Arid Zone Research ›› 2025, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (9): 1612-1627.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2025.09.06

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Cumulative effects of time on soil microbial community and multifunctionality in a desert oasis expansion area: A case study of the Zhangye oasis

ZHAO Lina1(), LI Yuda1, GOU Qianqian1, WANG Guohua1,2(), QU Jianjun3   

  1. 1. College of Geographical Sciences, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030031, Shanxi, China
    2. Linze Inland River Basin Comprehensive Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou 730010, Gansu, China
    3. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou 730010, Gansu, China
  • Received:2025-01-28 Revised:2025-03-20 Online:2025-09-15 Published:2025-09-16
  • Contact: WANG Guohua E-mail:nana3773@126.com;gimi123@126.com

Abstract:

Over the past 50 years, the population in the arid regions of Northwest China has rapidly increased, accompanied by the expansion of farmland and shrubland at the edge of desert oases. However, few studies have examined the succession and multifunctionality of soil microbial communities in the desert oasis expansion area. This study aimed to elucidate the ecological mechanisms underlying soil microbiome evolution and ecosystem functioning in arid land reclamation systems. We systematically investigated the spatiotemporal dynamics of soil microbial communities (bacteria and fungi: 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid and internal transcribed spacer amplicon sequencing) and their functional relationships with the physicochemical properties of soil (nutrients, pH, electrical conductivity, moisture), enzymatic activities (C-, N-, P-cycling), and multifunctionality across a chronosequence (5-30 years) of cultivated farmlands and Haloxylon ammodendron plantations in the Zhangye oasis expansion zone of Hexi Corridor. The results indicated that over a reclamation period of 30 years, the multifunctionality of farmland soil first increased then decreased, reaching a maximum value at 10 years and exhibiting a significantly decreased value at 20 years (P<0.05). Conversely, the soil multifunctionality of Haloxylon ammodendron plantations increased with time, reaching its maximum value at 30 years. In the farmland, the fungal community changed more significantly than the bacterial community. Soil multifunctionality was significantly negatively correlated with relative abundance of pathotrophic fungi in the community (r=-0.655, P<0.01) but positively correlated with α-diversity (r=0.508, P<0.05) and network complexity (r=0.645, P<0.05). Principal component analysis identified fungal pathogens as the primary factor influencing farmland soil multifunctionality. The contribution of the bacterial community to changes in soil multifunctionality was stronger in shrubland than in farmland. Multifunctionality was significantly positively correlated with both α-diversity (r=0.546, P<0.001) and network complexity of the bacterial community (r=0.542, P<0.001), and these two were the primary factors influencing shrubland soil multifunctionality. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the sustainable development of farmland and shrubland and the management of soil health in desert oasis expansion zones.

Key words: desert-oasis expansion zone, farmland, shrubland, bacteria, fungi, soil multifunctionality, time-dependent cumulative effect