Effect of Afforestation on Soil Fungal Community Structure is Greater than Spatial Distance

Dec 29, 2021

By Zhang Nannan

Afforestation is an important strategy to enhance terrestrial carbon sink. It alters regional landscapes and affects microbial processes in soil ecosystems. In particular, soil fungi, which play an important role in carbon and nitrogen cycling, could be greatly affected. However, at a watershed scale, the changes of soil fungal communities under afforestation could not only be influenced by host plant and soil environment, but also by spatial distance. How to distinguish the sources of the influences is particularly important.

Researchers from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) conducted a study by investigating the impacts of afforestation on the diversity and structure of soil fungal communities in Nanliu River Basin.

They analyzed the effects of afforestation in paddy field and upland field on soil fungal diversity and community structure in eucalyptus plantation, paddy field and upland field in Nanliu River Basin, and explored the main sources of soil fungal community change by considering spatial distance factors in upper, middle and lower reaches of the Basin.

According to the researchers, the two afforestation methods had little effect on soil fungal diversity while could significantly change the structures of soil fungal communities in the Basin.

With the transition from paddy fields and dry land to eucalyptus forests, the dominant group of soil fungi changed from Ascomycota to Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Fusarium, Westerdykella, Zopfiella and Scleroderma were the most sensitive fungal general affected by forestation.

Additionally, paddy field afforestation caused more changes in fungal community structure than dryland afforestation due to agricultural planting pattern and soil moisture environment.

Spatially, the significant change of soil fungal community structure in the upper reaches was mainly reflected in the transformation from dry land to eucalyptus forest, while presented in the middle reaches was from paddy field.

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Video: Residue Management

Residue Management conservation practice manages the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year-round while limiting soil-disturbing activities used to grow and harvest crops in systems where the field surface is tilled prior to planting. This video explores how Ryan McKenzie implemented this conservation practice on his farm in Samson, Alabama.

Practice benefits:

• Increases organic matter

• Improves air quality

• Decreases energy costs

• Reduces erosion

• Improves soil health

The Conservation at Work video series was created to increase producer awareness of common conservation practices and was filmed at various locations throughout the country. Because conservation plans are specific to the unique resource needs on each farm and also soil type, weather conditions, etc., these videos were designed to serve as a general guide to the benefits of soil and water conservation and landowners should contact their local USDA office for individual consultation.