Characterization of the Microbial Community Structures, Soil Chemical Properties, and Enzyme Activity of Stellera chamaejasme (Thymelaeaceae) and Its Associated Forages in Alpine Grassland of Northwestern China.

The invasion of toxic weeds was detrimental to the growth of original vegetation and speed up the degraded grasslands. The purpose of this study was to explore the difference in microbial community, soil physicochemical properties, and enzyme activity in the rhizosphere of Stellera chamaejasme and its associated forages (Stipa purpurea and Polygonum viviparum). The rhizosphere soil microbial communities of S. chamaejasme and its associated forages were determined by high-throughput sequencing technology, the physicochemical properties, and enzyme activities were also measured using soil chemical methods. We performed biological statistical analyses to explore the correlation of rhizosphere micro-ecological environment between the invading poisonous herb S. chamaejasme and its associated forages. The Ascomycota community in the rhizosphere soil of S. chamaejasme was significantly decreased when compared with its associated forages. S. chamaejasme and S. purpurea had a similar bacterial composition, while the rhizosphere of P. viviparum was associated with more Acidobacteria and Bacteroidetes. The RDA analysis showed S. chamaejasme had highly correlated with acid proteinase, invertase, polyphenol oxidase, cellulose, and neutral protease and S. purpurea had highly associated with N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, ß-D-Glucosidase, and the P. viviparum had highly associated with total phosphorus, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, soil organic matter, pH, acid phosphatase, and catalase. Along with the invasion of S. chamaejasme, the microbial composition, soil physicochemical properties, and enzyme activity of the growing area changed considerably compared with the associated forages. Taken together, our results suggested that the composition and diversity of microbial communities associated with S. chamaejasme and its associated forages exhibited different patterns, and the rhizosphere soil microbial communities in different plants were regulated by different environmental factors in this alpine grassland ecosystem.

Characterization of Rhizosphere and Endophytic Microbial Communities Associated with Stipa purpurea and Their Correlation with Soil Environmental Factors.

This study was to explore the diversity of rhizosphere and endophytic microbial communities and the correlation with soil environmental factors of Stipa purpurea on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The bacterial phylum of Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Bacteroidota, and the fungal phylum of Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Zygomycota were dominant in microbial communities of S. purpurea in all three sampling sites. Multiple comparison analysis showed that there were significant differences in the composition of microbial communities in the roots, leaves and rhizosphere soil. Whether it is fungi or bacteria, the OTU abundance of rhizosphere soils was higher than that of leaves and roots at the same location, while the difference among locations was not obvious. Moreover, RDA analysis showed that Zygomycota, Cercozoa, Glomeromycota, Chytridiomycota and Rozellomycota possessed strongly positive associations with altitude, dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, neutral phosphatase, available kalium and available phosphate, while Ascomycota was strongly negatively associated. Changes in ammonium nitrate, alkaline phosphatase, polyphenol oxidase, total phosphorus, and altitude had a significant impact on the bacterial communities in different habitats and altitudes. Taken together, we provide evidence that S. purpurea has abundant microbial communities in the alpine grassland of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, whose composition and diversity are affected by various soil environmental factors.