Journal article
Microbial rhizosphere and topsoil communities in young reforestation plantations
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol.17, pp.1-14
01-Aug-2026
Abstract
Relationships between microbial communities of the rhizosphere and plants can affect the successful establishment of plantations and their modification for forest restoration efforts. Recognising these fungal and bacterial assemblages is important for Acacia mangium plantations, as they are widely established in reforestation programs across the tropics. However, the microbial community associated with the rhizosphere of A. mangium and of plants often thriving within or in the proximity of A. mangium plantations is understudied. We hypothesise that microbial assemblages of the topsoil, hosted in the rhizosphere of the planted species and of the co-dominant plant species in the landscape, may differ. In the examined 2-year-old plantation, the plant community is dominated by the eudicotyledonous A. mangium and by monocotyledonous species (Cocos nucifera, Imperata cylindrica, and Saccharum spp.), whereas in the 10-year-old plantation, eudicotyledonous trees (Swietenia macrophylla, and Pterocarpus indicus) dominate the area. Given the diverse abundance of plants of different phylogenetic traits, we hypothesised a difference in the topsoil microbial community based between these two evolutionarily distinct Angiosperm lineages. Through high-throughput sequencing, we identified the taxonomic and putative functional traits of fungal and bacterial taxa in the rhizospheres of the cultivated and co-dominant plant species. Disproving our hypothesis, we found comparable taxonomic and functional community composition of fungi and bacteria among the rhizospheres tested and between these and the topsoil of the same plantation, without significant differences among mono- and eudicotyledonous species. Still, C. nucifera seemed to display a markedly unique rhizosphere community, and ectomycorrhizal fungi were abundant in the 2- and 10-year-old A. mangium plantings. Results support the role of topsoil as a reservoir for the microbial community, on which plants act by filtering the taxa hosted in their rhizosphere. In our context, a non-significant difference in the microbial composition may have reflected comparable ecological adaptations and needs, but further research is suggested, given the small sample size of this study. Our research provides insights into the microbial assemblages of the rhizospheres and topsoil of A. mangium plantations in a region of the Philippines, helping to disentangle the relationship between the soil microorganisms and plant rhizospheres during forest restoration.
Details
- Title
- Microbial rhizosphere and topsoil communities in young reforestation plantations
- Authors
- Jenny Vivian (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastAlison Shapcott - University of the Sunshine CoastRobin L. Chazdon - University of the Sunshine CoastDavid J. Lee - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol.17, pp.1-14
- Publisher
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Date published
- 01-Aug-2026
- DOI
- 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1915742
- ISSN
- 1664-302X
- Copyright note
- © 2026 Vivian, Shapcott, Chazdon and Lee. 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) and the copyright owner(s) 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.
- Data Availability
- The datasets analysed for this study can be found in the NCBI Short Read Archive under the BioProject ID and accession number PRJNA1295595, while raw reads of the rhizosphere can be accessed through PRJNA1302026. Code and metadata are available at: https://github.com/JennyVivian99/Rhizospheres_Tropical_plantations.
- Grant note
- This research was undertaken with financial support provided by the University of the Sunshine Coast.
- Organisation Unit
- Forest Industries Research Centre; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Forest Research Institute; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991254328202621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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