Forest gaps alter the soil bacterial community of weeping cypress plantations by modulating the understory plant diversity

作者：Qian Lyu, Yan Luo, Size Liu, Yan Zhang, Xiangjun Li, Xiangjun Li, Guirong Hou, Gang Chen, Kuangji Zhao, Chuan Fan, Xianwei Li, Xianwei Li · 发表于：Frontiers in Plant Science · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.3389/fpls.2022.920905 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management、Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Weeping cypress is an endemic tree species that is widely planted in China, and the simple stand structure and fragile ecosystem of its plantation are common issues. Exploring the effect of different gap sizes on the soil bacterial community structure of weeping cypress plantations can provide a theoretical basis for the near-natural management of forest plantations. We, therefore, constructed three kinds of forest gaps with different sizes in weeping cypress plantations, namely, small (50–100 m 2 ), medium (100–200 m 2 ), and large gaps (400–667 m 2 ), for identifying the key factors that affect soil bacterial communities following the construction of forest gaps. The results suggested that the herb layer was more sensitive than the shrub layer, while the Simpson, Shannon, and richness indices of the herb layer in plots with gaps were significantly higher than those of designated sampling plots without any gaps (CK). The presence of large gaps significantly increased the understory plant diversity and the Shannon and Simpson indices of the soil bacterial alpha diversity. There were obvious changes in the community composition of soil bacteria following the construction of forest gaps. The dominant bacterial phyla, orders, and functions were similar across the plots with different gap sizes. Of the indicator bacterial species, the abundance of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, Lysobacter_ yangpyeongensis , and Ensifer_meliloti , was significantly different across plots with diffe...