Comparison of soil bacterial diversity and community composition between clear-cut logging and control sites in a temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest in Mt. Sambong, South Korea

Deforestation or clear-cut logging affects forest ecosystems, including soil microbial communities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of clear-cut logging on the soil bacterial community in a temperate deciduous broad-leaved forest on Mt. Sambong, South Korea. We investigated the physicochemical characteristics and bacterial diversity of the soil in clear-cut logging and control sites. The available phosphorus (AP) level in soil was significantly lower in the clear-cut sites than in the control; however, the other physicochemical properties of soil were similar at the two sites. By examining the bacterial 16S rRNA gene using next-generation sequencing, we found that the number of bacterial taxa at the species and phylum level were similar at the control and clear-cut sites. Consistent with the high resilience of bacterial communities and absence of change in the soil physicochemical properties—with the exception of AP—we found similar levels of bacterial diversity at the two sites. Although most taxa showed similar composition ratios at the control and the clear-cut sites, some taxa such as Deltaproteobacteria, Ktedonobacteriales, Myxocccales, Polyangiaceae, Pedosphaera_f, and Solibacter showed differences after clear-cut logging. We conclude that AP was significantly associated with those bacterial taxa that showed differences in their composition ratios following clear-cut logging.