Shifts in soil microbial and nematode communities over progression of pine wilt disease occurring in Pinus koraiensis stands

The study was conducted at Dahuofang Forest Station in Fushun City, Liaoning Province, Northeast China (124 degrees 16 minutes E, 41 degrees 58 minutes N). Within each forest stand, eight individuals of P. koraiensis or L. olgensis were randomly selected and the individuals were at least 30 m in distance between each other) and the surface soil under their canopy was collected. Therefore, a total of 40 soil samples were collected (5 sampling fields x 8 samples per field) in the current study.