Soil archaeal community responses to different grazing intensities in the alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
- 1 College of Grassland Resources, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041,China
2 College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065,China
Received date: 2024-07-29
Accepted date: 2024-09-12
Online published: 2024-12-09
Supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China(32271628);Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province(2023NSFSC0201);Fundamental Research Funds for Southwest Minzu University(CX2023007)
Abstract
Aims: Archaea play a crucial role in global carbon and nitrogen cycling due to their unique genetic and metabolic characteristics. However, livestock activities, such as grazing, excretion, and trampling significantly affect soil archaeal communities. The mechanisms underlying the effects of grazing on archaeal community structure and diversity in alpine grasslands remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated how different grazing intensities in alpine meadows influence the structure and diversity of soil archaeal community.
Methods: This study was conducted over a two-year period in the alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau to understand the effects of yak grazing under different intensities on archaeal communities. Four grazing intensities were studied: Control (no grazing), light grazing (1 yak per ha), moderate grazing (2 yaks per ha), and heavy grazing (3 yaks per ha). Each grazing intensity had three technical replicates.
Results: Our results indicated that there were no significant differences in α-diversity with soil archaeal communities among various grazing intensities. However, light grazing increased the diversity and richness of soil archaeal communities. With increased grazing intensity, the relative abundances of Crenarchaeota initially decreased and then increased. Interestingly, Euryarchaeota and Parvarchaeota showed the highest relative abundances under light grazing and the lowest in the control group. Additionally, grazing reduced soil bulk density and increased soil moisture content compared to the control. However, heavy grazing decreased total soil phosphorus, but increased total available phosphorus. We also observed significant negative correlations (P< 0.05) between Crenarchaeota with total phosphorus and potassium. Euryarchaeota also showed significant positive correlations (P< 0.05) with total phosphorus and negative correlations with total potassium. While Parvarchaeota showed significant positive correlations (P< 0.05) with total phosphorus.
Conclusion: In this study, we found that light animal livestock grazing increased the richness and diversity of soil archaeal communities. Likewise, different compositions of soil archaeal communities were greatly influenced by soil carbon and nitrogen, which suggests that grazing alters soil nutrient dynamics and thereby affects archaeal community structure. Together, these findings provide a foundation to accurately assess the ecological impacts of grazing on alpine grassland ecosystems.
Cite this article
Wei Yi , Yi Ai , Meng Wu , Liming Tian , Tserang Donko Mipam . Soil archaeal community responses to different grazing intensities in the alpine meadows of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau[J]. Biodiversity Science, 2025 , 33(1) : 24339 . DOI: 10.17520/biods.2024339
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