Differences in microbial communities from Quaternary volcanic soils at different stages of development: Evidence from Late Pleistocene and Holocene volcanoes
Introduction
The most explosive volcanic event of the Quaternary was the eruption of the Wulanhada volcanic field in Inner Mongolia, North China (Bai et al., 2008, Zhang et al., 2018, Li et al., 2020, Chen et al., 2021). After a violent Strombolian eruption, the Wulanhada volcanic field gradually formed more than 30 well-preserved Late Pleistocene epoch and Holocene epoch volcanic cones (Fan et al., 2014). Volcanic eruptions are a universal cause of ecological and geological disturbance, providing recurrent opportunities for the investigation of biological responses to the formation of novel habitats (Elser et al., 2015). The effects of volcanic eruptions have been widely investigated, for example the interrelationships between microbial communities and soil properties in young volcanic ash soils in Latin America (Joergensen and Castillo, 2001), the formation and mobility of soil organic carbon (SOC) from a volcanic ash soil in Japan (Wijesinghe et al., 2020), and the biogeochemical factors related to organic matter degradation and C storage in agricultural volcanic ash soils in Europe (Hernandez and Almendros, 2012). However, no information exists on the soil microbial communities under Quaternary volcanic activity during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in Inner Mongolia, China. Our first objective was to investigate these two epoch volcanic soils in the Wulanhada volcanic group to compare their differences in the structural diversity and function of soil microbial communities.
With an enhanced understanding of the role of microbes, growing evidence suggests that microorganisms have critical functions in processes as diverse as biogeochemical cycles and for life-critical human health issues across all global environments (Cai and Sun, 2011). As soil is an essential resource and an integral part of all terrestrial environments it is important to devise a model for the exploration of fertility, climate regulation, food production, ecosystem stability and microbial communities (Jiao et al., 2019). In recent years, microorganisms in volcanic soils have become an important research topic capable of accurately assessing the influence of volcanic disturbance on soil ecosystems (Rincon-Molina et al., 2020, Xing et al., 2020). Few prospective studies have compared the structure and function of bacterial and fungal communities in volcanic soils. In particular there is no research related to differences in the stability of these microbial communities in Quaternary volcanic soils at different stages of development. Soil bacterial and fungal communities can show distinct differences in community stability (resistance and resilience) to some environmental conditions (Liu et al., 2020, Jiao et al., 2018, Veach et al., 2019). We were prompted by these facts to verify whether such differences also exist in the environments of Quaternary volcanic soils. For this reason, our second objective was to systematically evaluate stability differences between soil fungal and bacterial communities in these locations.
Volcanic eruptions result in loss of original soil and destruction of local surface vegetation (Kim et al., 2018, Morales-Simfors et al., 2020). Volcanic soils form from volcanic lava and have been supplemented with volcanic ejecta from subsequent eruptions (Shillam et al., 2008) and the entire soil formation process is closely related to soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. After volcanic eruptions and as part of the soil formation process, soil microbiomes aid in restoring soil structure and in the creation of new soil horizons. At the beginning of the soil formation process the volcanic soil environment is colonized by primary organisms (including primarily pioneer microorganisms and plants) that subsequently support the colonization of other organisms (Rincon-Molina et al., 2020). Previous studies have shown that extreme environments can always preserve some special microbiomes, potentially playing a critical role for food production, climate regulation, soil fertility and ecosystem stability (Ramijan et al., 2018, Vavourakis et al., 2018). However, these special microbiomes have not been widely and/or deeply studied in our chosen location. In addition, soil stabilization is provided by interactions between microbial communities and vegetation as well as affecting the levels of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (Peralta et al., 2010, Schutz et al., 2017). Our third objective was to examine how Quaternary volcanic soils can regulate soil microbiomes and vegetation by affecting soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and ultimately microbial multifunctionality.
In this study, we describe novel research related to the structure and function of microbial communities from Late Pleistocene and Holocene volcanic soils in Inner Mongolia. Our results will be beneficial for evaluating these microbial communities’ differences in Quaternary volcanic soils at different stages of development.
Section snippets
Description of study area and site selection
Our study area extends for 65.9 km2 in the Wulanhada volcanic group (113°02′-113°15′E, 41°30′-41°40′N) in the central part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China (Fan et al., 2014). The study area is subject to a mid-temperate semiarid continental monsoon climate with an uneven distribution of precipitation, mainly concentrated in the summer. The annual average temperature and precipitation are 3.4 ℃ and 292 mm, respectively. The Wulanhada volcanic group is located in a region of
Soil ages and microbial community diversity
The OSL ages of soils taken from Huoshaoshan Volcano were 21.05 ± 1.75 ka BP, the OSL ages of soils taken from Zhongliandanlu Volcano were 2.23 ± 1.18 ka BP, they are Late Pleistocene epoch and Holocene epoch, respectively (Table S1). Illumina paired-end sequencing yielded a total of 5,258,886 bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences (average length 253.14 bp) and 5,304,621 fungal ITS gene sequences (average length 238.17 bp) after trimming and quality control. In this study, 22,785 (bacterial) and
Discussion
In this study, the differences in microbial communities from Quaternary volcanic soils at different stages of development were assessed by directly surveying soil microbial community structure and function, vegetative diversity and soil nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus in Late Pleistocene and Holocene volcanic soils. Volcanic eruptions are important environmental forces, providing a model for exploring soil-forming processes, including microbial colonization and initial community succession (
Conclusion
Our study concluded that the composition and potential functionality of soil microbial communities was significantly diverse between Quaternary volcanic soils at different stages of development. The older volcanic soils (Late Pleistocene volcanic soils) showed greater richness, diversity and evenness of microbial communities than the younger volcanic soils (Holocene volcanic soils); however, the younger volcanic soils had a more complex microbial community network than the older volcanic soils.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the State Key Research Development Program of China (2016YFC0501106 and 2016YFC0501108), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31760005) and the Science and Technology Major Project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China (zdzx2018065).
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