Grassland grazing management altered soil properties and microbial β-diversity but not α-diversity on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
2021
Qin, Yanyan | Xiaofang, Zhang | Adamowski, Jan F. | Biswas, Asim | Holden, Nicholas M. | Hu, Zeyong
Grazing management can alter soil properties and microbial communities that are critical to maintaining grasslands' long-term productivity and function, but information relevant to such influences operating on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) of China is scarce. The present study was undertaken to examine the impact of different grazing management approaches [e.g., seasonal grazing (SG), continuous grazing (CG), and exclosure grazing (EG)] on soil properties and microbial communities on the QTP. Soil properties from two depths (0 to 0.15 m and 0.15 to 0.30 m) and microbial communities from topsoil (0 to 0.15 m) were measured in plots representative of each grazing type. Several soil properties were of greater magnitude in SG vs. CG sites: aboveground biomass, 838 vs. 46 g/m²; soil organic carbon 20.73 vs. 8.07 g/kg; total soil nitrogen 1.74 vs. 1.07 g/kg; total soil phosphorus 0.20 vs. 0.16 g/kg. Soil property values at the EG site were intermediate to those at the SG and CG sites. While no significant difference in richness and the α-diversity of soil bacteria and soil fungi occurred among grazing types, the β-diversity of soil fungi differed significantly, and the β-diversity of soil bacteria under EG was significantly different from that under SG or CG. Results from the present study suggest that grazing management can alter soil conditions and microbial β-diversity, and EG might prove a useful long-term option for grassland recovery.
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