Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2018, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (1): 126-132.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2017.0111

Special Issue: 青藏高原植物生态学:植物-土壤-微生物

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of the spreading of Ligularia virgaurea on soil physicochemical property and microbial functional diversity

SHI Guo-Xi1,2,WANG Wen-Ying1,JIANG Sheng-Jing3,CHENG Gang3,YAO Bu-Qing2,FENG Hu-Yuan3,*(),ZHOU Hua-Kun2,*()   

  1. 1 College of Life Science and Geography, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, China

    2 Key Laboratory of Restoration Ecology of Cold Area in Qinghai Province, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008

    3 Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
  • Online:2018-01-20 Published:2018-01-18
  • Contact: Hu-Yuan FENG,Hua-Kun ZHOU
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Natural Foundation of China(31500427);Supported by the National Natural Foundation of China(31572354);Supported by the National Natural Foundation of China(31472135);the Province Natural Foundation of Qinghai(2016-ZJ-957Q);the Province Natural Foundation of Qinghai(2016-ZJ-910);the Qinghai Innovation Platform Construction Project(2017-ZJ-Y20);the National Key Research and Development Project of China(2016YFC0501901)

Abstract:

Aims Ligularia virgaurea is an indicator species of alpine meadow degradation. Recently, the vast spreading of L. virgaurea has brought the serious economic loss of grassland ecosystem, but it remains unclear whether soil microbes involve in the spreading of L. virgaurea.

Methods We chose four patches with different density of L. virgaurea to measure the influence of spreading of L. virgaurea on the functional diversity of soil microbial community in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.

Important findings The spreading of L. virgaurea increased soil microbial activity, but reduced soil available nitrogen concentration. The Shannon index, utilization number of carbon resource and evenness index of soil microbial community displayed no significant differences among patches, but the utilization structure of carbon resource in high density patch was significantly different from control patch. Our findings indicate that the limitation of soil nitrogen caused by the changing functional diversity of soil microbial community in the distributed sites is one of the mechanisms for the vast spreading of L. virgaurea in alpine meadow ecosystem.

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Key words: Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, Ligularia virgaurea, population spreading, soil microbial community, functional diversity