Effects of Epixylic Vegetation Removal on the Dynamics of the Microbial Community Composition in Decaying Logs in an Alp
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Effects of Epixylic Vegetation Removal on the Dynamics of the Microbial Community Composition in Decaying Logs in an Alpine Forest Chenhui Chang,1,3 Fuzhong Wu,1,2 Zhuang Wang,1 Bo Tan,1,2 Rui Cao,1 Wanqin Yang,1,4* and Johannes H. C. Cornelissen3 1 Long-term Research Station of Alpine Forest Ecosystems, Institute of Ecology & Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Huimin Road 211, Wenjiang District, Chengdu 611130, People’s Republic of China; 2Collaborative Innovation Center of Ecological Security in Upper Reaches of Yangtze River, Chengdu 611130, People’s Republic of China; 3Systems Ecology, Department of Ecological Science, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 4School of Life Science, Taizhou University, Shifu Road 1139, Taizhou 318000, People’s Republic of China
ABSTRACT Epixylic vegetation may be important in dead wood decay by altering the microenvironment and, thereby, microbial communities in logs. However, the interaction between epixylic vegetation and dead wood microbial communities remains poorly known. Therefore, repeated experimental epixylic (bryophyte-dominated) vegetation removal (ERM) from logs of the fir Abies faxoniana across a wide range of decay classes (I–V) was conducted on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The dynamics of the microbial community were separately measured in heartwood, sapwood and bark using the phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) method. Our results showed that the effects of ERM on the microbial community depended greatly on the three log components and sampling seasons but less on decay class. (1) The absence of epixylic vegetation
Received 26 August 2018; accepted 21 January 2019
Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00351-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. *Corresponding author; e-mail: [email protected]
generally enhanced the total microbial biomass and Sørensen similarity in bark, whereas it had a more complicated effect on those in heartwood and sapwood. Specifically, the response to ERM became progressively stronger from winter until the late growing season. (2) ERM increased the total percentage of Gram-negative bacteria and fungi in heartwood and upper side sapwood and decreased their percentages in bark. (3) The moisture content and pH of the logs were good predictors and likely drivers of the dynamic patterns of the microbial community composition. Our findings demonstrate strong and partly consistent interactions between epixylic vegetation and microbial communities. Further in-depth research should reveal how these interactions feed back to the decomposition process of logs and thereby to carbon and nutrient cycles in the alpine forest ecosystem. Key words: Abies faxoniana Rehder & E. H. Wilson; bacteria; bark; dead wood; decay class; epixylic vegetation removal; fungi; seasonal snow cover.
C. Chang and others
INTRODUCTION Coarse woody debris (CWD) and associated epixylic vegetation are crucial to carbon
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