Responses of soil microbial communities to freeze–thaw cycles in a Chinese temperate forest

Sang, Changpeng; Xia, Zongwei; Sun, Lifei; Sun, Hao; Jiang, Ping; Wang, Chao; Bai, Edith

doi:10.1186/s13717-021-00337-x

Ecological Processes

Table 2 Soil microbial characteristics in different freeze–thaw stages

From: Responses of soil microbial communities to freeze–thaw cycles in a Chinese temperate forest

Variables	O horizon soil			A horizon soil			Two-way ANOVA
Variables	Stage I	Stage II	Stage III	Stage I	Stage II	Stage III	FTC	H	FTC × H
MBC (mg·kg⁻¹)	3951.5 ± 407.4ab	4661.8 ± 418.6a	3322.2 ± 395.8b	1925.4 ± 325.7ab	2689.3 ± 463.0a	1493.3 ± 289.6b	*	*******	n.s.
MBN (mg·kg⁻¹)	462.7 ± 60.7	667.4 ± 85.1	467.9 ± 78.0	199.4 ± 38.0b	343.0 ± 57.7a	196.7 ± 42.4b	*	*******	n.s.
MBP (mg·kg⁻¹)	86.6 ± 12.6b	127.5 ± 6.3a	57.2 ± 5.5c	24.8 ± 5.6b	78.8 ± 20.9a	17.6 ± 4.9b	*******	*******	n.s.
MBC/MBN	8.7 ± 0.4a	7.2 ± 0.4b	7.4 ± 0.5b	9.8 ± 0.2a	7.8 ± 0.2b	8.2 ± 0.8b	**	*	n.s.
MBC/MBP	47.4 ± 4.1ab	36.4 ± 2.3b	58.3 ± 4.8a	81.1 ± 5.9a	39.1 ± 5.0b	93.4 ± 15.9a	*******	*******	n.s.
MBN/MBP	5.4 ± 0.3b	5.2 ± 0.5b	8.1 ± 1.0a	8.3 ± 0.6ab	5.1 ± 0.8b	12.2 ± 2.7a	**	*	n.s.
BG (nmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹)	42.7 ± 9.9b	63.5 ± 4.6a	30.8 ± 2.2b	12.1 ± 3.4b	29.2 ± 4.7a	14.1 ± 4.0b	*******	*******	n.s.
NAG (nmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹)	12.7 ± 3.1	14.7 ± 1.3	8.9 ± 1.3	4.0 ± 1.0b	10.5 ± 1.8a	5.2 ± 0. 9b	**	*******	n.s.
ACP (nmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹)	171.9 ± 19.9ab	212.4 ± 17.9a	149.8 ± 11.1b	97.0 ± 17.2	134.1 ± 14.1	98.2 ± 15.1	*	*******	n.s.
BG/NAG	3.5 ± 0.4	4.4 ± 0.4	3.7 ± 0.5	3.0 ± 0.2	3.0 ± 0.5	2.89 ± 0.6	n.s.	*	n.s.
BG/ACP	0.24 ± 0.03ab	0.31 ± 0.03a	0.21 ± 0.01b	0.12 ± 0.01b	0.23 ± 0.05a	0.13 ± 0.02ab	**	*******	n.s.
NAG/ACP	0.07 ± 0.01	0.07 ± 0 .00	0.06 ± 0.01	0.04 ± 0.00b	0.08 ± 0.01a	0.05 ± 0.01ab	n.s.	n.s.	*
Bacteria biomass (⨯10⁸ copies·g⁻¹)	482.9 ± 60.7b	655.1 ± 24.4a	393.8 ± 58.6b	526.3 ± 25.3ab	612.6 ± 44.0a	430.4 ± 51.0b	*******	n.s.	n.s.
Fungi biomass (⨯10⁸ copies·g⁻¹)	7.8 ± 1.3	8.4 ± 2.9	8.1 ± 1.6	8.6 ± 1.4	12.5 ± 3.2	10.5 ± 2.3	n.s.	n.s.	n.s.
F/B ratio	0.016 ± 0.002	0.012 ± 0.004	0.021 ± 0.004	0.017 ± 0.003	0.022 ± 0.007	0.024 ± 0.004	n.s.	n.s.	n.s.

MBC microbial biomass C, MBN microbial biomass N, MBP microbial biomass P, BG β-glucosidase, NAG β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase, ACP acid phosphatase; bacteria biomass is represented by the copy number of 16S rRNA; fungi biomass is represented by the copy number of ITS gene; F/B ratio was calculated by the ratio of ITS and 16S rRNA gene copy numbers, the same below. Data are displayed as means ± standard errors (n = 5). The effects of the freeze–thaw cycle (FTC), soil horizon (H), and their interaction (FTC × H) are shown at the right columns. Bold lowercase letters indicate significant differences among different stages within the same horizon (P < 0.05). Two-way ANOVA results *P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 and n.s. not significant

Back to article page