Studies of microbial diversity in vegetation buffer zones along Hongfeng Lake

Hongfeng Lake is one of the largest artificial freshwater lakes on the Karst plateau of China and the control of external nutrient inputs into the lake via a vegetation buffer zone is key to mitigating its eutrophication. However, few studies have investigated the microbial communities of the lake vegetation buffer zone soils, although they play key roles in nitrogen pollutant interception and in maintaining ecosystem stability. In this study, the effects of seasonal and human disturbances on soil microbial communities of the vegetation buffer zones of Hongfeng Lake were determined by high-throughput sequencing and community profiling, along with comparisons across soils of different seasons and under different disturbance regimes.