Forest conversion induces seasonal variation in microbial β-diversity

Area of Science:

• Ecology
• Soil Science
• Microbiology

Background:

• Land-use change profoundly impacts soil microbial communities globally.
• Mechanisms driving soil microbial beta-diversity shifts due to land-use change are poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of native broad-leaved forest conversion to coniferous plantation on soil microbial beta-diversity.
• To elucidate the underlying mechanisms influencing these changes across seasons in subtropical China.

Main Methods:

• Examined soil microbial beta-diversity (bacterial and fungal) in native and converted forests.
• Utilized spatial distance and community similarity analyses.
• Applied null model deviations to assess stochastic and deterministic processes.

Main Results:

• Microbial community structure divergence increased with geographical distance, varying by forest cover and season.
• Coniferous plantations showed lower null deviations, indicating increased stochasticity.
• Seasonal variations in deterministic processes were observed for bacterial and fungal communities.

Conclusions:

• Forest conversion to plantations significantly increases stochastic processes in soil bacterial and fungal communities.
• Spatiotemporal scales are critical for evaluating land-use change impacts on microbial beta-diversity.
• A conceptual model linking microbial succession to stochastic/deterministic shifts was proposed.