Preliminary Investigation of the Relationship between Vegetation Types and Soil Microbial Flora and Biomass in Northern Shanxi Province

Five vegetation types in the Shuozhou ecological reclamation area of Shanxi Province (Populus simonii forest, Robinia pseudoacacia plantation, Pinus tabulaeformis plantation, Caragana seabuckthorn mixed forest and natural grassland) were studied, and the relationship between soil microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen content, abundance of bacteria and fungi, and soil basic chemical properties was analyzed. The results showed that the soil quality of the four types of vegetation improved to a different degree than that of natural grassland, which showed the trend of P. simonii forest and natural grassland. The biomass carbon and nitrogen of the P. simonii forest soil were highest; those of the plantation were second, and those of the natural grassland lowest, and the soil organic carbon, total nitrogen. There was a significant positive correlation between alkali and nitrogen, the lowest bacterial and fungal abundance was observed in natural grassland soil, and the content of bacteria and fungi in plantation soil was significantly lower than that of the P. simonii forest. Overall, the results indicated that vegetation restoration has a positive effect on soil quality in the study area, and different vegetation types have different effects on soil quality and microbial flora. (C) 2018 Friends Science Publishers