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. 2025 Jan 6:15:1485069.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1485069. eCollection 2024.

Effects of rocky desertification on soil bacterial community in alpine grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Shan Li  1   2 , Huakun Zhou  2 , Wenying Wang  3 , Haze Ade  2   4 , Zhonghua Zhang  2 , Li Ma  2 , Zhen Wang  2 , Qiang Zhang  5 , Jingjing Wei  1   2 , Hongye Su  2   4 , Ruimin Qin  2   4 , Zhengchen Shi  2   4 , Xue Hu  2   4 , Faliang Wu  5
Affiliations

Effects of rocky desertification on soil bacterial community in alpine grasslands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Shan Li et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

The makeup of soil microbial communities may serve as a crucial predictor of the alpine grassland ecosystem. Climate change and human disturbance have resulted in intensified ecosystem degradation, such as grassland rocky desertification, which may modify the structures and composition of the microorganisms. However, little is known about the effects of rocky desertification on soil microbial communities of soil. Here, we investigated five different layers of rocky desertification grassland in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including nil rock desertification (NRD); potential rocky desertification (PRD); light rocky desertification (LRD); moderate rocky desertification (MRD); and severe rocky desertification (SRD), we compared soil bacterial community with soil physiochemical properties in different rocky desertification conditions. The result showed that rocky desertification significantly altered the physiochemical properties of the soil but did not significantly affect the bacterial community microbial abundance and diversity. At the same time as rocky desertification increased, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) decreased significantly, while soil pH, total phosphorus (TP); and total potassium (TK) increased. Redundancy analysis revealed that pH, AK, TP, and SOC are key factors influencing soil bacterial communities. Our finding provides basic information and scientific reference for the restoration of the rocky desertification of alpine grasslands.

Keywords: Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; alpine grassland; rocky desertification; soil bacterial community; soil properties.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Pictures of the differently degraded rocky desertification. NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light rocky desertification; MRD, moderate rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The soil properties of the differently degraded rocky desertification (n = 3). NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light rocky desertification; MRD, moderate rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification; SOC, soil organic carbon; TN, total nitrogen; TP, total phosphorus; TK, total potassium; AN, alkali hydrolyzable nitrogen; AP, available phosphorus; AK, available potassium. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The relative abundance of the phylum (A) and genus (B) dominating bacterial populations under varying degrees of rocky desertification. NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light rocky desertification; MRD, moderate rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The features of the richness and diversity indices of soil bacteria at varying degrees of rocky desertification. NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light rocky desertification; MRD, moderate rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
PCoA (A) and NMDS (B) analysis of soil bacterial communities under varying degrees of rocky desertification. NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light rocky desertification; MRD, moderate rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Cladogram of the bacterial lineages’ phylo-genetic distribution under varying degrees of rocky desertification (A,B). NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light rocky desertification; MRD, moderate rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Heatmap analysis (A) and redundancy analysis (RDA) (B) of the bacterial communities with soil properties under varying degrees of rocky desertification. NRD, nil rock desertification; PRD, potential rocky desertification; LRD, light-rocky desertification; MRD, moderate-rocky desertification; SRD, severe rocky desertification.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Relationships between the microbial populations and soil characteristics under varying degrees of rocky desertification. The abbreviation for soil bacteria is in the white circle. A large circle indicates a high degree of correlation. On the contrary, the correlation is small.
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