Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2025 number 2

Climate warming leads to a wider distribution of heather shrubs, with biochemically very active ericoid mycorrhiza, in mountain meadows of temperate latitudes, where less active arbuscular mycorrhiza predominates. Our working hypothesis was: the expansion of heathers can increase the microbiological activity of soils (basal respiration, respiratory metabolic coefficient, activity of hydrolytic enzymes, rates of nitrification and ammonification), specifically change the taxonomic composition of the prokaryotic complex, nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus status of soils. These indicators were compared in different relief elements in the humus-accumulative horizons of Umbric Leptosol under shrubs and grasses in regions contrasting in climate and soil-forming rocks: the alpine wastelands of the North-Western Caucasus and the mountain tundra meadows of the Khibiny. The same heather species grow in these regions, which makes it possible to isolate the direct specific influence of plants, regardless of other environmental factors. The specific effect of the presence of heathers has not been established. The soil properties were primarily influenced by the location of sampling (position in the relief, soil-forming rock). The second is the region of study (climate). The features of the prokaryotic complex specific to each sampling site are not interrelated with the studied chemical parameters and microbiological activity. Nevertheless, general differences in the prokaryotic complex are associated with pH_Н2O, indicators of carbon (C_SOM), phosphorus (P_{ext. min}, C/P_SOM) and nitrogen (N_micr, C_SOM/N_ext, N-NH₄⁺) state of soils.