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Interactions among soil bacteria occur widely and play important roles in the maintenance of soil functions. Long-term fertilization management practices have distinct effects on soil fertility and the soil microbial activity and community, which are closely associated with soil microbial interactions. Red soil is typically low-productivity soil in South China. Chemical nitrogen fertilization caused serious soil acidification and low-productivity (defined as the acidified soil group, Ac), whereas the application of lime to the acidified soil increased the soil pH (defined as the quicklime improvement soil group, Qlime). Long-term manure or fallow treatment maintained the soil pH and increased the soil fertility (defined as the high-productivity potential soil group, HPP). A molecular ecological network analysis method was used to analyze 454 pyrosequencing data of bacterial communities from the HPP, Ac and Qlime soils. Several major differences were observed among the three constructed networks. First, the HPP network contained the largest ratio of positive to negative correlations, whereas the Ac network contained the smallest. Second, the HPP and Ac networks shared only 8.67% of their operational taxonomic units (OTUs), whereas Ac and Qlime shared 27.04%. Third, the HPP network contained the most “module hubs” (A set of OTUs that have strong interactions or common functions are grouped as a “module” in network analysis. These OTUs are called “nodes”. And the nodes with high connectivity to many other nodes within the same module are “module hubs”.), whereas Ac contained the fewest. These results demonstrated that the bacterial community of HPP was a better organized or a better operated community than Ac and that quicklime application helped to order the bacterial community. By comparing the topological roles of nodes in different networks, we proposed that there should be more module hubs in the networks of higher-productivity soils and hypothesized that these OTUs could be indicators of high-productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) resources to improve, or even maintain agroecosystem sustainability requires a thorough understanding of the biotic and abiotic factors that impact AM fungal communities. AM symbiosis is important in mango and litchi trees, two economically important fruit crops in China, but there is little information on the AM fungi associated with these trees or their responses to organic fertilizer. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing we analyzed AM colonization, spore density, and community composition and diversity in the rhizospheric soil from 16 mango orchards and 16 litchi orchards located in southern China. Ours was a regional scale study and in general, we found that the majority of AM fungi OTUs belonged to the families Glomeraceae, followed by Gigasporaceae, Paraglomeraceae, Acaulosporaceae and Diversisporaceae. Glomus and Paraglomus were the genera that differed most in abundance between the rhizospheric soil of mango and litchi. AMF community composition was impacted by latitude and longitude and soil characteristics such as, NO 3 −-N, NH 4 +-N, available-P, and soil organic carbon (SOC). The sampling sites were in areas of medium to low altitude, and there was no significant correlation between altitude and AM fungal richness. We found that higher soil nutrient content, particularly available-P, was negatively correlated with AM colonization. Our results also showed that some of the AM genera responded differently to environmental variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that SOC not only had a direct positive effect on AMF richness, but also an indirect negative effect, due to increased soil fertility. Our findings have enabled a deeper insight into the impacts of organic fertilizer on AM fungal communities, which will be valuable when considering AM symbiosis in orchard management. • The abundance of Glomus and Paraglomus differed greatly between the rhizospheric soil of mango and litchi. • Geographical distances and soil properties jointly shaped the AM fungal communities. • Some AM genera responded differently to environmental variables. • SOC resulting from increased manure input had a direct positive effect on AMF richness. • Excessive use of manure is detrimental to AMF occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]