Robinson Samuel J B, Elias Dafydd M O, Goodall Tim, McNamara Niall P, Griffiths Robert, Majalap Noreen, Sau Wai Yap, Ostle Nicholas J
UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Aug 22;16:1570294. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1570294. eCollection 2025.
Tropical rainforests support critical biogeochemical cycles regulated by complex plant-soil microbial interactions but are threatened by global change. Much of the uniquely biodiverse and carbon rich forest on Borneo has been lost through extensive conversion to monoculture plantation, and a significant proportion of the remaining forest has been heavily modified by selective logging. Ecological restoration of tropical forest aims to return forests to a near pristine state, but restoration initiatives are hindered by limited understanding of the underpinning plant-soil feedbacks, and impacts on soil microbial communities are unresolved. We characterized soil properties and soil bacterial and fungal communities using amplicon sequencing across adjacent old-growth and selectively logged lowland dipterocarp forest in Borneo undergoing either natural regeneration or restoration by enrichment planting. While many soil properties were similar across forest types, we found contrasting responses of different soil microbial groups to active and passive restoration. Bacterial and fungal community composition were generally distinct in old-growth forest and more similar in logged forest. Bacterial alpha diversity and rate of spatial turnover appeared to recover toward old-growth forest with active restoration, while fungal alpha diversity showed slower signs of recovery. The composition and rate of spatial turnover in mycorrhizal communities was most different between old-growth and actively restored forest, possibly resulting from mycorrhizal associations of tree species planted during restoration. Surprisingly, old-growth forest shared fewer microbial taxa with actively restored forest than with naturally regenerating forest, suggesting current restoration practices (removal of lianas and understorey vegetation) may be selecting for different microbial communities. Taken together, our findings show that certain attributes of key soil microbial groups remain distinct from old-growth forest almost two decades after logging disturbance, and some may diverge with active restoration. Changes in enrichment planting practices to promote rehabilitation of belowground communities may be required for successful biodiversity conservation and recovery of vital ecosystem functions.
热带雨林维持着由复杂的植物 - 土壤微生物相互作用所调节的关键生物地球化学循环，但却受到全球变化的威胁。婆罗洲许多具有独特生物多样性和丰富碳储量的森林因大规模转变为单一栽培种植园而消失，剩余森林的很大一部分也因选择性采伐而受到严重改变。热带森林的生态恢复旨在使森林恢复到接近原始的状态，但由于对基础植物 - 土壤反馈的了解有限，恢复计划受到阻碍，而且对土壤微生物群落的影响尚未得到解决。我们通过扩增子测序对婆罗洲相邻的原始森林和经过选择性采伐的低地龙脑香林（这些森林正在通过富集种植进行自然更新或恢复）的土壤性质、土壤细菌和真菌群落进行了表征。虽然不同森林类型的许多土壤性质相似，但我们发现不同土壤微生物组对主动和被动恢复有不同的反应。原始森林中的细菌和真菌群落组成通常不同，而在采伐后的森林中则更为相似。主动恢复时，细菌的α多样性和空间周转率似乎朝着原始森林恢复，而真菌的α多样性恢复迹象较慢。菌根群落的组成和空间周转率在原始森林和主动恢复的森林之间差异最大，这可能是由于恢复过程中种植的树种的菌根关联所致。令人惊讶的是，与自然更新的森林相比，原始森林与主动恢复的森林共享的微生物分类单元更少，这表明当前的恢复做法（去除藤本植物和林下植被）可能会选择不同的微生物群落。综上所述，我们的研究结果表明，在采伐干扰近二十年后，关键土壤微生物组的某些属性仍然与原始森林不同，而且一些属性可能会因主动恢复而发生分歧。为了成功实现生物多样性保护和恢复重要的生态系统功能，可能需要改变富集种植做法以促进地下群落的恢复。
