Relationship between soil enzyme activity characteristics and plant diversity in different vegetation communities in typical desert areas
Authors: Wang YingYing , Tang Cui Wen , Li Chun Lin , Zhang Yu Xia , Zheng Chuan He , Su Yan Bin 
Published: April 2024

For the investigation of the distribution characteristics of soil enzyme activities (SEA) of distinct plant communities (PCs) and the relationship with biodiversity of distinct PCs, the study was carried out on five typical PCs, namely Calligonum mongolicum, Nitraria tangutorum, Reaumuria songarica, Calligonum mongolicum, Haloxylon ammodendron, etc., in the desert area of Minqin Liangucheng, Gansu Province, China. SEA and biodiversity were measured at three soil levels: 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm, and 20–30 cm, respectively, and the spatial variations of SEA, the indices of the four biodiversity in different PCs, and the correlation between them were investigated. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) The SEA of the five PCs differed considerably. The activities of sucrase, amylase, urease, alkaline phosphatase, and catalase in the Reaumuria songarica community were higher than the other four communities. The Calligonum mongolicum community had the highest cellulase activity. The activities of urease, amylase, and cellulase in 0–30 cm depth soil of each PC exhibited a reducing trend with the rise of soil depth, while sucrase and alkaline phosphatase exhibited a rising and subsequently reducing trend with the rise of soil depth in Reaumuria songarica community. (2) Plant diversity indices varied among PCs. In the shrub layer and herb layer, the Reaumuria songarica community had the highest Margalef richness index and Simpson diversity index, 0.85, 0.49, 0.74, and 0.53, respectively. In the shrub layer, the Shannon-Wiener index was greatest in Reaumuria songarica community,0.71. Calligonum mongolicum community had the highest Shannon-Wiener index in the herbaceous layer,0.79. Ephedra przewalskii community had the largest Pielou index in the herbaceous and shrub layers, 1.00 and 0.61 respectively. (3) SEA is correlated with plant diversity.Soil urease activity was correlated with community diversity and was poorly correlated with plant aboveground biomass. Soil urease activity had a good correlation with the Patrick index in the herb layer and the Margalef index, and the Patrick index in the shrub layer. Alkaline phosphatase activity correlated well with the Pielou index, Patrick index in the herb layer and Patrick index, Shannon-Wiener index, and plant aboveground biomass in the shrub layer. Catalase activity correlated well with the Patrick index and Margalef index in the shrub layer. Soil amylase correlates well with Patrick richness index in the shrub layer, and soil sucrase correlates well with Patrick richness index and Margalef richness index in the herbaceous layer of the plant.In summary, within the desert PCs, the SEA of the Reaumuria songarica community were significantly higher than those of the other PCs; the Reaumuria songarica community had the highest plant diversity indices in the shrub and herb layers, followed by the Calligonum mongolicum and Ephedra przewalskii communities; the diversity indices of the shrub and herb layers had a significant relationship with the SEA, especially soil urease, soil alkaline phosphatase, soil catalase, soil amylase and soil sucrase,which acted together to influence the soil microenvironments of the desert plant communities.