Fencing decreases microbial diversity but increases abundance in grassland soils on the Tibetan Plateau

Fencing usually increases soil organic carbon and nutrients and eventually enhances soil microbial diversity; however with different or even conflicting results, the mechanisms underlying the diversity reduction remain unclear. Aiming to reveal the mechanism of diversity reduction, we explored the soil microbial diversity and community structure in fenced areas (5‐and 10‐years enclosure) and grazing during a growing season in arid and semiarid steppe, using Illumina sequencing of 16S and 18S rRNA genes. The results revealed that fencing and season both substantially increased soil total organic carbon (TOC), while the enhancing TOC substantially reduced soil pH. Fencing significantly increased soil bacterial and eukaryotic abundance due to the enhancing TOC, which was indicated by positive correlation (p