Research progress of the maintaining mechanisms of soil microbial diversity in Inner Mongolia grasslands under global change

doi:10.17520/biods.2019344

Abstract

Abstract:

The effects of global climate change are a worldwide concern. Inner Mongolian grasslands which are sensitive to global climate change are not only the important foundation of livestock and forage products, but also have irreplaceable ecosystem functions. Soil microorganisms comprise a large proportion of Earth’s biodiversity and play vital roles in various ecosystem process including carbon and nitrogen cycles. Due to technological limitation and complicated community structure, soil microbial ecology research is currently at the descriptive stage and its theoretical research is still inadequate. Hence it is crucial to use molecular technologies, in particular the next-generation sequencing technology, to study the maintaining mechanism of soil microorganisms systematically in the Inner Mongolia grassland of China. Here we first review recent studies that compared the relative effects of different climate change factors on soil microbial community in Inner Mongolia grasslands. We then analyze the physiochemical and ecological mechanisms for the effects of different environmental changes on soil microorganisms. Finally, we highlight open questions for future research on soil microbial diversity under global change in Inner Mongolia grasslands. We recommend that future researches focus on (1) effects of multiple global change factors on soil microbial diversity; (2) ecological mechanisms that maintain soil microbial diversity; (3) relationships between aboveground and belowground biodiversity; and (4) integration research of multiple ecosystems globally.

Key words: soil microorganism, microbial diversity, global change, Inner Mongolia grassland, diversity maintaining mechanism

Tingting Li, Ximei Zhang. Research progress of the maintaining mechanisms of soil microbial diversity in Inner Mongolia grasslands under global change[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2020, 28(6): 749-758.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2019344

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2020/V28/I6/749

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References 95

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