Jiang Cong, Feng Jie, Zhu Su-Feng, Shui Wei
College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
College of Environment and Resources, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China.
Biology (Basel). 2021 May 27;10(6):474. doi: 10.3390/biology10060474.
The underground forests developed on inverted stone slopes in degraded karst tiankengs are important areas for biodiversity conservation, but the microbial community profiles have not been sufficiently characterized. Thus, we investigated the soil microbial communities at four sites (at the bottom of the slope (BS), in the middle of the slope (MS), in the upper part of the slope (US) and outside the tiankeng (OT)) in the Shenxiantang tiankeng. The dominant phyla in the inverted stone slope were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria, and the relative abundance were different in different slope positions. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index of the microbial community was significantly greater for the US site than for the MS or BS sites. The metabolism functional pathways (including C/N cycle) were more abundant at the BS site. Total nitrogen and pH were the dominant factors in determining the distribution of the microbial community along an inverted stone slope. These results suggest that topographic heterogeneity can influence the variations in the soil microbial structure, diversity, and function in degraded karst tiankengs and emphasized the ecological value of inverted stone slopes within karst tiankengs.
发育于退化喀斯特天坑中倒石坡上的地下森林是生物多样性保护的重要区域，但微生物群落特征尚未得到充分描述。因此，我们对神仙塘天坑四个位点（坡底（BS）、坡中（MS）、坡上（US）和天坑外（OT））的土壤微生物群落进行了调查。倒石坡中的优势菌门为变形菌门、放线菌门和酸杆菌门，不同坡位的相对丰度有所不同。微生物群落的香农 - 维纳多样性指数在US位点显著高于MS或BS位点。BS位点的代谢功能途径（包括碳/氮循环）更为丰富。总氮和pH是决定微生物群落在倒石坡上分布的主要因素。这些结果表明，地形异质性会影响退化喀斯特天坑中土壤微生物结构、多样性和功能的变化，并强调了喀斯特天坑内倒石坡的生态价值。
