Successive monoculture of Eucalyptus spp. alters the structure and network connectivity, rather than the assembly pattern of rhizosphere and bulk soil bacteria

Abstract

Eucalyptus as a fast-growing timber tree plays a crucial role in maintaining wood supplication and ecosystem balance worldwide. Nonetheless, the management practices of Eucalyptus plantation in southern China have resulted in productivity decline and soil degradation due to high-intensity successive cultivation. Soil bacteria is a sensitive indicator of soil quality, how does the successive planting of Eucalyptus regulate the soil bacterial community structure for instance the abundance of oligotrophic bacteria, network complexity, and soil bacteria assembly remain ambiguity. To explicate the underlying influencing mechanisms of successive cultivation of Eucalyptus plantations on soil bacterial community structure. Four harvests of Eucalyptus plantations that underwent 0, 1, 2, and 3 times of harvesting were conducted to examine variations in the bacterial community between rhizosphere and bulk soils after successive planting of Eucalyptus. An adjacent evergreen broadleaf forest was employed as control. The present study revealed that successive planting of Eucalyptus increased and reduced the relative abundance of Chloroflexi (oligotrophic bacteria) and Proteobacteria (copiotrophic bacteria), respectively. Continuous planting of Eucalyptus did not modify the assembly pattern of soil bacterial communities, which was governed by stochastic processes. Successive planting of Eucalyptus decreased co-occurrence network complexity, and elevated the proportion of rare microorganisms in the keystone bacterial taxa. Soil particle size composition (clay, silt, sand) indirectly influenced the structure of soil bacterial communities by directly affecting pH, carbon, nutrients, and their stoichiometric ratios. Improving soil physical structure, increasing the input of soil carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrient resources, and maintaining a balanced resource allocation may be effective strategies for ensuring enhanced productivity and sustainable utilization of soil in successive Eucalyptus plantations.