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Microorganisms
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Soil Microbial Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus Cycling
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Soil Microbial Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus Cycling

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2024 | Viewed by 522

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dan Xiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha 410125, China
Interests: nutrient cycling; vegetation recovery; microbial biodiversity; soil carbon; soil nitrogen
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yinhang Xia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Interests: soil organic carbon; soil organic nitrogen cycling; microbial metabolic processes; agricultural ecosystems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil nutrient cycles involving microorganisms play a crucial role in enhancing soil fertility, promoting plant growth, controlling pathogens and pests, improving soil structure, and maintaining ecosystem functions. These processes are affected by environmental changes, such as global climate warming, nitrogen deposition, heavy metal pollution, waste disposal, and agricultural management practices. The role of soil microorganisms in organic matter turnover, nitrogen cycling, phosphorus transformations, and metal sequestration in natural and agricultural ecosystems is crucial for sustainable ecosystem management. This Special Issue aims to explore the functions of soil microorganisms in nutrient cycling and how they enhance the multifunctionality of ecosystems, providing fundamental and practical guidance for sustainable soil management. The potential topics include the following: 

  1. Microbial involvement in soil nutrient cycling.
  2. The diversity, community structure, and characteristics of key functional soil microorganisms and microbial food webs.
  3. Applications of soil microorganisms in vegetation restoration and agricultural production.
  4. The effects of global warming, nitrogen deposition, and agricultural management practices on soil microbial communities.
  5. Soil microorganisms in environmental remediation and soil erosion control. This Special Issue is open to fundamental, applied, and field research and review manuscripts on all aspects of these topics.

Dr. Dan Xiao
Guest Editor

Prof. Dr. Yinhang Xia
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil microbiome
  • nutrient cycling
  • soil micro-food web
  • land-use change
  • ecosystem restoration
  • agricultural management

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4643 KiB  
Article
Synthetic Microbial Community Promotes Bacterial Communities Leading to Soil Multifunctionality in Desertified Land
by Xinwei Hao, Yazhou Gu, Hongzhi Zhang, Xiao Wang, Xiaozhen Liu, Chunlei Chen, Congcong Wang, Xiaoqing Zhang, Xingyu Liu and Xihui Shen
Microorganisms 2024, 12(6), 1117; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12061117 - 30 May 2024
Abstract
Soil desertification is an important challenge in global soil management, and effectively and stably restoring soil function is an urgent problem. Using synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) is a burgeoning microbial strategy aimed at enhancing soil nutrients through functional synergies among diverse microorganisms; nevertheless, [...] Read more.
Soil desertification is an important challenge in global soil management, and effectively and stably restoring soil function is an urgent problem. Using synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) is a burgeoning microbial strategy aimed at enhancing soil nutrients through functional synergies among diverse microorganisms; nevertheless, their effectiveness in restoring desertified soils remains unknown. In this study, we conducted a two-year field experiment using a SynCom constructed by in situ probiotic bacteria and set up control, chemical fertilizer, and combined SynCom–chemical fertilizer (combined fertilizer) treatments to investigate the linkage between microbial communities and soil multifunctionality in the soil surface layer (0–10 cm). Both the bacterial and fungal communities differed the most under the combined fertilizer treatment compared to the control. The bacterial communities differed more under treatments of the SynCom than the chemical fertilizer, while the fungal communities differed more under the chemical fertilizer treatment than the SynCom treatment. Regarding soil function, the SynCom strengthened the correlation between enzyme activities and both bacterial communities and functional properties. pH and available potassium were the main influencing factors under the chemical fertilizer and combined fertilizer treatments. The beta-diversity of the bacterial communities was significantly correlated with soil multifunctionality. Random forest analyses showed that the SynCom significantly enhanced the bacterial communities, driving soil multifunctionality, and that some potential microbial taxa drove multiple nutrient cycles simultaneously. In summary, the SynCom effectively increased the abundance of most carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus functional genes as well as soil enzyme activities. The bacterial community composition contributed significantly to soil multifunctionality. Hence, the development of novel microbial agents holds significant potential for improving soil functionality and managing desertification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Microbial Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus Cycling)
15 pages, 2944 KiB  
Article
Bacteria, Fungi, and Protists Exhibit Distinct Responses to Managed Vegetation Restoration in the Karst Region
by Can Xiao, Dan Xiao, Mingming Sun and Kelin Wang
Microorganisms 2024, 12(6), 1074; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12061074 - 26 May 2024
Viewed by 308
Abstract
Bacteria, fungi, and protists occupy a pivotal position in maintaining soil ecology. Despite limited knowledge on their responses to managed vegetation restoration strategies in karst regions, we aimed to study the essential microbial communities involved in the process of vegetation restoration. We compared [...] Read more.
Bacteria, fungi, and protists occupy a pivotal position in maintaining soil ecology. Despite limited knowledge on their responses to managed vegetation restoration strategies in karst regions, we aimed to study the essential microbial communities involved in the process of vegetation restoration. We compared microbial characteristics in four land use types: planted forests (PF), forage grass (FG), a mixture of plantation forest and forage grass (FF), and cropland (CR) as a reference. Our findings revealed that the richness of bacteria and protists was higher in FF compared to PF, while fungal richness was lower in both PF and FF than in CR. Additionally, the bacterial Shannon index in FF was higher than that in CR and PF, while the fungal and protist Shannon indices were similar across all four land use types. Significant differences were observed in the compositions of bacterial, fungal, and protist communities between FF and the other three land use types, whereas bacterial, fungal, and protist communities were relatively similar in PF and FG. In FF, the relative abundance of bacterial taxa Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and Gemmatimonadetes was significantly higher than in PF and CR. Fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, with the relative abundance of Ascomycota significantly higher in FF compared to other land use types. Regarding protistan taxa, the relative abundance of Chlorophyta was higher in FF compared to CR, PF, and FG, while the relative abundance of Apicomplexa was higher in CR compared to FF. Importantly, ammonium nitrogen, total phosphorus, and microbial biomass nitrogen were identified as key soil properties predicting changes in the diversity of bacteria, fungi, and protists. Our results suggest that the microbial community under FF exhibits greater sensitivity to vegetation restoration compared to PF and FG. This sensitivity may stem from differences in soil properties, the formation of biological crusts and root systems, and management activities, resulting in variations in bacterial, fungal, and protist diversity and taxa in PF. As a result, employing a combination restoration strategy involving plantation forest and forage grass proves to be an effective approach to enhance the microbial community and thereby improve ecosystem functionality in ecologically fragile areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Microbial Carbon/Nitrogen/Phosphorus Cycling)
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