Responses of Soil Micro-Food Web to Land Use Change from Upland to Paddy Fields with Different Years of Rice Cultivation

Land use changes affect belowground ecosystems. During the past few decades, land use in Northeast China has changed considerably, and the area of paddy fields has increased rapidly from upland. In this study, soil characteristics and soil biotic community in paddy fields with different years of rice cultivation were measured to examine the effects of land use change from upland to paddy fields on soil micro-food web. The upland maize fields were selected as control and the microbial community composition was characterized using phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis. The microbial biomass (total PLFA), bacteria biomass, and fungi biomass were higher in the 20-40-year (late-stage) than 1-10-year (early-stage) paddy fields. The abundances of total nematodes and bacterivores were lower in the early-stage than late-stage paddy fields. The abundance of herbivores was the highest in the early-stage paddy fields but that of omnivore-predators was the highest in the late-stage paddy fields. Structural equation model indicated that soil food web was developed and structured after 20 years of paddy cultivation. Our results suggested that soil micro-food web may be a good indicator for soil development and stabilization of paddy fields following land use change.