Changes in Plant Rhizosphere Microbial Communities under Different Vegetation Restoration Patterns in Karst and Non-karst Ecosystems

Understanding how patterns of recovery and geological conditions affect microbial communities is important for determining the stability of karst ecosystems. Here, we investigated the diversity and composition of microorganisms in karst and non-karst environments under natural restoration and artificial rehabilitation conditions. The results showed no significant differences in soil microbial diversity, but the microbial communities associated with geological conditions and tree species differed significantly. Variation partitioning analysis (VPA) showed that a total of 77.3% of the variation in bacteria and a total of 69.3% of the variation in fungi could be explained by vegetation type and geological background. There were significant differences in six bacterial classes (Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Ktedonobacteria, TK10, Gammaproteobacteria, and Anaerolineae) and nine fungal classes (Eurotiomycetes, Agaricomycetes, unclassified _p_Ascomycota, Sordariomycetes, Tremellomycetes, norank_k_Fungi, Pezizomycetes, Leotiomycetes and Archaeorhizomycetes) among the soils collected from six plots. A Spearman correlation heatmap showed that the microbial community was affected by the major soil properties. Principal coordinates analysis indicated that the microbial community of Pinus yunnanensis in the artificial forest, which was established for the protection of the environment was most similar to that in the natural secondary forest in the karst ecosystem. These findings further our understanding of microbial responses to vegetation restoration and geological conditions.