Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation

Reforestation plays a vital role in restoring the soil degradation areas. However, the mechanisms by which different restoration approaches affect the soil properties and microbial communities remain unclear. Aiming to understand the interactions between plant species, soil properties, and microbial...

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Main Authors: Nannan Zhang, Xiaoxia Chen, Tingju Ren, Jiangcheng Luo, Jin Liang, En Tao Wang, Fusun Shi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-02-01
Series:Frontiers in Microbiology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1544641/full
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author Nannan Zhang
Nannan Zhang
Xiaoxia Chen
Xiaoxia Chen
Xiaoxia Chen
Tingju Ren
Tingju Ren
Jiangcheng Luo
Jiangcheng Luo
Jin Liang
Jin Liang
En Tao Wang
Fusun Shi
Fusun Shi
author_facet Nannan Zhang
Nannan Zhang
Xiaoxia Chen
Xiaoxia Chen
Xiaoxia Chen
Tingju Ren
Tingju Ren
Jiangcheng Luo
Jiangcheng Luo
Jin Liang
Jin Liang
En Tao Wang
Fusun Shi
Fusun Shi
author_sort Nannan Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Reforestation plays a vital role in restoring the soil degradation areas. However, the mechanisms by which different restoration approaches affect the soil properties and microbial communities remain unclear. Aiming to understand the interactions between plant species, soil properties, and microbial communities in different restoration approaches, we investigated the soil microbial community using nontargeted metabolomics to explore how the reforestation approach affects soil physicochemical properties, soil metabolites, and soil microbial communities. The results showed that the reforestation approach, soil layer, and their interactive effects significantly affected soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, available phosphorus concentrations, and root traits. The diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities in natural reforestation (NR) were different from those in artificial mono-plantations, and their network interactions were more significant in NR than in artificial plantations. A clear separation of metabolites between the artificial plantations and NR was observed in the soil metabolite analysis. Two pathways, linoleic acid metabolism, and valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, were significantly regulated between the artificial mono-plantations and NR. Different soil traits were significantly correlated with dominant microbial taxa in the four reforestation approaches. 13-L-hydroperoxylinoleic acid, 13-S-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, homovanillin, and 9,10-epoxyoctadecenoic acid showed the highest correlation with the microbial taxa in the network. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) shows that root-mediated soil physicochemical properties were the primary factors affecting the bacterial community among the reforestation approaches. The soil fungal community is directly regulated by plant roots in the subsoil and indirectly regulated by the root-mediated physicochemical properties in the topsoil. We conclude that different reforestation approaches affect the soil microbial community through root and soil physicochemical properties rather than soil metabolites.
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spelling doaj-art-c6f2b871ef4c4578bf4443e95259a3f52025-08-20T03:04:45ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2025-02-011610.3389/fmicb.2025.15446411544641Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestationNannan Zhang0Nannan Zhang1Xiaoxia Chen2Xiaoxia Chen3Xiaoxia Chen4Tingju Ren5Tingju Ren6Jiangcheng Luo7Jiangcheng Luo8Jin Liang9Jin Liang10En Tao Wang11Fusun Shi12Fusun Shi13Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaChengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaChengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaChengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaCollege of Life Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, ChinaChengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaEscuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Ciudad de México, MexicoChengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, ChinaReforestation plays a vital role in restoring the soil degradation areas. However, the mechanisms by which different restoration approaches affect the soil properties and microbial communities remain unclear. Aiming to understand the interactions between plant species, soil properties, and microbial communities in different restoration approaches, we investigated the soil microbial community using nontargeted metabolomics to explore how the reforestation approach affects soil physicochemical properties, soil metabolites, and soil microbial communities. The results showed that the reforestation approach, soil layer, and their interactive effects significantly affected soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, available phosphorus concentrations, and root traits. The diversity and composition of bacterial and fungal communities in natural reforestation (NR) were different from those in artificial mono-plantations, and their network interactions were more significant in NR than in artificial plantations. A clear separation of metabolites between the artificial plantations and NR was observed in the soil metabolite analysis. Two pathways, linoleic acid metabolism, and valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis, were significantly regulated between the artificial mono-plantations and NR. Different soil traits were significantly correlated with dominant microbial taxa in the four reforestation approaches. 13-L-hydroperoxylinoleic acid, 13-S-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid, homovanillin, and 9,10-epoxyoctadecenoic acid showed the highest correlation with the microbial taxa in the network. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) shows that root-mediated soil physicochemical properties were the primary factors affecting the bacterial community among the reforestation approaches. The soil fungal community is directly regulated by plant roots in the subsoil and indirectly regulated by the root-mediated physicochemical properties in the topsoil. We conclude that different reforestation approaches affect the soil microbial community through root and soil physicochemical properties rather than soil metabolites.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1544641/fullmicrobiomemetabolomicsplant-microbial interactionmono-planationnatural reforestation
spellingShingle Nannan Zhang
Nannan Zhang
Xiaoxia Chen
Xiaoxia Chen
Xiaoxia Chen
Tingju Ren
Tingju Ren
Jiangcheng Luo
Jiangcheng Luo
Jin Liang
Jin Liang
En Tao Wang
Fusun Shi
Fusun Shi
Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
Frontiers in Microbiology
microbiome
metabolomics
plant-microbial interaction
mono-planation
natural reforestation
title Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
title_full Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
title_fullStr Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
title_full_unstemmed Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
title_short Differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
title_sort differentiation of soil metabolic function and microbial communities between plantations and natural reforestation
topic microbiome
metabolomics
plant-microbial interaction
mono-planation
natural reforestation
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1544641/full
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