Effects of zokor mounds on the stability of soil micro-foodweb in lightly disturbed alpine meadows on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Abstract The plateau zokor (Myospalax baileyi) is a subterranean rodent endemic to the alpine meadow of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Zokor mound building changes plant communities and soil conditions. In our study, the soil soil microorganisms and nematode communities, and soil physicochemical properties in the zokor mounds with dominant plant groups Potentilla anserina (PM), Leontopodium leontopodioides (LM) and naked new zokor mound (NM) were investigated in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Chao1 index and Shannon diversity index of bacteria and nematodes in PM were higher than those in other treatments. At the same time, the Chao1 index of fungi in PM was also higher. However, fungal Shannon diversity index, total nematode metabolic footprint, bacterivorous nematode metabolic footprint and omnivorous predatory nematode metabolic footprint were higher in NM. The metabolic footprint of plant-parasitic nematodes in LM was higher than that of other treatments. The functional metabolic footprint, enrichment index and structural index of soil nematodes all showed the order of NM > CK > PM > LM, indicating that the soil micro-foodweb structure of NM is relatively stable. Energy flow analysis showed that bacterial and fungal energy flow channels were dominant in PM, while plant energy flow channels had the highest proportion in LM, indicating that soil food web energy conversion and utilization efficiency in PM was higher. In addition, we found that the NM soil micro-foodweb was dominated by fungal decomposition, while PM was dominated by bacterial decomposition. Furthermore, bottom-up effects of nutrients in zokor mounds of different vegetation types determine the structure and activity of these pathways.