Influence of land use on bacterial and archaeal diversity and community structures in three natural ecosystems and one agricultural soil

Understanding and exploring the diversity of soil microorganisms in tea (Camellia sinensis) gardens: toward sustainable tea production

Leaves of Camellia sinensis plants are used to produce tea, one of the most consumed beverages worldwide, containing a wide variety of bioactive compounds that help to promote human health. Tea cultivation is economically important, and its sustainable production can have significant consequences in providing agricultural opportunities and lowering extreme poverty. Soil parameters are well known to affect the quality of the resultant leaves and consequently, the understanding of the diversity and functions of soil microorganisms in tea gardens will provide insight to harnessing soil microbial communities to improve tea yield and quality. Current analyses indicate that tea garden soils possess a rich composition of diverse microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) of which the bacterial Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes and Chloroflexi and fungal Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Glomeromycota are the prominent groups. When optimized, these microbes' function in keeping garden soil ecosystems balanced by acting on nutrient cycling processes, biofertilizers, biocontrol of pests and pathogens, and bioremediation of persistent organic chemicals. Here, we summarize research on the activities of (tea garden) soil microorganisms as biofertilizers, biological control agents and as bioremediators to improve soil health and consequently, tea yield and quality, focusing mainly on bacterial and fungal members. Recent advances in molecular techniques that characterize the diverse microorganisms in tea gardens are examined. In terms of viruses there is a paucity of information regarding any beneficial functions of soil viruses in tea gardens, although in some instances insect pathogenic viruses have been used to control tea pests. The potential of soil microorganisms is reported here, as well as recent techniques used to study microbial diversity and their genetic manipulation, aimed at improving the yield and quality of tea plants for sustainable production.

The Diversity and Composition of Soil Microbial Communities Differ in Three Land Use Types of the Sanjiang Plain, Northeastern China

In recent years, the Sanjiang Plain has experienced drastic human activities, which have dramatically changed its ecological environment. Soil microorganisms can sensitively respond to changes in soil quality as well as ecosystem function. In this study, we investigated the changes in soil microbial community diversity and composition of three typical land use types (forest, wetland and cropland) in the Sanjiang Plain using phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) technology, and 114 different PLFA compounds were identified. The results showed that the soil physicochemical properties changed significantly (p < 0.05) among the different land use types; the microbial diversity and abundance in cropland soil were lower than those of the other two land use types. Soil pH, soil water content, total organic carbon and available nitrogen were the main soil physico-chemical properties driving the composition of the soil microbial community. Our results indicate that the soil microbial community response to the three different habitats is complex, and provide ideas for the mechanism by which land use changes in the Sanjiang Plain affect the structure of soil microbial communities, as well as a theoretical basis for the future management and sustainable use of the Sanjiang plain, in the northeast of China.

Land-use change alters the bacterial community structure, but not forest management

Deforestation has a large impact on soil fertility, especially on steep slopes, but by applying sustainable management practices, local communities in Oaxaca (Mexico) have tried to avoid the most negative effects on the forest ecosystems they manage. In this study, the characteristics and bacterial community structure were investigated from soil sampled in triplicate (n = 3) with different land use, i.e., arable, natural forest, sustainable managed, and reforested soil. The pH was significantly higher in the arable (6.2) than in the forest soils (≤ 5.3), while the organic matter was > 2 times higher in the natural forest (80.4 g/kg) and sustainable managed soil (86.3 g/kg) than in the arable (36.8 g/kg) and cleared and reforested soil (39.3 g/kg). The higher organic matter content in the first two soils was due to leaf litter, absent in the other soils. The species richness (q = 0), the typical (q = 1) and dominant bacteria (q = 2) were not affected significantly by land use. The beta diversity, however, showed a significant effect of land use on species richness (p = 0.0029). Proteobacteria (40.135%) and Actinobacteria (20.15%) were the dominant bacterial phyla, and Halomonas (14.50%) and the Verrucomicrobia DA101 (3.39%) were the dominant genera. The bacterial communities were highly significantly different in soil with different land use considering the taxonomic level of genus and OTUs (p ≤ 0.003). It was found that the sustainable managed forest provided the local community with sellable wood while maintaining the soil organic matter content, i.e., sequestered C and without altering the bacterial community structure.

Effects of Different Land Use Types and Soil Depth on Soil Nutrients and Soil Bacterial Communities in a Karst Area, Southwest China

To reveal the effect of the interactions between soil depth and different land use types on soil nutrients and soil bacterial communities in a karst area, fifty soil samples from five different karst land use types in Huajiang town, Guizhou province, Southwest China were collected, and the soil bacteria were analyzed using high-throughput absolute quantification sequencing. Our results showed that land use types (LUT) and soil depth (SD) significantly influenced the content of soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), nitrate nitrogen (NN), ammonium nitrogen (AN) and available soil phosphorus (AP), and pH; further, the interaction of LUT and SD also significantly influenced SOC, NN, NA, AP, and pH. In addition, LUT clearly impacted the Chao1 and Shannon indexes, but, SD and LUT * SD markedly affect Chao1 and Shannon index, respectively. All the soil bacterial communities were significantly different in the five different five land use types according to PERMANOVA. Importantly, Acidobacteria and Proteobacteria were the predominant phyla at soil depths of 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm among all the LUTs. At 0–20 cm, TN, AN, and SOC exerted a strong positive influence on Acidobacteria, but NN exerted a strong negative influence on Acidobacteria; at 20–40 cm soil, TN and AN exerted a strong positive influence on Acidobacteria; TP exerted no marked influence on any of the phyla at these two soil depths. At 0–20 cm of soil depth, we also found that Chao1 index changes were closely related to the TN, SOC, AN, and NN; similarly, Shannon index changes were significantly correlated to the AN, TN, and SOC; the PCoA was clearly related to the TN, SOC, and AN. Interestingly, at soil depth of 20–40 cm, Chao 1 was markedly related to the TN and pH; Shannon was markedly correlated with the SOC, TP, AN, and AP; and the PCoA was significantly correlated with the TN and pH. Our findings imply that soil nutrients and soil bacteria communities are strongly influenced by land use types and soil depth in karst areas.

Wild legumes maintain beneficial soil rhizobia populations despite decades of nitrogen deposition

Natural landscapes are increasingly impacted by nitrogen enrichment from aquatic and airborne pollution sources. Nitrogen enrichment in the environment can eliminate the net benefits that plants gain from nitrogen-fixing microbes such as rhizobia, potentially altering host-mediated selection on nitrogen fixation. However, we know little about the long-term effects of nitrogen enrichment on this critical microbial service. Here, we sampled populations of the legume Acmispon strigosus and its associated soil microbial communities from sites spanning an anthropogenic nitrogen deposition gradient. We measured the net growth benefits plants obtained from their local soil microbial communities and quantified plant investment into nodules that house nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. We found that plant growth benefits from sympatric soil microbes did not vary in response to local soil nitrogen levels, and instead varied mainly among plant lines. Soil nitrogen levels positively predicted the number of nodules formed on sympatric plant hosts, although this was likely due to plant genotypic variation in nodule formation, rather than variation among soil microbial communities. The capacity of all the tested soil microbial communities to improve plant growth is consistent with plant populations imposing strong selection on rhizobial nitrogen fixation despite elevated soil nitrogen levels, suggesting that host control traits in A. strigosus are stable under long-term nutrient enrichment.

Diversity of bacterium communities in saline-alkali soil in arid regions of Northwest China

BACKGROUND

The saline-alkali soil area accounts for over 1/4-1/5 of the land area in Gansu Province of China, which are mainly distributed in the north of Hexi corridor and Jingtai basin. The unique ecological environment contains unique and diverse microbial resources. The investigation of microbial diversity in saline environment is vital to comprehend the biological mechanisms of saline adaption, develop and utilize microbial resources.

RESULTS

The Illumina MiSeq sequencing method was practiced to investigate the bacterial diversity and composition in the 5 subtypes and 13 genera of saline-alkali soil in Gansu Province, China. The results from this study show that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Gemmatimonadetes were the dominant bacterial groups in 13 saline soil. Proteobacteria had the greatest abundance in sulfate-type meadow solonchaks and orthic solonchaks, chloride-type orthic solonchaks and bog solonchaks, sulfate-chloride-type, chloride-sulfate-type, and sulfate-type dry solonchaks. Halobacteria was the dominant bacterial class in soil samples except for sulfate-type meadow solonchaks and orthic solonchaks, chloride-type orthic solonchaks and bog solonchaks. The richness estimators of Ace and Chao 1 and the diversity indices of Shannon and Simpson revealed the least diversity in bacterial community in sulfate-chloride-type orthic solonchaks.

CONCLUSIONS

The sulfate anion was the most important driving force for bacterial composition (17.7%), and the second most influencing factor was pH value (11.7%).

Exploring tea (Camellia sinensis) microbiome: Insights into the functional characteristics and their impact on tea growth promotion

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is perhaps the most popular and economic beverage in the globe due to its distinctive fragrance and flavour generated by the leaves of commercially farmed tea plants. The tea microbiome has now become a prominent topic of attention for microbiologists in recent years as it can help the plant for soil nutrient acquisition as well as stress management. Tea roots are well known to be colonized by Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) and many other beneficial microorganisms that boost the growth of the tea which increases leaf amino acids, protein, caffeine, and polyphenols content. One of the primary goals of rhizosphere microbial biology is to aid in the establishment of agricultural systems that provide high quantities of the food supply while minimizing environmental effects and anthropogenic activities. The present review is aimed to highlight the importance of microbes (along with their phylogeny) derived from cultivated and natural tea rhizospheres to understand the role of AMF and rhizospheric bacterial population to improve plant growth, enhancement of tea quality, and protecting tea plants from pathogens. This review also summarizes recent advances in our understanding of the diversity and profile of tea-associated bacteria. The utilization of the tea microbiome as a "natural resource" could provide holistic development in tea cultivation to ensure sustainability, highlighting knowledge gaps and future microbiome research.

Agricultural management practices influence the soil enzyme activity and bacterial community structure in tea plantations

BACKGROUND

The soil quality and health of the tea plantations are dependent on agriculture management practices, and long-term chemical fertilizer use is implicated in soil decline. Hence, several sustainable practices are used to improve and maintain the soil quality. Here, in this study, changes in soil properties, enzymatic activity, and dysbiosis in bacterial community composition were compared using three agricultural management practices, namely conventional (CA), sustainable (SA), and transformational agriculture (TA) in the tea plantation during 2016 and 2017 period. Soil samples at two-months intervals were collected and analyzed.

RESULTS

The results of the enzyme activities revealed that acid phosphatase, arylsulfatase, β-glucosidase, and urease activities differed considerably among the soils representing the three management practices. Combining the redundancy and multiple regression analysis, the change in the arylsulfatase activity was explained by soil pH as a significant predictor in the SA soils. The soil bacterial community was predominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes in the soil throughout the sampling period. Higher Alpha diversity scores indicated increased bacterial abundance and diversity in the SA soils. A significant relationship between bacterial richness indices (SOBS, Chao and ACE) and soil pH, K and, P was observed in the SA soils. The diversity indices namely Shannon and Simpson also showed variations, suggesting the shift in the diversity of less abundant and more common species. Furthermore, the agricultural management practices, soil pH fluctuation, and the extractable elements had a greater influence on bacterial structure than that of temporal change.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the cross-over analysis of the bacterial composition, enzymatic activity, and soil properties, the relationship between bacterial composition and biologically-driven ecological processes can be identified as indicators of sustainability for the tea plantation.

Priming Effects of Cover Cropping on Bacterial Community in a Tea Plantation

The acidic nature of red soil commonly found in tea plantations provides unique niches for bacterial growth. These bacteria as well as soil properties are dynamic and vary with agricultural management practices. However, less is known about the influence of manipulation such as cover cropping on bacterial communities in tea plantations. In this study a field trial was conducted to address the short-term effects of soybean intercropping on a bacterial community. Diversity, metabolic potential and structure of the bacterial community were determined through community level physiological profiling and amplicon sequencing approaches. Cover cropping was observed to increase soil EC, available P, K, and microelements Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn after three months of cultivation. Bacterial functional diversity and metabolic potential toward six carbon source categories also increased in response to cover cropping. Distinct bacterial communities among treatments were revealed, and the most effective biomarkers, such as Acidobacteriaceae, Burkholderiaceae, Rhodanobacteraceae, and Sphingomonadaceae, were identified in cover cropping. Members belonging to these families are considered as organic matter decomposers and/or plant growth promoting bacteria. We provided the first evidence that cover cropping boosted both copiotrophs (Proteobacteria) and oligotrophs (Acidobacteria), with potentially increased functional stability, facilitated nutrient cycling, and prospective benefits to plants in the tea plantation.

Effect of land use on soil properties, microbial abundance and diversity of four different crop lands in central Myanmar

Changing land use systems impact on local edaphic factors and microbial abundance and diversity, however, the information on it in central Myanmar's soils is still lacking. Therefore, soils with four different land uses were analyzed; WAP (soil from perennial tree orchard), PNON (soil from crop rotation of peanut and onion), SESA (soil from mono-crop of sesame) and CHON (soil from mono-crop of onion for 3 years consecutively). Soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ammonium nitrogen (NH₄ ⁺-N) and pH showed the highest in PNON soil, which suggested crop rotation with high fertilizer input and irrigation had positive effect on the edaphic factors of soil. CHON soil showed the lowest in most soil properties and microbial abundance as a result of intensive use of fertilizer and irrigation, no crop rotation and no input of manures. Microbial community composition showed differences among tested soils and relative abundance of Chloroflexi was the highest in CHON soil whereas that of Basidiomycota was the highest in WAP soil. The abundances of bacteria and fungi were significantly affected by Olsen P, whereas the abundances of archaea were influenced by SOC. Our results suggested crop rotation and manure fertilization (PNON soil) enhanced soil properties and microbial abundance although long-time onion mono-crop (CHON soil) reduced soil fertility. This study can provide information to improve soil quality and sustainability of agro-ecosystems using appropriate agricultural management.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-02705-y.

Soil bacterial communities remain altered after 30 years of agriculture abandonment in Pampa grasslands

Old fields are spreading in the world because of agriculture abandonment, and they show a persistence of exotic plant species with little recovery towards the original vegetation composition. Soil biota may also differ between old fields and native grasslands, but were comparatively less studied than plant communities, despite their importance in biogeochemical processes. Here we compared soil bacterial communities of exotic-dominated old fields with those of remnants of native grasslands in the Inland Pampa, Argentina, using the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing approach. We also characterized plant communities, soil physico-chemical properties, and soil respiration. We expected more diverse soil bacterial communities, with higher heterogeneity, in remnant grasslands than in old fields because of a more diverse and more heterogeneous plant community. However, our results showed that soil bacterial communities had higher Shannon diversity in old fields than in remnant grasslands, but richness was not significantly different. Also we found different bacterial community compositions between grasslands even at a low taxonomic level. On the other hand, old fields harbored less heterogeneous bacterial communities than remnants, and bacteria and plant beta diversity were correlated. Despite contrasting plant and bacterial composition between old fields and remnant grasslands, soil physico-chemical properties were quite similar between grasslands. Overall, our results showed that bacterial communities in grassland soils were associated with changes in plant communities after agricultural abandonment. Plant-microbial feedbacks might regulate plant and soil bacterial community assemblage in old fields, yet further research is needed to demonstrate this potential feedback mechanism.

Variation of soil nutrients and bacterial community diversity of different land utilization types in Yangtze River Basin, Chongqing Municipality

The diversity and community distribution of soil bacteria in different land use types in Yangtze River Basin, Chongqing Municipality were studied by using Illumina MiSeq analysis methods. Soil physical and chemical properties were determined, and correlation analyses were performed to identify the key factors affecting bacterial numbers and α-diversity in these soils. The results showed that the soil physical and chemical properties of different land use types decrease in the order: mixed forest (M2) > pure forest (P1) > grassland (G3) > bare land (B4). There were significant differences in bacterial diversity and communities of different land use types. The diversity of different land use types showed the same sequence with the soil physical and chemical properties. The abundance and diversity of bacterial in M2 and P1 soils was significantly higher than that in G3 and B4 soils. At phylum level, G3 and B4 soils were rich in only Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria, whereas M2 and P1 soils were rich in Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. At genus level, Faecalibacterium and Agathobacter were the most abundant populations in M2 soil and were not found in other soils. Pearson correlation analysis showed that soil moisture content, pH, AN, AP, AK and soil enzyme activity were significantly related to bacterial numbers, diversity and community distribution.

Land use change effects on diversity of soil bacterial, Acidobacterial and fungal communities in wetlands of the Sanjiang Plain, northeastern China

The bacterial, acidobacterial, and fungal communities in wetlands can undergo perturbations by various human activities, such as disturbances caused by cultivation and during the process of system restoration. In this study, we investigated the relationships between the composition of the soil bacterial, acidobacterial, and fungal communities and the transformation of wetlands by human activities in the Sanjiang Plain. Soil microbial communities were assessed in wetland soils collected from pristine marsh, neighboring cropland (wetland turned into arable land), and land that had been reforested with Larix gmelinii. The alpha-diversities of bacteria, Acidobacteria, and fungi were affected by land-use change and were highest in the arable land and lowest in the wetland soils. The soil microbial community structures were also altered with changing land-use. Canonical correlation analyses showed that beta-diversity was significantly affected by soil pH, available phosphorus, soil nitrogen, and total organic carbon. Overall, our results showed that the agricultural cultivation of wetlands changes the available soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus pools, thereby influencing the bacterial, acidobacterial, and fungal diversity and community structure. Once the soil microbial community has been altered by human activity, it might be difficult to restore it to its original state. These findings highlight the importance of effectively maintaining the diversity of soil bacterial, Acidobacterial, and fungal communities despite land use change in order to sustain a microbial community diversity and ecosystem function.

Distinct Successions of Common and Rare Bacteria in Soil Under Humic Acid Amendment - A Microcosm Study

Humic acid (HA) is widely used for soil quality improvement, yet little is known how bacterial communities, especially common and rare bacteria, respond to HA amendment, which is crucial to understand biodiversity and function in agroecosystem. Therefore, a manipulated microcosm experiment with a gradient of HA amendment was conducted to unveil this. The results showed that common and rare taxa had similar patterns in species richness, while rare taxa exhibited a higher turnover, which caused their higher structural dissimilarity. Common species with wider niche breadths were more strongly influenced by deterministic filtering when compared to rare taxa, which occupied narrow niches and were primarily controlled by stochastic processes. Generally, species with wider niche breadths were always more strongly influenced by deterministic selection. The analysis of predicted functions revealed that rare taxa occupied more unique predicted functional traits than common taxa, suggesting that rare taxa played a key role in maintaining the functional diversity. In addition, there was a significant positive correlation between species richness and predicted functional diversity in rare taxa rather than common taxa. Our findings highlight the distinct structural and predicted functional successions of common and rare bacteria in soil under HA amendment.

Soil multifunctionality is affected by the soil environment and by microbial community composition and diversity

Microorganisms are critical in mediating carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling processes in soils. Yet, it has long been debated whether the processes underlying biogeochemical cycles are affected by the composition and diversity of the soil microbial community or not. The composition and diversity of soil microbial communities can be influenced by various environmental factors, which in turn are known to impact biogeochemical processes. The objectives of this study were to test effects of multiple edaphic drivers individually and represented as the multivariate soil environment interacting with microbial community composition and diversity, and concomitantly on multiple soil functions (i.e. soil enzyme activities, soil C and N processes). We employed high-throughput sequencing (Illumina MiSeq) to analyze bacterial/archaeal and fungal community composition by targeting the 16S rRNA gene and the ITS1 region of soils collected from three land uses (cropland, grassland and forest) deriving from two bedrock forms (silicate and limestone). Based on this data set we explored single and combined effects of edaphic variables on soil microbial community structure and diversity, as well as on soil enzyme activities and several soil C and N processes. We found that both bacterial/archaeal and fungal communities were shaped by the same edaphic factors, with most single edaphic variables and the combined soil environment representation exerting stronger effects on bacterial/archaeal communities than on fungal communities, as demonstrated by (partial) Mantel tests. We also found similar edaphic controls on the bacterial/archaeal/fungal richness and diversity. Soil C processes were only directly affected by the soil environment but not affected by microbial community composition. In contrast, soil N processes were significantly related to bacterial/archaeal community composition and bacterial/archaeal/fungal richness/diversity but not directly affected by the soil environment. This indicates direct control of the soil environment on soil C processes and indirect control of the soil environment on soil N processes by structuring the microbial communities. The study further highlights the importance of edaphic drivers and microbial communities (i.e. composition and diversity) on important soil C and N processes.

Sustainability of Urban Soil Management: Analysis of Soil Physicochemical Properties and Bacterial Community Structure under Different Green Space Types

Soil bacterial communities play a key role in nutrient cycling and ecosystem functioning. This study aims to reveal how green space type impacts soil quality and the bacterial community, which finally contributes to suggesting strategies for managing sustainable environments in urban areas. For this purpose, urban green space soils in this study are divided into four different types; park green space (PARK), street green space (STREET), attached green space (ATTACH) and residential green space (RESID). Results showed that significant differences were observed for soil physicochemical properties. Soil organic matter, total nitrogen, soil moisture content and available nitrogen in the ATTACH and PARK soils were significantly higher than in the STREET and RESID soils. Across the four green space types, the structure of bacterial communities was dominated by Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi at the phylum level. The diversity and richness of bacteria were significantly higher in the PARK and ATTACH soils than in the RESID and STREET soils. Results of principal component analysis (PCoA) showed that soil bacterial communities could be clustered into four different groups according to different green space types. In addition, analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) also implied that soil samples differed significantly from others. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and Spearman correlation analysis both showed that the contents of soil organic matter, total nitrogen, soil moisture and pH had great influence on the structures of bacterial communities. In summary, these results suggest that soil physicochemical properties and bacterial communities can be strongly affected by green space types, and thus, objective assessment of a particular measure can be provided to land managers and policy makers for informed decision-making in urban development and sustainability.

Spatial Distribution Patterns of Root-Associated Bacterial Communities Mediated by Root Exudates in Different Aged Ratooning Tea Monoculture Systems

Positive plant-soil feedback depends on beneficial interactions between roots and microbes for nutrient acquisition; growth promotion; and disease suppression. Recent pyrosequencing approaches have provided insight into the rhizosphere bacterial communities in various cropping systems. However; there is a scarcity of information about the influence of root exudates on the composition of root-associated bacterial communities in ratooning tea monocropping systems of different ages. In Southeastern China; tea cropping systems provide the unique natural experimental environment to compare the distribution of bacterial communities in different rhizo-compartments. High performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) was performed to identify and quantify the allelochemicals in root exudates. A high-throughput sequence was used to determine the structural dynamics of the root-associated bacterial communities. Although soil physiochemical properties showed no significant differences in nutrients; long-term tea cultivation resulted in the accumulation of catechin-containing compounds in the rhizosphere and a lowering of pH. Moreover; distinct distribution patterns of bacterial taxa were observed in all three rhizo-compartments of two-year and 30-year monoculture tea; mediated strongly by soil pH and catechin-containing compounds. These results will help to explore the reasons why soil quality and fertility are disturbed in continuous ratooning tea monocropping systems; and to clarify the associated problems.