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Land-use change has a greater effect on soil diazotrophic community structure than the plant rhizosphere in acidic ferralsols in southern China

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Abstract

Aims

Free-living diazotrophs play a critical role in nitrogen (N) supply to ecosystems. Land-use change and plant rhizosphere are two important factors influencing diazotroph populations, but their relative strength in determining the soil diazotrophic community is still unclear, especially in acidic soils.

Methods

One natural vegetation (the dominant species is green foxtail) and three agricultural land-uses (maize, peanut and soybean, respectively) widely distributed in the acidic soil region of southern China were selected. Bulk and rhizosphere soils were collected from every land-use, and their properties were determined. Quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing were applied to investigate soil diazotrophic abundance, diversity and community composition.

Results

Land use conversion from natural vegetation to different agricultural land-uses significantly reduced diazotroph abundances in bulk soils, however, the rhizosphere had a positive effect on the abundances in agricultural land-uses. Statistical analysis showed that the rhizosphere exerted a stronger effect on diazotroph abundance than land-use change. Converting natural vegetation to agricultural land-uses also decreased diazotroph richness and land-use types differed significantly in community composition, but plant rhizosphere did not cause these effects. In particular, the community variations in leguminous plants were more distinct than maize. Land-use change also influenced some topological properties of the community network.

Conclusions

In acidic soil, land-use change has noticeable effects on the richness and composition of diazotrophic community than the rhizosphere. The rhizosphere, however, has a more obvious effect in increasing the abundance of the diazotrophs. These results highlight the critical role of land-use change in manipulating soil diazotrophic community composition.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key Plan for Research and Development of China (2018YFC0407604, 2018YFC1803100), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91747104, 51779077), and the Frontal Field Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSASIP1638).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Chao Wang, Man Man Zheng & Ren Fang Shen

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Chao Wang, Man Man Zheng & Ren Fang Shen

  3. Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Juan Chen

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  1. Chao Wang
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Correspondence to Ren Fang Shen.

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Wang, C., Zheng, M.M., Chen, J. et al. Land-use change has a greater effect on soil diazotrophic community structure than the plant rhizosphere in acidic ferralsols in southern China. Plant Soil 462, 445–458 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-021-04883-3

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