Effects of long-term soil storage on the metabolic activity and functional groups of soil microbial community

Abstract:

[Objective] The aim of this study is to assess the effects of long-term (4 months) soil storage on the metabolic activity of soil microbial community. [Methods] Biolog? EcoPlateTM was used to test carbon source utilization patterns of the microbial communities in the arable and forest soils stored at 4 °C after air drying or at ?20 °C with field moisture, respectively. [Results] Compared with the fresh soil samples, the abilities of carbon source utilization of microbial communities in the stored soils were greatly reduced, with the microbial diversity index, evenness and Simpson index decreased as well. There was no significant difference in the influence on the abilities of carbon source utilization of microbial community between air dried samples and frozen samples. Two storage methods significantly decreased the metabolic activity of microbial community except for the metabolic activity of polymer-utilizing microbial group in air dried soil samples, with the reduction of 54.5%-99.8%. [Conclusion] Long-term storage of soil samples may lead to underestimation of the information about soil microbial community, and fresh soils are the best samples for exploring soil microbial metabolic activity.