人类活动对乡村地区土壤微生物多样性影响的研究进展

Research progress on the impact of human activities on soil microbial diversity in rural regions

关键词:  乡村地区  人类活动  土壤微生物多样性  三生空间

Key words:  rural areas  human activities  soil microbial diversity  production-living-ecological space

摘要:

土壤微生物多样性是维持生态系统结构与功能稳定的核心要素，其变化不仅受土壤理化性质等环境因子的调控，同时也受到人类活动的间接影响。同时乡村地区人类活动类型复杂且叠加效应显著，对土壤微生物群落的影响具有更强的综合性与不确定性。据此，文章通过系统文献分析法，基于CNKI、Web of Science和PubMed数据库，以“人类活动”和“土壤微生物多样性”等关键词筛选核心文献2456篇，对近十余年来相关研究进行系统梳理与归纳，探讨不同土地利用方式、施肥、耕作以及污染和旅游业发展等因素对土壤微生物多样性产生的影响。研究表明：乡村土壤微生物的变化是多种人类活动共同作用的结果，但现有研究多停留于单一因素分析，缺乏多因素耦合视角；同时，当前研究在空间上偏重生产空间（农田），缺乏对乡村整体空间系统的统筹分析，忽视了微生物响应的时间异质性与滞后性；此外，人类活动指标与微生物多样性之间尚未形成统一、可比的量化表征体系，限制了不同研究之间的横向比较与综合评估。针对以上问题，提出未来研究应从“三生空间”视角出发，构建多尺度多尺度空间分析框架，强化多学科交叉融合，结合地理信息技术与分子生物学方法，建立人类活动指标数据集及其时空转化方法，以实现对乡村土壤微生物多样性变化机制的系统解析。旨在为乡村生态系统微生物监测与评价提供新的理论框架与方法支撑，并为乡村环境治理与可持续发展决策提供科学依据。

Abstract:

Background, aim, and scope Soil microorganisms are highly diverse and play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem functions, including organic matter decomposition, nutrient cycling, and greenhouse gas regulation. Soil microbial diversity is jointly regulated by soil physicochemical properties and human activities. In rural areas, where human activities are complex and strongly superimposed, their impacts on soil microbial communities are more integrated and uncertain. Since soil microorganisms are closely linked to soil health and human well-being, understanding how rural human activities influence microbial diversity is essential for maintaining ecological balance and supporting sustainable environmental management. While current research predominantly focuses on natural or production-oriented ecosystems such as farmlands and forests, a systematic understanding integrated within the broader rural spatial context remains insufficient. Here we review how different types of rural human activities affect soil microbial diversity, indentify key limitations, particularly regarding multi-factor coupling, spatial integration, and temporal dynamics, and propose future research directions from a production-living-ecological space (PLES) perspective. Materials and methods We conducted a systematic literature review of studies published over the past decade using databases including CNKI, Web of Science, and PubMed. A total of 2456 core publications were selected using keywords such as "human activities" and "soil microbial diversity." The reviewed studies covered multiple types of human activities, including land use, farming practices, fertilization, pollution, and rural tourism. Results The results show that: (1) changes in rural soil microbial communities are driven by the combined and interactive effects of multiple human activities; (2) although increasing attention has been paid to human impacts, most studies are still limited to single-factor analyses, without adopting a multi-factor coupling perspective; (3) existing research is largely confined to production spaces (i.e., farmland systems), with limited consideration of the integrated rural spatial system and its temporal heterogeneity. Discussion With ongoing rural development, economic restructuring, and policy optimization, the patterns and intensity of rural human activities are becoming more dynamic and heterogeneous. These changes are reflected in land use transformation, diversification of farming practices, fluctuations in non-point source pollution, and shifts in settlement patterns. Such processes exert multi-dimensional and cumulative effects on soil microbial communities, making it difficult to disentangle individual drivers. Importantly, microbial responses to human activities are often nonlinear and may involve potential time-lag and threshold effects, underscoring the complexity of underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, reliance on single proxy indicator is insufficient to capture the dynamic and multidimensional nature of microbial community changes. Conclusions (1) Systematic research on the spatial effects of human activities on rural soil microorganisms remains insufficient, future studies should emphasize multi-scale spatial analysis and multi-factor interaction effects. (2) Current studies are dominated by short-term or single-scenario data, with limited long-term monitoring, thereby constraining understanding of temporal dynamics and ecosystem function stability. (3) Single indicators cannot adequately represent microbial dynamics; thus, it is necessary to construct integrated and comparable indicator systems to better quantify human activity impacts. Recommendations and perspectives Current research on rural soil microorganisms lacks a systematic and integrative analytical framework. Future research should: (1) adopt a PLES perspective to systematically interpret spatial heterogeneity and nonlinear microbial responses to human activities; (2) strengthen interdisciplinary integration by combining approaches from geography, ecology, and molecular biology to better understand microbe-environment interactions; (3) develop human activity indicator datasets and spatiotemporal transformation methods, integrating machine learning and spatial modeling to improve quantification and comparability; and (4) promote long-term monitoring approaches to better capture microbial dynamics and support rural ecosystem management. These approaches highlight the need for holistic, interdisciplinary, and data-driven research to advance rural soil microbiology and support sustainable development.