ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Soil Processes
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1552071
This article is part of the Research TopicSoil Carbon Sequestration and Microbial Energy MetabolismView all 6 articles
Mechanistic insights into the influences of photovoltaic panel construction on algal crust microbial communities in alpine desert grasslands
Provisionally accepted
- 1Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China
- 2Qinghai Sanjiangyuan Nationalities Middle School, Xi'ning, China
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Photovoltaic (PV) park construction has a profound impact on the regional microclimate and ecosystem carbon cycle. Meanwhile, biological soil crusts (BSCs) also play a crucial role in the carbon and nitrogen cycles of desert ecosystems. However, the response mechanism of algal BSC microbial communities to PV panel construction is still poorly elucidated. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was utilized to explore the mechanism underlying the effects of PV panel construction on algal BSC microbial communities in the Talatan PV Base. The results showed that the predominant bacterial phyla of algal BSCs in desert grassland were Actinobacteriota and Proteobacteria. PV panel construction changed the structure of algal BSC bacterial communities, which significantly increased the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and enhanced the interconnectivity between bacterial species. Nevertheless, the response of bacterial community diversity to the construction of PV panels was not significant (P>0.05). PV panel construction altered the microenvironment by significantly increasing temperatures under the panels while significantly reducing soil carbon stocks. In addition, temperature and carbon content were the most important factors influencing the structure and diversity of algal BSC bacterial communities in alpine desert grasslands. In summary, the installation of photovoltaic panels led to a notable elevation in the temperature underneath them. This temperature increase, in turn, enhanced the stability of the bacterial communities within the algal BSC in alpine desert grasslands. Simultaneously, it significantly reduced the carbon storage capacity in these grasslands, thus exerting a dual-edged impact on the ecological environment of the region.
Keywords: Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, biological soil crust, Carbon Cycle, Photovoltaic parks, Climate Change
Received: 27 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qi, Zhao, Zhang, Yang, Chen and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Kelong Chen, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, China
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