Primary succession of soil enzyme activity and heterotrophic microbial communities along the chronosequence of Tianshan Mountains No. 1 Glacier, China.

We investigated the primary successions of soil enzyme activity and heterotrophic microbial communities at the forefields of the Tianshan Mountains No. 1 Glacier by investigating soil microbial processes (microbial biomass and nitrogen mineralization), enzyme activity and community-level physiological profiling. Soils deglaciated between 1959 and 2008 (0, 5, 17, 31 and 44 years) were collected. Soils >1,500 years in age were used as a reference (alpine meadow soils). Soil enzyme activity and carbon-source utilization ability significantly increased with successional time. Amino-acid utilization rates were relatively higher in early, unvegetated soils (0 and 5 years), but carbohydrate utilization was higher in later stages (from 31 years to the reference soil). Discriminant analysis, including data on microbial processes and soil enzyme activities, revealed that newly exposed soils (0-5 years) and older soils (17-44 years) were well-separated from each other and obviously different from the reference soil. Correlation analysis revealed that soil organic carbon, was the primary factor influencing soil enzyme activity and heterotrophic microbial community succession. Redundancy analysis suggested that soil pH and available P were also affect microbial activity to a considerable degree. Our results indicated that glacier foreland soils have continued to develop over 44 years and soils were significantly affected by the geographic location of the glacier and the local topography. Soil enzyme activities and heterotrophic microbial communities were also significantly influenced by these variables.