A study of soil bacterial diversity during vegetation succession in riparian zones

For this study, five typical vegetation communities were selected to represent secondary successional chronosequence stages (SI: grassland; SII: shrubs; SIII: pioneer woods; SIV: late successional woods; SV: top successional woods) in different site conditions, Floodplains and Terraces, within riparian zones on the Loess Plateau of China. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different successional stages, and floodplains and terraces within riparian forests, on soil bacterial diversity and abundance.