Brazilian Journal of Biological Sciences (ISSN 2358-2731)



Home Archive v. 6, no. 12 (2019) Unanonwi

 

Vol. 6, No. 12, p. 115-122 - Apr. 30, 2019

 

Effects of plants diversity on soil bacteria load in a tropical moist forest of Otuoke, Nigeria



Okpo Esio Unanonwi and Michael Adeoye Odebunmi

Abstract
Most attempts towards forest management are directed towards management of forest resources which does not embrace other players. Key players in forest ecosystem are bacteria and fungi. Relationships between forests stand density and diversity with soil microbial population is an area of research that could aid in forest ecosystem management, this study was undertaken to provide the needed information. Three locations A, B, C of plot size 100 m x 100 m were purposefully selected. Site A and B were selected based on species richness and heterogeneity, while C was based on dominance and homogeneity. These were further divided into 25 m x 25 m subplots, and finally divided into 2 m x 2 m sample plots for investigation. Three of these were randomly selected from each site for identification and listing. Soil samples were collected across sites, inoculated, cultured and analyzed in the laboratory to estimate microbial population and identify microbial genera's. Species diversity were calculated using Shannon (H'), Simpson (D) and Sørensen's Coefficient (CC) indices. Bacteria and their colony forming units were calculated for sites. Results shows mean values of plant species diversity and mean values of bacteria counts were significantly (p < 0.05) different across the locations. Location A has a mean value 4.781 ± 0.00 for Simpson index, with mean bacteria load of 2.11 ± 0.012 and 1.5115 ± 0.00 for Shannon index with very high level of diversity. Location B has moderate level of diversity with mean index of 3.675 ± 0.00 for Simpson, and 1.375 ± 0.00 for Shannon indices, with mean bacteria load 2.40 ± 0.21. Similarity content for locations A and B was 0.444. Plants diversity and bacteria load were positively significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with r2 of 76%. Increasing plants diversity will increase soil bacteria load. This would aid decisions making in forest conservation and ecosystem management.


Keywords
Plants diversity; Vegetation; Diversity indices; Ecosystem management; Tropical moist forest.

DOI
10.21472/bjbs.061210

Full text
PDF

References
Alexander, M. Biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: A consensus of current knowledge. Ecology Monography, v. 74, p. 3-45, 1997.

Allison, V. J.; Yermakov, Z.; Miller, R. M.; Jastrow, J. D.; Matamala, R. Using landscape and depth gradients to decouple the impact of correlated environmental variables on soil microbial community composition. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, v. 39, no. 2, p. 505-516, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2006.08.021

Balgodatskaya, E. V.; Balgodatskaya, S. A.; Anderson, T. H.; Kuzyakov, Y. Impact of artificial root exudate on the bacterial community structure in bulk soil and maize rhizosphere. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, v. 35, no. 9, p. 1105-1192, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-0717(03)00179-2

Bolton, H.; Frederickson, J. K.; Elliott, L.F. Microbial ecology of the rhizosphere and functional group effects on abiotic and microbial soil properties and plant soil feedback and substrate availability in soil. European Journal Soil Science, v. 60, p. 186-197, 1992.

Cardinale, B. J.; Wright, J. P.; Cadotte, M. W.; Carroll, I. T.; Hector, A.; Loreau, M.; Wiess, J. J. Impact of plant diversity on biomass production increase through time because of species complementarity. PNAS, v. 104, p. 18123-18128, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0709069104

Cardinale, B. J., Duffy, J. E.; Gonzalez, A.; Hooper, D. U.; Perrings, C. Venail, P.; Narwani, A.; Mace, G. M.; Tilman, D.; Wardle, D. A.; Kinzig, A. P.; Daily, G. C.; Loreau, M.; Grace, J. B.; Larigauderie, A.; Srivastava, D. S.; Naeem, S. Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity. Nature, v. 486, p. 59-67, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11148

Cardinale, B. J.; Mahclick, K. L.; Hooper, D. U.; Byrnes, D. E.; Duffy, E.; Game Feldt, L.; Gonzalez, A. The role of producer diversity in ecosystem. American Journal of Botany, v. 98, no. 3, p. 572-572, 2011. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1000364

Dehlin, H.; Nilsson, M.-C.; Wardle, D. A. Aboveground and belowground responses to quality and heterogeneity of organic inputs to the boreal forest. Oecologia, v. 150, no. 1, p. 108-118, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-006-0501-5

Delgado-Baquerizo, M.; Maestre, F. T.; Riech, P. B.; Jeffries, T. C.; Gaitan, J. J.; Encinar, D.; Berdugo, M.; Campbell, C. D.; Singh, B. K. Microbial diversity drives multifunctionality in terrestrial ecosystem. Nature Communications, v. 7, article 10541, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10541

Eisenhauer, N.; Beßler, H.; Engels, C.; Glexiner, G.; Habekost, M.; Milcu, A.; Partsch, S.; Sabais, A. C. W.; Scherber, C.; Steinbeiss, S.; Weigelt, A.; Weisser, W. W.; Scheu, S. Plant diversity effects on soil microorganisms support the singular hypothesis. Ecology, v. 91, no. 2, p. 485-496, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1890/08-2338.1

Grace, J. B.; Michael, A. T.; Smith, M. D.; Seabloom, E.; Andelman, S. J.; Allain, L. K.; Jutila, H.; Sankaran, M.; Knops, J.; Ritchie, M.; Willig, M. R. Does species diversity limit productivity in natural grassland communities? Ecology Letter, v. 10, no. 8, p. 680-689, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2007.01058.x

Grayston, S. J.; Vaughan, D.; Jones, D. Rhizosphere carbon flow in trees, in comparism with annual plants. The importance of root exudation and its impact on microbial activity and nutrient availability. Applied Soil Ecology, v. 5, no. 1, p. 29-56, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0929-1393(96)00126-6

Grayston, S. J.; Wang, S.; Campbell, C. D.; Edward, A. C. Selective influence of plant species on microbial diversity in the rhizophere. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, v. 30, no. 3, p. 369-378, 1998. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-0717(97)00124-7

Hooper, D. U.; Adair, E. C.; Cardinale, B. J.; Byrnes, D. E.; Hungate, B. A.; Matulich, K. L.; O'Connor, M. I. A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change. Nature, v. 486, p. 105-108, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11118

Horsfall, D. E.; Tano, D. A. Physico-chemical analysis of Otuoke soils. Journal of Environment and Earth Science, v. 5, no. 2, p. 197-205, 2015.

Johnson, D.; Phoenix, G. K.; Grime, J. P. Plant community of composition, not diversity, regulate soil respiration in grass lands. Biology Letter, v. 4, no. 4, p. 345-348, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0121

Lamb, E. G.; Kennedy, N.; Siciliano, S. D. Effects of plant species richness and evenness on soil microbial community diversity and function. Plant and Soil, v. 338, no. 1/2, p. 483-495, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-010-0560-6

Loreau, M. S.; Naeem, P.; Inchaush, J.; Bengtsson, J. P.; Grime, A.; Hector, D. U.; Hooper, M.A.; Lynch, J. M.; Whipps, J. M. Substrate flow in the rhizosphere. Plant and Soil, v. 129, no. 1, p. 1-10, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00011685

Magurran, A. E. Measuring biological diversity. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing, 2004.

Nannipieri, P.; Giagnoni, L.; Renella G.; Puglisi, E.; Ceccanti, B.; Moscatelli, M. C.; Marinari, S. Soil enzymology: classical molecular approaches. Biology Fertility Soils, v. 48, no. 7, p. 743-762, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0723-0

Nikalaus, P. A.; Alphei, J.; Kampichler, C.; Kandeler, E.; Korner, C.; Wohlfender, M. Interactive effects on plant species diversity and elevated CO2 on soil biota and nutrient cycling. Ecology, v. 88, no. 12, p. 3153-3163, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-2100.1

Oger, P. M.; Mansouri, H.; Nesme, X.; Dessaux, Y. Engineering root exudation of lotus towards the production of two novel carbon compounds leads to the selection of distinct microbial populations in the rhizosphere. Microbiology Ecology, v. 47, no. 1, p. 96-103, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-003-2012-9

Roscher, C.; Schumacher, J.; Gubsch, M.; Lipowsky, A.; Weigelt, A.; Buchmann, N.; Schmid, B.; Schulze, E.-D. Using plant functional traits to explain diversity productivity relationship. PLos ONE, v. 7, no. 5, e36760, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036760

Rovira, A. D. Plant root exudates and their influence upon soil micro-organism. In: Baker, K. F.; Snyder, W. C. (Eds.). Ecology of soil-borne pathogen: Prelude to biological control. Berkely. C.A.: University of California Press, 1965. p. 170-186.

Simpson, E. H. Measurement of biodiversity. Nature, v. 163, p. 688, 1949. https://doi.org/10.1038/163688a0

Slabbert, E.; Kongor, R. Y.; Esler, K. J.; Jacobs, K. Microbial diversity and community structure in Fynbos soil. Molecular Ecology, v. 19, p. 1031-1041, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04517.x

Sørensen, T. A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species and it application to analyses the vegetation on Danish commons. Palaeoecology Biologiske Sskrifter, v. 5, p. 1-34, 1948.

Tilman, D.; Downing, J. Biodiversity and stability in grasslands. Nature, v. 367, p. 363-365, 1994.

Trolldenier, G. Vergleick Swischen Fluorenzenz Mikro-Skopischer Direktzahlung, Plattengu Bverfahren und Meinbranfiter method bei Rhizospharenuntersuchungen. In: Graff, D.; Satchell J. E. (Eds.). Beiträge Zur Bodenbiologie. 1967. p. 59-71.

Wardle, D. A. A comparative assessment of factors which influence microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen levels in soil. Biological Reviews, v. 67, no. 3, p. 321-358, 1992. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1992.tb00728.x