Soybean is considered as one of the most important food for both humans and animals; unfortunately, it faces soil-borne diseases caused by bacteria or fungi, leading to severe yield losses. Hybridization has helped the soybean to obtain beneficial genes from wild species that can resist some adverse conditions. However, the influences of hybridization on the rhizosphere microbiomes of wild and cultivated

Precipitation events may rapidly alter soil moisture, and potentially result in a large quantity of soil CO2 release in a short term. However, the effect of pulse precipitation on soil CO2 release among different grassland types on the Tibetan Plateau remains unclear. Here, we investigated soil CO2 release following pulse precipitation in the meadows, grasslands, and deserts of the Tibetan Plateau

Cultivated grassland can serve as one solution to the degradation of natural grassland. However, less is understood of the response of the microbial communities in cultivated grassland soils to global change factors such as nitrogen (N) deposition and precipitation change, and their linkages with the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC). In this study, field experimental plots that simulate different

Root exudates are a labile source of carbon (C) for microorganisms that can lead to increased CO2 emission. Root exudates can vary in C:N stoichiometric ratio and their impact on microbially driven soil organic matter (SOM) turnover in paddy soils still remains unclear. The objective was to explore the underlying mechanisms involved in SOM decomposition due to root exudate (artificial) addition with

Comparative phylogeography is a powerful methodological approach to understand the particular evolutionary phenomena that occur in islands. This method has been rarely applied to insular earthworm communities. These soil animals show a striking dichotomy in their phylogeographic patterns: deeply divergent, regionally structured linages and widely distributed, genetically homogeneous lineages. An intensive

Shrub vegetation and plant species can enhance the abundance and richness of ground-active arthropods. Yet surprisingly little is known about how the distribution and diversity of ground-active arthropods are influenced by plant species used for shrub revegetation in desert ecosystems. In this study, ground-active arthropods were collected using the pitfall trapping method in Caragana korshinskii (CP)

One of the main cucumber (Cucumis sativus) diseases in China is Fusarium wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (FOC). The aims of this study were to evaluate the suppressive capacity of different spent mushroom substrate (SMS) amendments against Fusarium wilt and to analyse their effects on soil microbiological properties. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with four

In the second half of the twentieth century, many red wood ant populations were transferred from the Alps to the Apennines as biological control agents. Since the introduction involved the relocation of entire nest mounds, it is presumable that the associated fauna was also relocated. While the introduction of these ants has raised several concerns about their ecological impact, there has been no attempt

The aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) producing mould, Aspergillus flavus, is spread to more northern regions with global warming. AFB1 can cause genotoxicity, oxidative stress, immunosuppression, and necrosis in the liver, kidney, and muscles in vertebrates, but the effect on invertebrates is not well known. Folsomia candida (Collembola) is a cosmopolitan species and could be easily bred in the laboratory because

Purpose The objective of this study was (a) to investigate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and drought stress on Thymus daenensis Celak and Thymus vulgaris L., and (b) to examine the ability of AMF to improve drought stress tolerance in Thymus species. Methods The experiment was conducted as a factorial pattern in a randomized complete design with three replications in 2017. Factors

The biology of soil is critical to its health; the available carbon and nitrogen from plant litter and mineral fertilizers in the soil determines the structure of microbial communities and thus the functioning of soil. We used amino sugars (ASs) and phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) as microbial biomarkers to assist in identifying the effect of practices of agricultural management on the microbial community

Plant root-derived labile carbon (C) delivered to soils can regulate the dynamics and turnover of soil organic matter (SOM); however, it remains largely unclear how inputs of individual labile components (e.g., glucose) affect the formation of physicochemical-protected SOM. In a firmly controlled rhizosphere system, we added a glucose solution through artificial roots to soils collected from two subalpine

Soil microbial community compositions and soil labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions change rapidly in response to fertilizers and crop rotation, but our understanding of the associations between specific microbial taxa and C fractions is still limited. The objective of this study was to compare the composition and function of soil bacterial and fungal communities in response to fertilization and crop

Cover crops are an essential element of sustainable agriculture and can affect earthworm populations. In a field trial, we investigated the effects of four cover crop treatments: radish (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus B.; at high and low seed density), black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb.) and Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanese M.) on earthworms under two irrigation regimes. The two parallel field trials

Solonetz soils are typically characterized with excessive saline-alkali content, and physiochemical methods are often employed for solonetz reclamation. However, increasing lines of evidences have suggested that microbiomes play a pivotal role in sustaining soil fertility than previously appreciated, and it remains poorly understood about the taxonomic identity of microbiomes in solonetz soils and

Unique soil properties in rhizosphere can affect plant growth and biogeochemical cycles of ecosystems. While rhizosphere has been widely investigated, little is known about differences in the rhizosphere effect (RE) between co-existing overstory trees and understory shrubs and herbs in forest ecosystems. In this study, we investigated REs on soil chemical properties of overstory trees and understory

Soil biological properties are essential for sustainable agriculture development. A five-year field experiment was conducted to understand the effects of mineral fertilizers combined with straw returning on bacterial community composition and enzyme activities in paddy soil. Treatments included three fertilizer rates of unfertilized (F0), half and full of conventional mineral fertilization (F1: 138

Fungi are critical for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics in forest soils, but much less is known about their activity in grassland soils. Here we examined how fungal activity affected C and N cycling in a grassland soil with and without litter and N addition. Soil from a semi-natural grassland was amended with and without a fungicide (cycloheximide) to manipulate fungal activity, with and without

Despite the ecological function of earthworms being of undeniable importance, little is known about their population genetic diversity, dispersal, and gene flow patterns. Here, we applied 769,957 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) gathered by restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) to unearth the genetic variability of populations of the earthworm Amynthas_YN2017 sp. collected from

Treating soil with a combination of nitrogen (N) and biochar (BC) has often been suggested as an approach to enhancing soil quality. In the present study, we therefore conducted a two -year randomized two-factorial field experiment in order to explore optimal N fertilizer management strategies in the context of BC application to calcareous soil, with a focus on both microbial activities and soil nutrient

Burning is the most common practice for rice straw disposal. Due to associated negative environmental and climatic effects, development of viable alternatives, preferably based on the natural functions of soil biota are needed. In the conditions of non-tropical rice-growing systems, where periods of flooding are very short, such an approach seems to be particularly promising. We carried out a mesocosm

Regular flooding during rice cultivation adversely affects soil animals in agroecosystems and may disrupt ecological functions that they deliver. Alternation of upland crops and flooded rice potentially has a positive effect on soil fauna. However, this aspect has not yet been studied outside the tropics. We focused on the influence of interannual crop rotation accompanied by long periods of paddy

The effects of cover crops and fertilization on the soil properties of apple orchards have been studied widely, but our knowledge of the variations in the soil enzyme activity and stoichiometry remains limited, particularly the tree-scale spatial responses. In this study, field experiments were conducted in two main plots comprising cover crop (CC) and no cover crop (NC) treatments with four sub-plots

Fertilization is a necessary practice for paddy fields to achieve high crop yields, and this practice could have an important impact on soil nitrogen cycle. Anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) is an important process in the nitrogen cycle of paddy ecosystems. However, until now, the influence of nitrogen fertilization on anammox, is not well understood. Here, the vertical distribution of the activity

The intensification of agriculture to meet the ever-increasing demand for food has exerted a negative impact on the ecosystem. Conservation agriculture has been highlighted as a comprehensive approach to sustainability. The present study aimed to assess the performance of conservation agriculture (CA) on plant growth, and its impact on bacterial community composition, specifically guilds involved in

Extracellular enzyme activities (EEA) in soils play a pivotal role in ecosystem processes, such as organic carbon (C) decomposition or nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) mineralization. Thus, EEA measurements can provide insights into the rates of ecosystem-level processes in peatlands, which will experience more frequent extreme droughts in the future. In the present study, the activities of seven hydrolases

Community composition and activity of soil microbes are responsive to changes in physiochemical and biological attributes during forest succession. However, whether soil microbial community structure and activity in soil particle-size fractions under different restoration approaches (regeneration through secondary succession and afforestation) during a chronosequence ranging from 20 to 70 years following

The soil fauna of tropical rainforests is difficult to study because of its extreme species richness and taxonomic impediment. Studies of multi-taxon assemblages in the soil of tropical rainforests are relatively rare and studies of interspecific interactions, such as predation, even rarer. Here we attempt to infer prey predator interactions and enemy-free space from the faunal composition of 100 litter/soil

Understanding the effects of forest structure, the frequency and size of canopy gaps is pivotal for precisely modelling forest soil carbon budgets. We aimed to determine the differences in soil respiration between closed canopy areas and canopy gaps with various sizes and how soil respiration is affected by biotic and abiotic factors, e.g., soil nutrients, soil microbial biomass and community composition

Ecosystem functioning is affected positively by increased biodiversity, through complementary functions of multiple species or because high-functioning species are more likely in a species-rich community. Genetic diversity is one level of biodiversity that has been shown to positively affect ecosystem functioning. Whether the genetic diversity of a key decomposer species affects decomposition processes

Aporrectodea rosea (Savigny, 1826) is a cosmopolitan earthworm widespread throughout the Holarctic. The available data on A. rosea genetic diversity (mainly from the Mediterranean region) suggests that this species can be divided into the Mediterranean and the Eurosiberian lineages. In this study we tested molecular variation within this species from the Northeastern Palearctic, namely from Russia

The soil microbial community regulates decomposition of plant litter, but little is known about how the composition of the community responds to litter quality. To evaluate this, we applied 13C-labelled oat [Avena sativa] leaf or stem litter to soil at a rate of 5 mg C g−1 soil and incubated it at 20 °C for 170 days. We measured total C mineralized and litter-derived C remaining in soil over the incubation

Gravel and straw mulching are the most effective and widely used surface coverage practices used to mitigate drought stress and soil erosion in Loess Plateau of northwestern China. Unlike for straw mulching, however, benefits of gravel mulching fluctuate on a long-term scale, possibly leading to soil degradation. Here we investigated variation in soil physicochemical properties and the bacterial and

The details of how vegetation rehabilitation affects soil enzyme activities via changes of soil nutrients are unclear. To investigate how soil carbon and available nitrogen affect soil enzyme activities during the process of vegetation restoration, a factorial experiment was conducted with vegetation cover and nitrogen addition on degraded lands, and then a carbon addition experiment was performed

Climate change is predicted to alter precipitation patterns, which may have profound consequences on soil microbial communities and functions in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. However, it is uncertain if the direction and magnitude of soil microbial function and community responses to repeated drying and rewetting (DRW) events differ in diverse arid and semi-arid ecosystems. We collected surface soils

Bacterial communities are major participant in the alpine biogeochemical phosphorus (P) cycle. However, shifts in the main bacteria towards phosphorus recycling systems (BPRS) over elevation gradients and their driving factors are poorly understood. In this work, BPRS were associated with bacterial sequences according to Illumina sequencing and a published dataset of BPRS orders. BPRS communities over

Ecosystem degradation is one of the most pressing environmental problems in the world. Re-vegetation is the major method in land restoration, playing an important role in improving soil quality and biodiversity. Bacteria constitute a vital part of terrestrial ecosystems; however, the relationship between bacteria and restoration of degraded land is not well understood. In this study, we investigated

Diatoms constitute a major part of microbial biomass and species richness in soil habitats. However, in spite of a growing interest on soil diatoms, variations in soil diatom communities across different types of soil are poorly known. We hypothesize that diatom communities are different in distinct soil types and can serve as a potential bioindicator for soil environmental assessment. Thirty-four

In order to understand the dynamic changes of in the rhizosphere microbiome during potato cultivation, we studied the rhizosphere microbial diversity and soil physical-chemical properties during the growth of potato plants in soil that had been under continuous cultivation for five years. The V3–V4 region from chromosomal prokaryotic 16S rRNA and the fungal ITS1-ITS2 region were sequenced by Illumina

Human-induced nitrogen (N) enrichment contributes to plant nutrient status, which potentially alters the stoichiometry of carbon (C), N, and phosphorus (P) in plants and soil. However, the response of ecological stoichiometry in a moss crust-soil continuum to N enrichment in a N-limited desert ecosystem has not been comprehensively explored. Here, we conducted a four-level N addition experiment [0

Wood harvesting is restricted to a system of permanent skid trails in order to minimize the soil disturbance and damage. Therefore, it is not the compaction of previously undisturbed forest soil, but the re-compaction of already existing skid trails that is of practical relevance when investigating machinery-induced wood harvest effects on soil properties. This study investigated the effects of machinery-induced

Bacterial communities in cultivated soils contribute to soil organic matter dynamics and nutrient cycling. Despite numerous reports on the influence of cropping practices on soil microbial community structure, the knowledge of bacterial response to pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr) cropping systems is very limited. Here, rhizosphere and inter-row soil bacterial community composition in continuous

Changes in rainfall patterns can affect the soil nitrogen (N) cycles. Most studies have focused on the effect of the amount of rainfall, but the effect of the frequency of rainfall has rarely been considered. In this study, we conducted a field experiment in the Zoigê alpine wetland that examined two levels of the amount of rainfall, i.e. 100% or 70% of the natural amounts of rainfall. In addition

Grazing exclusion (GE) is an efficient management practice that prevents grassland degradation. The temperature sensitivity (Q10) of soil net nitrogen (N) mineralization (Nmin) is an important parameter of N cycles, and it directly influences the feedback between the primary productivity of grassland ecosystems and climate warming. However, information remains limited about how GE affects the Q10 of

A considerable part of soil phosphorus is bound to metal cations or metal oxides, and cannot be used in these forms by soil microbes and plants. Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) are abundant in pectin-rich rhizosphere, and their pectin-degrading activity has been reported. Therefore, we hypothesized that pectin activates PSB and promotes soil phosphorus solubilization. To test this hypothesis

Mycorrhizal fungi have a strong impact on soil biota. In this study, bacterial and archaeal populations in different parts of Suillus bovinus - Pinus sylvestris mycorrhizospheres in boreal forest were quantified and identified by DNA analysis. The numbers of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene copies were highest in uncolonized humus and lowest in fruiting bodies. The numbers of bacterial 16S rRNA

The mobilization of soil nutrients bound in organic matter is largely mediated by enzymes derived from plants, soil microorganisms and animal residues. Land-use change alters important soil characteristics that may affect the activities of soil enzymes. However, mechanistic understanding of how land use and management practices influence the catalytic properties of enzymes in top- and subsoil are still

In New Caledonia, one third of the main island is covered by ultramafic soils characterized by high levels of metals and low levels of plant nutrients. In these soils, metal tolerant bacteria may play a role in plant adaptation to the edaphic constraints. Recently, two new bacteria species belonging to the genus Burkholderia sensu lato were isolated from rhizospheric roots of pioneer plant growing

Agriculture soil is one of major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A wise use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer is important for mitigating GHG emissions. To evaluate the potential of different fertilizers treatments to mitigate total GHG emissions, a field experiment was conducted to investigate nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) emissions and nitrate (NO3−) leaching from a typical

Nitrous oxide (N2O), a powerful greenhouse gas, is produced and consumed through denitrifying bacteria. However, the abundance, diversity and succession of denitrifying bacteria and their association with farming systems are largely unknown. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were: (1) to unravel the influence of long-term organic farming on diversity of nirK-, nirS- and nosZ-type denitrifying

Fusarium wilt disease of banana crops is of great economic concern because banana is the fifth most important consumed agricultural product in global trade. Crop rotation management is often used to suppress soil-borne diseases. However, little is known about the mechanisms that govern soil disease depression. A 2-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of chilli pepper-banana rotation

Soil microorganisms inhabit pores of various shapes and sizes. No-tillage practices cause less disturbance and compaction of the soil profile than mouldboard ploughing, which could provide more habitat for soil microorganisms. The objective of this study was to determine how long-term no-tillage affected pore volume, microbial biomass and their relationship. Soil samples were collected from field plots

Both soil pH and substrate quality exert a critical influence on the decomposition of organic substrates and the production of microbial biomass. However, it is elusive the interactive effects of soil pH and substrate quality on the microbial assembly, and subsequently the dynamics of organic substrates. We applied two substrates (maize flour and maize straw) with different substrate qualities to soils

Forest monocultures are generally considered to alter the microbial community, reduce soil fertility, and presumably reduce forest productivity compared to mixed species in plantations or mixed species in natural stands. As the mechanisms of alteration of soils by monocultures have not been elucidated very well, we compared indicators of stand productivity and soils in three forest types all growing