Soil microbial community and its interaction with soil carbon and nitrogen dynamics following afforestation in central China Qi Deng a,1 , Xiaoli Cheng a, ⁎ ,1 , Dafeng Hui b , Qian Zhang a , Ming Li a , Quanfa Zhang a a Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China b Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN 37209, USA HIGHLIGHTS • Afforestation enhanced microbial car- bon (C) but reduced its ratio to soil or- ganic C. • Afforestation enhanced both microbial nitrogen (N) and its ratio to soil total nitrogen. • Afforestation enhanced the ratio of fun- gi to bacteria in soil. • Shifts of microbial community correlat- ed with microbial respiration and meta- bolic quotient. • Shifts of microbial community corre- lated with net N mineralization and nitrification. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT abstract article info Article history: Received 29 June 2015 Received in revised form 13 September 2015 Accepted 15 September 2015 Available online xxxx Editor: D. Barcelo Keywords: Carbon sequestration Land use change Microbial community structure Nitrogen transformation Plant-microbial interaction Soil microbial biomass Afforestation may alter soil microbial community structure and function, and further affect soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics. Here we investigated soil microbial carbon and nitrogen (MBC and MBN) and microbial community [e.g. bacteria (B), fungi (F)] derived from phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) analysis in afforested (implementing woodland and shrubland plantations) and adjacent croplands in central China. Relationships of microbial properties with biotic factors [litter, fine root, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and inor- ganic N], abiotic factors (soil temperature, moisture and pH), and major biological processes [basal microbial res- piration, microbial metabolic quotient (qCO 2 ), net N mineralization and nitrification] were developed. Afforested soils had higher mean MBC, MBN and MBN:TN ratios than the croplands due to an increase in litter input, but had lower MBC:SOC ratio resulting from low-quality (higher C:N ratio) litter. Afforested soils also had higher F:B ratio, which was probably attributed to higher C:N ratios in litter and soil, and shifts of soil inorganic N forms, water, pH and disturbance. Alterations in soil microbial biomass and community structure following afforestation were as- sociated with declines in basal microbial respiration, qCO 2 , net N mineralization and nitrification, which likely maintained higher soil carbon and nitrogen storage and stability. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Science of the Total Environment 541 (2016) 230–237 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: xlcheng@fudan.edu.cn (X. Cheng). 1 Joint first authors: These authors contributed equally to this work. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.09.080 0048-9697/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv