'Fertile island' effects on the soil microbial community beneath the canopy of Tetraena mongolica, an endangered and dominant shrub in the West Ordos Desert, North China.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The fertile islands formed by shrubs are major drivers of the structure and function of desert ecosystems, affecting seedling establishment, plant-plant interactions, the diversity and productivity of plant communities, and microbial activity/diversity. Although an increasing number of studies have shown the critical importance of soil microbes in fertile island formation, how soil microbial community structure and function are affected by the different fertile island effect intensities is still unknown. As an endangered and dominant shrub species in the West Ordos Desert, Tetraena mongolica was selected for further exploration of its fertile island effect on the soil microbial community in the present study to test the following two hypotheses: (1) T. mongolica shrubs w

SUBMITTER: Liu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10921620 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature