黄帚橐吾种群扩张对土壤理化特性与微生物功能多样性的影响
摘要
Aims Ligularia virgaurea is an indicator species of alpine meadow degradation. Recently, the vast spreading of L. virgaurea has brought the serious economic loss of grassland ecosystem, but it remains unclear whether soil microbes involve in the spreading of L. virgaurea. Methods We chose four patches with different density of L. virgaurea to measure the influence of spreading of L. virgaurea on the functional diversity of soil microbial community in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Important findings The spreading of L. virgaurea increased soil microbial activity, but reduced soil available nitrogen concentration. The Shannon index, utilization number of carbon resource and evenness index of soil microbial community displayed no significant differences among patches, but the utilization structure of carbon resource in high density patch was significantly different from control patch. Our findings indicate that the limitation of soil nitrogen caused by the changing functional diversity of soil microbial community in the distributed sites is one of the mechanisms for the vast spreading of L. virgaurea in alpine meadow ecosystem.