Biodiv Sci ›› 2012, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (1): 59-65.  DOI: 10.3724/SP.J.1003.2012.07160

Special Issue: 土壤生物与土壤健康

• Original Papers • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of plant functional groups and plant species on soil microbial composition in a Inner Mongolian grassland

Ying Chen1,2, Xiaoxiao Li3, Jiaoyan Ying2,*(), Cunzhu Liang1, Yongfei Bai2   

  1. 1 College of Life Science, Inner Mongolia University, Sino-US Center for Conservation, Energy and Sustainability Science in Inner Mongolia, Hohhot 010021
    2 State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093
    3 Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085
  • Received:2011-09-13 Accepted:2012-01-12 Online:2012-01-20 Published:2012-02-14
  • Contact: Jiaoyan Ying

Abstract:

In order to study the effect of plant community composition on soil microbial communities in a typical Inner Mongolian grassland, the abundance and community structure of bacteria and fungi in bulk soils under different plant functional groups and in soils from the rhizosphere of different grass species were analyzed using real-time PCR and automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) under plant functional group removal treatments. Our results indicated that changes in plant functional group affect bacterial abundance, but not fungal abundance or bacterial/fungal community structure in bulk soil. The abundance of bacteria and fungi in the rhizosphere soil varied with plant species. Cluster analysis revealed that community structure of bacteria and fungi also varied among plant species in the rhizosphere soil but not in the bulk soil. which was more evident for bacteria. Our results point to the ways in which plant species can influence soil microbial and fungal communities through the action of their roots.

Key words: plant diversity, rhizosphere microorganisms, real-time PCR, ARISA