Heavy grazing reduces soil bacterial diversity by increasing soil pH in a semi-arid steppe.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In a context of long-term highly intensive grazing in grassland ecosystems, a better understanding of how quickly belowground biodiversity responds to grazing is required, especially for soil microbial diversity.

Methods

In this study, we conducted a grazing experiment which included the CK (no grazing with a fenced enclosure undisturbed by livestock), light and heavy grazing treatments in a desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, China. Microbial diversity and soil chemical properties (i.e., pH value, organic carbon, inorganic nitrogen (IN, NH4+-N and NO3--N), total carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and available phosphorus content) both in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils were analyzed to explore the responses of microbial diversity to grazing intensity and the

SUBMITTER: Wang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10924786 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature