Sea-crossing bridge construction interference reduced soil microbial biomass and diversity in mangrove ecosystems

Highlights

● Bridge constructions decreased soil bacterial alpha and beta diversity.

● Bridge constructions reduced soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen.

● Stochastic process dominates soil bacterial community assembly.

● Bridge constructions increased the relative importance of stochasticity.

Abstract

Soils in mangrove ecosystems are home to diverse and unique microbes, which support many crucial ecosystem services. Despite their vulnerability, the impact of bridge construction on the soil microbiome in mangroves is poorly understood. This study assessed the bacterial community profiles and microbial biomass in mangrove soils under different bridge construction techniques: Sheet Pile Cofferdam (SP) and Steel Casing Pipe (SC), compared to the non-disturbed (ND) counterpart. Bridge construction significantly decreased the alpha diversity and caused biotic homogenization of soil bacterial communities, indicating a loss of microbial biodiversity due to human disturbance. Bridge construction also reduced the microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen. The assembly of soil bacterial communities was dominated by stochastic processes, and bridge construction increased the relative importance of stochasticity. However, the impacts on ecological networks varied with the construction technique, with SC soils showing higher network complexity and stability compared to the ND habitats. Changes in soil bacterial communities were primarily attributed to the shifts in soil pH and nutrient levels. This study identified the effects of sea-crossing bridge construction on the soil microbiome in mangrove ecosystems, aiding in careful planning and environmental impact assessments to minimize the negative effects of urbanization on mangrove ecosystems.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

biodiversity / community assembly / ecological network / mangrove ecosystem / bridge construction

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the funding of Guangxi Xingang Transportation Investment Co., Ltd. (Grant No. 2022-0006). We thank Liqiang Jia, Shuqin Jiang, Xinzhe Li, and Hongqi Li for their help in field sampling. We appreciate the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which have greatly improved this manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-024-0257-z and is accessible for authorized users.

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