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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1494681
This article is part of the Research Topic Anthropogenic Effects on the Microbial Communities of Terrestrial Ecosystems View all 29 articles

Contrasting responses of soil bacterial and fungal networks to photovoltaic power station

Provisionally accepted
Teng Li Teng Li 1*Leilei Lu Leilei Lu 1Ziqing Kang Ziqing Kang 1Huijun Li Huijun Li 2Jihua Wu Jihua Wu 3Weiguo Du Weiguo Du 4
  • 1 Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
  • 2 Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
  • 4 Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology (CAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The rapid expansion of solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation raises concerns regarding its impact on terrestrial ecosystems. Although the influence of PV panels on soil conditions and plant biomass is acknowledged, their effects on the assembly processes and co-occurrence networks of soil microbial communities remain understudied. Clarifying this influence is crucial for understanding the effects of photovoltaic panels on soil ecosystem functions. In this study, we first explored the effects of PV panels on soil properties. Then, using amplicon sequencing, we analyzed the impact of PV panels on soil microbial diversity and function, focusing specifically on the assembly processes and co-occurrence networks of bacterial and fungal communities. Our results indicate that the installation of PV panels improved soil conditions, leading to concurrent effects on microbial community structure and function.This process appears to be deterministic, driven primarily by homogeneous selection.Notably, PV panels increased the complexity of bacterial networks while decreasing their stability. In contrast, PV panels did not affect the complexity of fungal networks despite their stability increased. These findings provide new evidence that soil bacterial networks are more sensitive to PV panels installation than fungal networks, deepening our understanding of land-use change effects on soil ecosystem functions. Moreover, our study demonstrates that higher complexity does not necessarily mean higher stability at least in soil microbial systems, challenging the notion that ecological complexity favors their stability.

    Keywords: Photovoltaic panels, Soil microbial diversity, Microbial assembly process, Microbial networks, Complexity and stability

    Received: 11 Sep 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Lu, Kang, Li, Wu and Du. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Teng Li, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.