THE INFLUENCE OF PLANT DIVERSITY AND ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS ON SOIL MICROBIAL DIVERSITY IN ALKALI-SALINE GRASSLAND

摘要

Little is known about soil microbial diversity in alkali-saline grassland. To discover the influence of plant diversity and aboveground biomass on soil microbial diversity in alkali-saline grassland, we measured and analyzed plant diversity, aboveground biomass, microbial counts, biomass carbon, and genetic diversity. The results showed that soil microbial counts and biomass carbon increased in proportion to plant diversity levels. A significant positive correlation was found between microbial counts/biomass carbon and plant diversity (P<0.05) but not aboveground biomass (P＞0.05) according to statistical analysis. Soil microbial genetic diversity also increased in proportion to plant diversity levels. By using phylogentic tree analysis, we found that increased microbial communities contain the bacterial orders Deltaproteobacteria, Bacilli, Actinobacteria, and Ver-rucomicrobia. To sum up, soil microbial community composition and diversity were affected by plant diversity in alkali-saline grassland of Western Jilin Province, China.