Analysis of Research Status and Frontier Hotspots in Soil Microorganism Field

Abstract

[Purpose/Significance] Soil microorganism is the most active component of soil, which is the key factor of a healthy soil ecosystem Therefore, to investigate the hotspots, frontiers and directions of soil microorganism research is helpful for researchers to understand research topics and directions. [Method/Process] Using CiteSpace V software papers of soil microbiology published by key journals from 2010 to 2019 collected by CNKI were used to analyze the distribution characteristics of authors, institutions and journals, and to draw the knowledge graph of keyword co-occurrence, burst terms distribution and the time line map of keyword burst terms. [Results/Conclusions] There are more than 400 articles about soil microorganism area published in China every year, and the research in this field continues to draw attention. Northwest A&F University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences are the key research institutions, and Shen Qirong, Yang Dianlin and Mao Zhiquan are the core author groups, which have made outstanding contributions to the development of this field. The research hotspots have evolved over time, and can be divided into four modules: First, indirect indicators of soil microorganisms (soil enzyme activity, soil uptake, soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen); second, mature development of research methods (Phospholipid-derived Fatty Acids, denaturing gradient Gel electrophoresis, Biolog-ECO technique, and high throughput sequencing); third, the visual representation of soil microorganisms (microbial community structure and functional diversity); Lastly, the impact of factors (soil type and land use, fertilization, crops, nitrogen deposition, and bio-char). The application of molecular biological methods such as high throughput sequencing and system biological methods, the development and utilization of bio-char, the influence of nitrogen deposition and the improvement measures should be paid more attention as the focus of future research.

Keywords

• soil microorganism|citespace|research hotspots|frontier trends