Author(s)

Fritz A. Ntoko¹, Terrence G. Gardner², Zachary N. Senwo^1*, Veronica Acosta-Martinez³

¹Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Life and Natural Sciences, Alabama A & M University, Normal, AL, USA.
²Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
³USDA-ARS, Cropping Systems Research Laboratory, Wind Erosion and Water Conservation Unit, Lubbock, TX, USA.

Prescribed burning and tree thinning are commonly used restoration practices for US forests management to increase forest productivity and enhance plant and animal diversity. The impact of these practices in Alabama’s Bankhead National Forest (BNF) to soil microbial components and overall forest soil health are unknown. We hypothesized that microbial assemblages and enzyme activities are continuously changing in forest ecosystems especially due to management selections. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess changes in microbial community compositions (fungal vs bacterial populations) via fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiling and several enzyme activities (β-glucosaminidase, acid phosphatase, arylsulfatase, β-glucosidase, xylanase, laccase, and manganese peroxidase) critical to soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics and biogeochemical cycling. In this forest, heavily-thinned plots without burning or less frequent burning treatments seemed to provide more favorable conditions (higher pH and lower C:N ratios) for C and N mineralization. This may explain a slight increase (by 12%) detected in fungi:bacteria (F:B) ratio in the heavily-thinned plots relative to the control. Thinned (lightly and heavily) plots showed greater ligninolytic (laccase and MnP) activities and lower β-glucosidase and β-glucosaminidase activities compared to the no-thinned plots probably due to increase depositions of woody recalcitrant C materials. We observed significant but negative correlations between the ligninolytic laccase and manganese peroxidase (Lac and MnP) enzymes respectively, with MBC (?0.45* and ?0.68** respectively) and MBN (?0.43* and ?0.65** respectively). Prescribed burning treatment reduced microbial biomass C and N of the 9-yr burned plot/lightly thinned plotsprobably due to depletion of labile C sources with the high temperatures, leaving mostly recalcitrant C sources as available soil substrates. Gram-positive bacteria (i15:0, a15:0, i17:0, and a17:0), actinomycetes (10-Me17:0, 10-Me18:0), AMF (16:1ω5c), and saprophytic fungi (18:1ω9c), largely contributed to the microbial compositions. This study bridges knowledge gaps in our understanding of microbial community compositions and enzyme-mediated processes in repeatedly burned and thinned forest ecosystems.

Forest Soil Health, Forest Ecosystems, Microbial Compositions, Enzyme Metabolisms, Thinning and Burning

Ntoko, F. , Gardner, T. , Senwo, Z. and Acosta-Martinez, V. (2018) Microbial Compositions and Enzymes of a Forest Ecosystem in Alabama: Initial Response to Thinning and Burning Management Selections. Open Journal of Forestry, 8, 328-343. doi: 10.4236/ojf.2018.83021.