Fig. 2 Shannon diversity and Chao1 richness of bacterial (Figs. 2a and 2c) and fungal (Figs. 2b and 2d) communities in plantation stands of different ages. Different upper and lowercase letters indicate different levels among different ages and soil depth, respectively (n = 3, p < 0.05)
The α-diversity (represented by Shannon’s diversity and Chao1 richness) of the soil bacteria community differed among 10-40 cm in 30 and 50 years plantations but not in 0-10 cm soil (Figs. 2a and 2c), and, the diversity measurements such as the Shannon index and Chao1 richness indicate that 0-10 cm has a higher α-diversity than 10-40 cm. However, a major dissimilarity was observed among the fungal communities in the soil microhabitat samples collected from different stands (Figs. 2b and 2d), indicating that the fungal communities were highly diverse in soil from different soil layers.