Abundance and Diversity of CO2-Assimilating Bacteria and Algae Within Red Agricultural Soils Are Modulated by Changing Management Practice

• Published in: Microbial ecology Vol. 70; no. 4; pp. 971 - 980
• Main Authors: Yuan, Hongzhao, Ge, Tida, Chen, Xiangbi, Liu, Shoulong, Zhu, Zhenke, Wu, Xiaohong, Wei, Wenxue, Whiteley, Andrew Steven, Wu, Jinshui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.11.2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abundance; acid soils; Acidic soils; Acrisols; Agricultural ecosystems; Agricultural land; agricultural soils; Agriculture - methods; agroecosystems; Algae; Assimilation; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - enzymology; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - metabolism; Biodiversity; Biological assimilation; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Calvin cycle; Carbon Cycle; Carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide - metabolism; Carbon dioxide fixation; carbon dioxide production; Carbon fixation; Carbon sinks; Cereal crops; China; Community composition; community structure; corn; crops; DNA, Algal - genetics; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Ecology; Ecosystem; edaphic factors; forests; genes; Genetic Variation; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Land management; Land use; Land use planning; Life Sciences; Management; Management systems; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Microorganisms; Nature Conservation; Nitrogen - analysis; nitrogen content; Nucleotide sequence; Organic carbon; Organic soils; Oryza - microbiology; Oryza sativa; paddies; Phosphorus; Phosphorus - analysis; Phylogeny; Phytoplankton - classification; Phytoplankton - enzymology; Phytoplankton - genetics; Phytoplankton - metabolism; plantations; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; quantitative polymerase chain reaction; Restriction fragment length polymorphism; Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate; ribulose-bisphosphate carboxylase; Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase - genetics; Ribulose-Bisphosphate Carboxylase - metabolism; rice; Rice fields; Soil; Soil - chemistry; Soil analysis; Soil management; SOIL MICROBIOLOGY; soil organic carbon; Soils; tea; Total nitrogen; Water Quality/Water Pollution; China; assimilating bacteria; Red acidic soil; Land management; CO; gene; Algae; CO2-assimilating bacteria; cbbL gene
• ISSN: 0095-3628; 1432-184X; 1432-184X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00248-015-0621-8

Elucidating the biodiversity of CO₂-assimilating bacterial and algal communities in soils is important for obtaining a mechanistic view of terrestrial carbon sinks operating at global scales. “Red” acidic soils (Orthic Acrisols) cover large geographic areas and are subject to a range of management practices, which may alter the balance between carbon dioxide production and assimilation through changes in microbial CO₂-assimilating populations. Here, we determined the abundance and diversity of CO₂-assimilating bacteria and algae in acidic soils using quantitative PCR and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of the cbbL gene, which encodes the key CO₂ assimilation enzyme (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) in the Calvin cycle. Within the framework of a long-term experiment (Taoyuan Agro-ecosystem, subtropical China), paddy rice fields were converted in 1995 to four alternative land management regimes: natural forest (NF), paddy rice (PR), maize crops (CL), and tea plantations (TP). In 2012 (17 years after land use transformation), we collected and analyzed the soils from fields under the original and converted land management regimes. Our results indicated that fields under the PR soil management system harbored the greatest abundance of cbbL copies (4.33 × 10⁸ copies g⁻¹ soil). More than a decade after converting PR soils to natural, rotation, and perennial management systems, a decline in both the diversity and abundance of cbbL-harboring bacteria and algae was recorded. The lowest abundance of bacteria (0.98 × 10⁸ copies g⁻¹ soil) and algae (0.23 × 10⁶ copies g⁻¹ soil) was observed for TP soils. When converting PR soil management to alternative management systems (i.e., NF, CL, and TP), soil edaphic factors (soil organic carbon and total nitrogen content) were the major determinants of bacterial autotrophic cbbL gene diversity. In contrast, soil phosphorus concentration was the major regulator of algal cbbL community composition. Our results provide new insights into the diversity, abundance, and modulation of organisms responsible for microbial autotrophic CO₂ fixation in red acidic soils subjected to changing management regimes.