The response of soil eukaryotic microbial communities to afforestation in mountainous area of the Loess Plateau, Northern China

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317235
• Publication Date: 2025-03-04T18:33:56Z
• Authors: Yida An; Lei Zhang; Suqing Li; Yuanyuan Zhang
• Keywords: Afforestation; Soil ecology; Soil microbiology

Soil microorganisms are integral to nutrient cycling, ecosystem functioning, and soil restoration. However, the information on response of eukaryotic microbial communities land-use transformations, particularly for afforestation, remains underexplored in mountainous region northwest Shanxi Loess Plateau. The study based high-throughput sequencing 18S rRNA sequences, elucidated impact afforestation this ecologically sensitive region. findings indicated that significantly altered composition communities. dominant phyla were Streptophyta (16.8%-46.9%) Ascomycota (20.5%-40.7%). At genus level, Gymnoascus, Preussia, Mortierella, Chaetomium Fusarium biomarkers microbes farmland soil, while unidentified Geopora enriched plantations soil. result non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis shows significant separation between plantation soils, which correlated with temperature (T), nitrate nitrogen (NN) available phosphorus (AP). These provided data support regional ecological restoration assessments, highlighted effect physicochemical factors communities, enhanced our understanding role modifying ecosystems.