多样性随季节变化呈逐渐升高趋势;在草地、农田和裸地生态系统中,土壤微生物群落利用率较高的3类碳源是糖类、氨基酸类和羧酸类.     

土壤生态系统稳定性研究进展

土壤生态系统稳定性是指土壤生态系统对抗人为干扰和自然剧烈变化的能力,可以由抵抗力和恢复力两个方面来表征.土壤生态系统稳定性是土壤健康指标的核心之一,进行稳定性评价对于土壤健康评价尤其是人为污染和物理干扰后土壤的健康评价具有重要参考价值.与地上生态系统研究结论相似,土壤生态系统稳定性的评价,与所选择的干扰性质和土壤过程密切相关.国内外近年来土壤生态系统稳定性方面的研究进展,主要包括:土壤生态系统稳定性的概念,土壤生态系统稳定性的研究方法,土壤生态系统稳定性的影响因素,保持土壤生态系统稳定性的对策,并提出了问题与展望.     

Maintenance of soil functioning following erosion of microbial diversity

The paradigm that soil microbial communities, being very diverse, have high functional redundancy levels, so that erosion of microbial diversity is less important for ecosystem functioning than erosion of plant or animal diversity, is often taken for granted. However, this has only been demonstrated for decomposition/respiration functions, performed by a large proportion of the total microbial community, but not for specialized microbial groups. Here, we determined the impact of a decrease in soil microbial diversity on soil ecosystem processes using a removal approach, in which less abundant species were removed preferentially. This was achieved by inoculation of sterile soil microcosms with serial dilutions of a suspension obtained from the same non-sterile soil and subsequent incubation, to enable recovery of community size. The sensitivity to diversity erosion was evaluated for three microbial functional groups with known contrasting taxonomic diversities (ammonia oxidizers < denitrifiers < heterotrophs). Diversity erosion within each functional group was characterized using molecular fingerprinting techniques: ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA) for the eubacterial community, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of nirK genes for denitrifiers, and DGGE analysis of 16S rRNA genes for betaproteobacterial ammonia oxidizers. In addition, we simulated the impact of the removal approach by dilution on the number of soil bacterial species remaining in the inoculum using values of abundance distribution of bacterial species reported in the literature. The reduction of the diversity of the functional groups observed from genetic fingerprints did not impair the associated functioning of these groups, i.e. carbon mineralization, denitrification and nitrification. This was remarkable, because the amplitude of diversity erosion generated by the dilution approach was huge (level of bacterial species loss was estimated to be around 99.99% for the highest dilution). Our results demonstrate that the vast diversity of the soil microbiota makes soil ecosystem functioning largely insensitive to biodiversity erosion even for functions performed by specialized groups.     

Organic Layer Serves as a Hotspot of Microbial Activity and Abundance in Arctic Tundra Soils

Tundra ecosystem is of importance for its high accumulation of organic carbon and vulnerability to future climate change. Microorganisms play a key role in carbon dynamics of the tundra ecosystem by mineralizing organic carbon. We assessed both ecosystem process rates and community structure of Bacteria, Archaea, and Fungi in different soil layers (surface organic layer and subsurface mineral soil) in an Arctic soil ecosystem located at Spitsbergen, Svalbard during the summer of 2008 by using biochemical and molecular analyses, such as enzymatic assay, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP), quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and pyrosequencing. Activity of hydrolytic enzymes showed difference according to soil type. For all three microbial communities, the average gene copy number did not significantly differ between soil types. However, archaeal diversities appeared to differ according to soil type, whereas bacterial and fungal diversity indices did not show any variation. Correlation analysis between biogeochemical and microbial parameters exhibited a discriminating pattern according to microbial or soil types. Analysis of the microbial community structure showed that bacterial and archaeal communities have different profiles with unique phylotypes in terms of soil types. Water content and hydrolytic enzymes were found to be related with the structure of bacterial and archaeal communities, whereas soil organic matter (SOM) and total organic carbon (TOC) were related with bacterial communities. The overall results of this study indicate that microbial enzyme activity were generally higher in the organic layer than in mineral soils and that bacterial and archaeal communities differed between the organic layer and mineral soils in the Arctic region. Compared to mineral soil, peat-covered organic layer may represent a hotspot for secondary productivity and nutrient cycling in this ecosystem.     

Loss in microbial diversity affects nitrogen cycling in soil

Microbial communities have a central role in ecosystem processes by driving the Earth''s biogeochemical cycles. However, the importance of microbial diversity for ecosystem functioning is still debated. Here, we experimentally manipulated the soil microbial community using a dilution approach to analyze the functional consequences of diversity loss. A trait-centered approach was embraced using the denitrifiers as model guild due to their role in nitrogen cycling, a major ecosystem service. How various diversity metrics related to richness, eveness and phylogenetic diversity of the soil denitrifier community were affected by the removal experiment was assessed by 454 sequencing. As expected, the diversity metrics indicated a decrease in diversity in the 1/10³ and 1/10⁵ dilution treatments compared with the undiluted one. However, the extent of dilution and the corresponding reduction in diversity were not commensurate, as a dilution of five orders of magnitude resulted in a 75% decrease in estimated richness. This reduction in denitrifier diversity resulted in a significantly lower potential denitrification activity in soil of up to 4–5 folds. Addition of wheat residues significantly increased differences in potential denitrification between diversity levels, indicating that the resource level can influence the shape of the microbial diversity–functioning relationship. This study shows that microbial diversity loss can alter terrestrial ecosystem processes, which suggests that the importance of functional redundancy in soil microbial communities has been overstated.     

Litter and soil biodiversity jointly drive ecosystem functions

The decomposition of litter and the supply of nutrients into and from the soil are two fundamental processes through which the above- and belowground world interact. Microbial biodiversity, and especially that of decomposers, plays a key role in these processes by helping litter decomposition. Yet the relative contribution of litter diversity and soil biodiversity in supporting multiple ecosystem services remains virtually unknown. Here we conducted a mesocosm experiment where leaf litter and soil biodiversity were manipulated to investigate their influence on plant productivity, litter decomposition, soil respiration, and enzymatic activity in the littersphere. We showed that both leaf litter diversity and soil microbial diversity (richness and community composition) independently contributed to explain multiple ecosystem functions. Fungal saprobes community composition was especially important for supporting ecosystem multifunctionality (EMF), plant production, litter decomposition, and activity of soil phosphatase when compared with bacteria or other fungal functional groups and litter species richness. Moreover, leaf litter diversity and soil microbial diversity exerted previously undescribed and significantly interactive effects on EMF and multiple individual ecosystem functions, such as litter decomposition and plant production. Together, our work provides experimental evidence supporting the independent and interactive roles of litter and belowground soil biodiversity to maintain ecosystem functions and multiple services.     

Forest gene diversity is correlated with the composition and function of soil microbial communities

The growing field of community and ecosystem genetics indicates that plant genotype and genotypic variation are important for structuring communities and ecosystem processes. Little is known, however, regarding the effects of stand gene diversity on soil communities and processes under field conditions. Utilizing natural genetic variation occurring in Populus spp. hybrid zones, we tested the hypothesis that stand gene diversity structures soil microbial communities and influences soil nutrient pools. We found significant unimodal patterns relating gene diversity to soil microbial community composition, microbial exoenzyme activity of a carbon-acquiring enzyme, and availability of soil nitrogen. Multivariate analyses indicate that this pattern is due to the correlation between gene diversity, plant secondary chemistry, and the composition of the microbial community that impacts the availability of soil nitrogen. Together, these data from a natural system indicate that stand gene diversity may affect soil microbial communities and soil processes in ways similar to species diversity (i.e., unimodal patterns). Our results further demonstrate that the effects of plant genetic diversity on other organisms may be mediated by plant functional trait variation.     

Plant community and soil conditions individually affect soil microbial community assembly in experimental mesocosms

Soils harbor large, diverse microbial communities critical for local and global ecosystem functioning that are controlled by multiple and poorly understood processes. In particular, while there is observational evidence of relationships between both biotic and abiotic conditions and microbial composition and diversity, there have been few experimental tests to determine the relative importance of these two sets of factors at local scales. Here, we report the results of a fully factorial experiment manipulating soil conditions and plant cover on old‐field mesocosms across a latitudinal gradient. The largest contributor to beta diversity was site‐to‐site variation, but, having corrected for that, we observed significant effects of both plant and soil treatments on microbial composition. Separate phyla were associated with each treatment type, and no interactions between soil and plant treatment were observed. Individual soil characteristics and biotic parameters were also associated with overall beta‐diversity patterns and phyla abundance. In contrast, soil microbial diversity was only associated with site and not experimental treatment. Overall, plant community treatment explained more variation than soil treatment, a result not previously appreciated because it is difficult to dissociate plant community composition and soil conditions in observational studies across gradients. This work highlights the need for more nuanced, multifactorial experiments in microbial ecology and in particular indicates a greater focus on relationships between plant composition and microbial composition during community assembly.     

Fungal diversity increases soil fungistasis and resistance to microbial invasion by a non resident species

Biodiversity decline is a major concern for ecosystem functioning. Recent research efforts have been mostly focused on terrestrial plants, while, despite their importance in both natural and artificial ecosystems, little is known about soil microbial communities. This work aims at investigating the effects of fungal species richness on soil invasion by non resident microbes. Synthetic fungal communities with a species diversity ranging from 1 to 8 were assembled in laboratory microcosms and used in three factorial experiments to assess the effect of diversity on soil fungistasis, microbial invasion of soil amended with plant litter and of plant rhizosphere. The capability of different microbes to colonize environments characterized by different resident microbial communities was measured. The number of microbial species in the microcosms positively affected soil fungistasis that was also induced more rapidly in presence of synthetic communities with more species. Moreover, the increase of resident fungal diversity dramatically reduced the invasibility of both soil and plant rhizosphere. We found lower variability of soil fungistasis and invasibility in microcosms with higher species richness of microbial communities. Our study pointed out the existence of negative relationships between fungal diversity and soil invasibility by non resident microbes. Therefore, the loss of microbial species may adversely affect ecosystem functionality under specific environmental conditions.     

Water Content Differences Have Stronger Effects than Plant Functional Groups on Soil Bacteria in a Steppe Ecosystem

Many investigations across natural and artificial plant diversity gradients have reported that both soil physicochemical factors and plant community composition affect soil microbial communities. To test the effect of plant diversity loss on soil bacterial communities, we conducted a five-year plant functional group removal experiment in a steppe ecosystem in Inner Mongolia (China). We found that the number and composition type of plant functional groups had no effect on bacterial diversity and community composition, or on the relative abundance of major taxa. In contrast, bacterial community patterns were significantly structured by soil water content differences among plots. Our results support researches that suggest that water availability is the key factor structuring soil bacterial communities in this semi-arid ecosystem.