Gao Boya, Xiao Dan, Yang Kaixun, Sun Mingming, Luo Shantong, Zhang Wei, Wang Kelin
College of Environment and Ecology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China.
Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, China.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Jul 23;16:1634424. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1634424. eCollection 2025.
Vegetation disturbance intensity serves as a critical determinant of changes in soil nutrients and microbial communities. Karst ecosystems are highly fragile, and vegetation degradation has contributed to severe desertification in these regions. However, the specific effects of vegetation disturbance intensity on soil nutrient availability, microbial diversity, and community composition remain poorly understood in karst areas. To address this knowledge gap, this study investigates how varying levels of vegetation disturbance influence soil properties, as well as the diversity, composition, and interactions of bacterial, fungal, and protist communities in a karst ecosystem. The study included four vegetation disturbance intensities: natural vegetation restoration (control) and slight, moderate, and extreme disturbance.
The findings reveal that higher disturbance intensity significantly alters soil nutrient levels, which in turn affects microbial diversity, abundance, community composition, and interspecies interactions. Specifically, increasing vegetation disturbance intensity led to significant declines in soil available nutrients, including nitrate nitrogen (NO₃), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK). Both slight and moderate disturbances reduced bacterial richness and Shannon diversity, whereas extreme disturbance decreased fungal Shannon diversity compared to the control. Bacterial abundance under moderate and extreme disturbances was significantly lower than that in the control, whereas fungal abundance was significantly higher under extreme disturbance. Although vegetation disturbance reduced soil available nutrients, co-occurrence network analysis revealed greater network complexity under moderate and extreme disturbances, with bacterial-bacterial interactions predominating, alongside enhanced bacterial-fungal and bacterial-protistan interactions. Actinobacteria, Ascomycota, and Chlorophyta emerged as keystone taxa. Pearson correlation analysis identified NO , pH, and soil moisture as primary drivers of microbial abundance and diversity, indicating that higher disturbance intensities reduce bacterial abundance and fungal diversity by limiting soil nutrient availability and moisture. Additionally, community compositions of bacteria, fungi, and protists were significantly correlated with AP and AK.
These findings suggest that short-term vegetation recovery following prolonged moderate and extreme disturbances promotes microbial adaptation to nutrient- and moisture-limited conditions through increased microbial interactions, compensating for losses in abundance and diversity. This study provides valuable insights for ecosystem management and soil restoration in degraded karst landscapes.
植被干扰强度是土壤养分和微生物群落变化的关键决定因素。喀斯特生态系统高度脆弱，植被退化导致这些地区严重荒漠化。然而，在喀斯特地区，植被干扰强度对土壤养分有效性、微生物多样性及群落组成的具体影响仍知之甚少。为填补这一知识空白，本研究调查了不同程度的植被干扰如何影响喀斯特生态系统中的土壤性质，以及细菌、真菌和原生生物群落的多样性、组成和相互作用。该研究包括四种植被干扰强度：自然植被恢复（对照）以及轻度、中度和重度干扰。
研究结果表明，较高的干扰强度会显著改变土壤养分水平，进而影响微生物多样性、丰度、群落组成和种间相互作用。具体而言，植被干扰强度增加导致土壤有效养分显著下降，包括硝态氮（NO₃）、有效磷（AP）和速效钾（AK）。轻度和中度干扰均降低了细菌丰富度和香农多样性，而重度干扰与对照相比降低了真菌香农多样性。中度和重度干扰下的细菌丰度显著低于对照，而重度干扰下的真菌丰度显著更高。尽管植被干扰降低了土壤有效养分，但共现网络分析表明，中度和重度干扰下网络复杂性更高，以细菌-细菌相互作用为主，同时细菌-真菌和细菌-原生生物相互作用增强。放线菌门、子囊菌门和绿藻门成为关键类群。皮尔逊相关分析确定NO₃、pH值和土壤湿度是微生物丰度和多样性的主要驱动因素，表明较高的干扰强度通过限制土壤养分有效性和湿度来降低细菌丰度和真菌多样性。此外，细菌、真菌和原生生物的群落组成与有效磷和速效钾显著相关。
这些发现表明，长期中度和重度干扰后的短期植被恢复通过增加微生物相互作用促进微生物适应养分和水分受限条件，弥补丰度和多样性的损失。本研究为退化喀斯特景观的生态系统管理和土壤恢复提供了有价值的见解。
