ObjectiveThis paper aims understand the diversity and community structure of soil fungi in different coniferous plantations in mountainous region of Eastern Liaoning Province, China, and reveal the relationship between fungal community diversity and structure and forest types as well as soil environment factors.

MethodEnvironmental genomics approaches, including Illumina MiSeq high throughput sequencing and OTU analysis, were used to assess the composition and structure of fungal community in Larix gmelinii (LGe) and Pinus koraiensis (PKe) in Beshila Nature Reserve, Larix gmelinii (LGd) and Pinus koraiensis (PKd) in the experimental forest farm of Liaoning Institute of Forest Management in Montane Region of Eastern Liaoning Province.

Result(1) Compared with Pinus koraiensis, Larix gmelinii can improve the contents of total carbon, total nitrogen and available nitrogen in soil. (2) The results showed that 9 different fungal phyla were identified in the soil of Larix gmelinii and Pinus koraiensis plants. The dominant fungal phylum groups were Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, Zygomycota and Rozellomycota. (3) Structurally, there were no significant difference in diversity indices and richness indices between LGe and PKe, so were LGd and PKd. (4) The Venn diagram and heatmap showed that the fungal community composition and relative abundance of Larix gmelinii and Pinus koraiensis plants were different, and the difference between LGe and PKe was smaller than that between LGd and PKd. (5) Redundant analysis and correlation analysis indicated that soil pH, TC, AN and C/N were the main factors which affected the community structure of coniferous forests in this area.

Conclusion This work showed that there were some differences in soil fungal community structure and diversity index among different forest types. The soil organic matter and fungal communities of the LGe and PKe showed small discrepancy compared with LGd and PKd, and planting Larix gmelinii helps improve soil fertility.