Impacts of land-use changes on the variability of microbiomes in soil profiles.
BACKGROUND
The conversion of arable land to grassland and/or forested land is a common strategy of restoration because the development of plant communities can inhibit the erosion of soil, increase biodiversity and improve associated ecosystem services. The vertical profiles of microbial communities, however, have not been well characterized and their variability after land conversion is not well understood. We assessed the effects of the conversion of arable land (AL) to grassland (GL) and forested land (FL) on bacterial communities as old as 29 years in 0-200-cm profiles of a Chinese Mollisol.


RESULTS
The soil in AL has been a stable ecosystem and changes in the assembly of soil microbiomes tended to be larger in the topsoil. The soil properties and microbial biodiversity of arable land were larger following revegetation and reforestation. The conversion caused a more complex coupling among microbes, and negative interactions and average connectivity were stronger in the 0-20-cm layers in GL and in the 20-60-cm layers in FL. The land use dramatically influenced the assembly of the microbial communities more in GL than AL and FL. The bacterial diversity was an important component of soil multinutrient cycling in the profiles and microbial functions were not as affected by changes in land use.


CONCLUSION
The spatial variation of the microbiomes provided critical information on below-ground soil ecology and the ability of the soil to provide crucial ecosystem services. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.
['Chen|Xu|X|', 'Zhang|Zhiming|Z|', 'Han|Xiaozeng|X|', 'Hao|Xiangxiang|X|', 'Lu|Xinchun|X|', 'Yan|Jun|J|', 'Biswas|Asim|A|', 'Dunfield|Kari|K|', 'Zou|Wenxiu|W|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4703-8287']
D001419:Bacteria D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources D017753:Ecosystem D065928:Forests D065948:Grassland D064307:Microbiota D012987:Soil D012988:Soil Microbiology
land-use changes soil profile soil microbiome microbial biodiversity spatial variations