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Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China

Vegetation succession can change the function and quality of the soil. Exploring the changes in soil properties during secondary forest restoration is of great significance to promote forest restoration and improve the ecological service function of subtropical ecosystems in South China. In this stu...

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Autores principales: Zhao, Xinyu, Liu, Peiling, Feng, Yingjie, Zhang, Weiqiang, Njoroge, Brian, Long, Fengling, Zhou, Qing, Qu, Chao, Gan, Xianhua, Liu, Xiaodong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9204105/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35720552
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.878908
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author Zhao, Xinyu
Liu, Peiling
Feng, Yingjie
Zhang, Weiqiang
Njoroge, Brian
Long, Fengling
Zhou, Qing
Qu, Chao
Gan, Xianhua
Liu, Xiaodong
author_facet Zhao, Xinyu
Liu, Peiling
Feng, Yingjie
Zhang, Weiqiang
Njoroge, Brian
Long, Fengling
Zhou, Qing
Qu, Chao
Gan, Xianhua
Liu, Xiaodong
author_sort Zhao, Xinyu
collection PubMed
description Vegetation succession can change the function and quality of the soil. Exploring the changes in soil properties during secondary forest restoration is of great significance to promote forest restoration and improve the ecological service function of subtropical ecosystems in South China. In this study, we chose three typical forests in subtropical China as restoration sequences, broadleaf–conifer mixed forest (EF), broad-leaved forest (MF), and old-growth forest (LF), to study the changes in soil physico-chemical and biological properties and the changes of soil comprehensive quality during the secondary succession of subtropical forest. The results showed that the soil physical structure was optimized with the progress of forest succession. The soil bulk density decreased gradually with the progress of forest restoration, which was significantly affected by soil organic carbon (p < 0.01). In LF, the soil moisture increased significantly (p < 0.05), and its value can reach 47.85 ± 1.93%, which is consistent with the change of soil porosity. With the recovery process, soil nutrients gradually accumulated. Except for total phosphorus (TP), there was obvious surface enrichment of soil nutrients. Soil organic carbon (15.43 ± 2.28 g/kg), total nitrogen (1.08 ± 0.12 g/kg), and total phosphorus (0.43 ± 0.03 g/kg) in LF were significantly higher than those in EF (p < 0.05). The soil available nutrients, that is, soil available phosphorus and available potassium decreased significantly in LF (p < 0.05). In LF, more canopy interception weakened the P limitation caused by atmospheric acid deposition, so that the soil C:P (37.68 ± 4.76) and N:P (2.49 ± 0.24) in LF were significantly lower than those in EF (p < 0.05). Affected by TP and moisture, microbial biomass C and microbial biomass N increased significantly in LF, and the mean values were 830.34 ± 30.34 mg/kg and 46.60 ± 2.27 mg/kg, respectively. Further analysis showed that total soil porosity (TSP) and TP (weighted value of 0.61) contributed the most to the final soil quality index (SQI). With the forest restoration, the SQI gradually increased, especially in LF the value of SQI was up to 0.84, which was significantly higher than that in EF and MF (p < 0.05). This result is of great significance to understanding the process of restoration of subtropical forests and improving the management scheme of subtropical secondary forests.
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spelling pubmed-92041052022-06-18 Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China Zhao, Xinyu Liu, Peiling Feng, Yingjie Zhang, Weiqiang Njoroge, Brian Long, Fengling Zhou, Qing Qu, Chao Gan, Xianhua Liu, Xiaodong Front Plant Sci Plant Science Vegetation succession can change the function and quality of the soil. Exploring the changes in soil properties during secondary forest restoration is of great significance to promote forest restoration and improve the ecological service function of subtropical ecosystems in South China. In this study, we chose three typical forests in subtropical China as restoration sequences, broadleaf–conifer mixed forest (EF), broad-leaved forest (MF), and old-growth forest (LF), to study the changes in soil physico-chemical and biological properties and the changes of soil comprehensive quality during the secondary succession of subtropical forest. The results showed that the soil physical structure was optimized with the progress of forest succession. The soil bulk density decreased gradually with the progress of forest restoration, which was significantly affected by soil organic carbon (p < 0.01). In LF, the soil moisture increased significantly (p < 0.05), and its value can reach 47.85 ± 1.93%, which is consistent with the change of soil porosity. With the recovery process, soil nutrients gradually accumulated. Except for total phosphorus (TP), there was obvious surface enrichment of soil nutrients. Soil organic carbon (15.43 ± 2.28 g/kg), total nitrogen (1.08 ± 0.12 g/kg), and total phosphorus (0.43 ± 0.03 g/kg) in LF were significantly higher than those in EF (p < 0.05). The soil available nutrients, that is, soil available phosphorus and available potassium decreased significantly in LF (p < 0.05). In LF, more canopy interception weakened the P limitation caused by atmospheric acid deposition, so that the soil C:P (37.68 ± 4.76) and N:P (2.49 ± 0.24) in LF were significantly lower than those in EF (p < 0.05). Affected by TP and moisture, microbial biomass C and microbial biomass N increased significantly in LF, and the mean values were 830.34 ± 30.34 mg/kg and 46.60 ± 2.27 mg/kg, respectively. Further analysis showed that total soil porosity (TSP) and TP (weighted value of 0.61) contributed the most to the final soil quality index (SQI). With the forest restoration, the SQI gradually increased, especially in LF the value of SQI was up to 0.84, which was significantly higher than that in EF and MF (p < 0.05). This result is of great significance to understanding the process of restoration of subtropical forests and improving the management scheme of subtropical secondary forests. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-06-03 /pmc/articles/PMC9204105/ /pubmed/35720552 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.878908 Text en Copyright © 2022 Zhao, Liu, Feng, Zhang, Njoroge, Long, Zhou, Qu, Gan and Liu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Zhao, Xinyu
Liu, Peiling
Feng, Yingjie
Zhang, Weiqiang
Njoroge, Brian
Long, Fengling
Zhou, Qing
Qu, Chao
Gan, Xianhua
Liu, Xiaodong
Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China
title Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China
title_full Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China
title_fullStr Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China
title_full_unstemmed Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China
title_short Changes in Soil Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Properties During Natural Succession: A Case Study in Lower Subtropical China
title_sort changes in soil physico-chemical and microbiological properties during natural succession: a case study in lower subtropical china
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9204105/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35720552
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.878908
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