Tree influence on soil microbial community structure

Biological communities differ over time and in space, and in the forest these communities often vary according to trees and tree gaps, mediated by mechanisms that are likely to change over time and as a tree are removed. In this paper we ask the questions: What is the influence of individual trees on soil microbial community structure? Does the soil microbial community change in the short-term when a tree is removed, and does this change depend on the initial influence of the tree? We use phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis and a geostatistical approach to study effects of trees and tree removal (thinning) on soil microbial community structure in a young boreal Norway spruce (Picea abies) forest. An experiment was setup where half (four) of the included trees were cut and soil was collected prior to (t0) and one month after (t1) tree felling. The samples were collected along two perpendicular transects originating from each of the eight study trees. A tree influence index was calculated for each sample point from the distances to neighbouring trees, weighted by tree diameter. We found that individual trees are important in structuring the soil microbial community as microbial community structure responded to the gradient in tree influence. Also strong spatial structure was found corresponding to the patch structure induced by trees. Changes in microbial community structure before and after tree felling (t0 and t1) was found to differ significantly between felled and non-felled trees: samples from felled trees came to resemble samples with a low value of tree influence and samples from below non-felled trees came to resemble samples with a high value for tree influence. We thus found that soil microbial community structure in a boreal forest is spatially structured by the distribution of single trees, and that soil microbial community structure varies seasonally and is affected by tree removal, in an intricate manner that reflects the initial influence of trees.