Changes in Soil Bacterial Community Structure in Bermudagrass Turf under Short-Term Traffic Stress
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
I have reviewed the manuscript titled” Changes in Soil Bacteria Community Structure in Bermuda grass Turf under Short-term Traffic Stress”. The study is novel and findings are significant. The statistic applied is fine and the data is presented in well described manner. I have few minor suggestions for improving the manuscript quality such as:
- Line 15: amend the sentence The soil bacterial community structure change as “ the structural change in soil bacterial community……
- You have 4 treatments replicated 3 times. In this case your error degree of freedom is 6 which is far below than the recommended. Why didn’t you take more replications if you were having only 4 treatments?
- Why pH, SR, SOC, and nutrient content decreased under traffic stress?
- Why didn’t you use factorial RCBD instead of simple RCBD?
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Dear Editors and Reviewers:
Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers’ comments concerning our manuscript entitled “Changes in Soil Bacteria Community Structure in Bermudagrass Turf under Short-term Traffic Stress” (ID: 1699783). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches. We have studied comments carefully and have made correction which we hope meet with approval. Revised portion are marked in red in the paper. The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer’s comments are as flowing:
I have reviewed the manuscript titled” Changes in Soil Bacteria Community Structure in Bermuda grass Turf under Short-term Traffic Stress”. The study is novel and findings are significant. The statistic applied is fine and the data is presented in well described manner. I have few minor suggestions for improving the manuscript quality such as:
Point 1: Response to comment: Line 15: amend the sentence The soil bacterial community structure change as “the structural change in soil bacterial community……
Response: Thank you very much for your detailed suggestion. After revise, we have changed to “the structural change in soil bacterial community” in line 15.
Point 2: Response to comment: You have 4 treatments replicated 3 times. In this case your error degree of freedom is 6 which is far below than the recommended. Why didn’t you take more replications if you were having only 4 treatments?
Response: We had to design only 3 replications limited by sample size. But in the data collection, each indicator of each replicate was sampled five times for data collection, and we used the average value was taken as the measurement value of that replicate.
Point 3: Response to comment: Why pH, SR, SOC, and nutrient content decreased under traffic stress?
Response: Thank you very much for your kind suggestion. Traffic reduced to varying degrees the N, P, K, and SOC contents of bermudagrass turf soils (Table 1.). On one hand, it may be due to traffic stress reduced the cover degree of bermudagrass turf, increase the exposed surface area, decomposition of SOC, combined with wind and water erosion, resulting in the loss of soil nutrients and decrease in soil pH; on the other hand, traffic stress increased the compaction of soil, reduced its aeration and permeability, which lead to increased competition between underground parts of plants and accelerates the absorption and utilization of nutrients [51]. These factors affect soil microbial living conditions, decreasing soil bacterial diversity and richness. The carbon commission by soil respiration (SR) includes soil heterotrophic respiration and root respiration, and soil heterotrophic respiration is closely related to the content of soil organic carbon (SOC). Traffic stress causes abrasion and compression of the above-ground portion of Bermudagrass turf, which affects root growth and leads decrease in the below-ground biomass of the grass (Fig.1) and the respiration intensity of the root system. Soil heterotrophic respiration is positively correlated with the content of soil organic carbon [52]. The decrease in SR accompanied by a decrease in SOC, which reflected a decrease in the activity of soil microorganisms [53]. We have added this discussion in line 430-443.
Point 4: Response to comment: Why didn’t you use factorial RCBD instead of simple RCBD?
Response: The main purpose of this experiment was to investigate the effect of traffic stress as a factor on soil bacterial community structure in turf, so we used simple RCBD. For Multi-factor (such as different grass species, traffic, etc.), we are conducting other experiments to investigate the effect of trampling and different grass species on soil bacterial community structure in turf, and we will show our results in a follow up article.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors reported “Changes in soil bacteria community structure in bermudagrass turf under short-term traffic stress”. The manuscript is interesting and arranged well.
- Please add full explanation about NT, TS in all Figure and table.
- Please change order TS and NT in all Table and Figure.
- References should be revised. (author name form)
- The authors add the map and some information regarding traffic.
- Please explain in detail regarding temp., the amount of rainfall, etc. And the authors need to analyze the relationship between those and bacterial communities.
Author Response
Responds to the reviewer’s comments:
Reviewer #2:
Comments to the author:
The authors reported “Changes in soil bacteria community structure in bermudagrass turf under short-term traffic stress”. The manuscript is interesting and arranged well.
- Response to comment: Please add full explanation about NT, TS in all Figure and table.
Response: Thank you very much for your detailed suggestion. After revise, we have added full explanation about NT, TS in all Figure and table.
- Response to comment: Please change order TS and NT in all Table and Figure.
Response: Thank you very much for your detailed suggestion. After revise, we have changed order TS and NT in all Table and Figure.
- Response to comment: References should be revised. (author name form)
Response: Thank you very much for your detailed suggestion. After revise, we have checked our reference and corrected the wrong citations.
- Response to comment: The authors add the map and some information regarding traffic.
Response: Thank you very much for your kind suggestion. We have added the map as Fig.1 and information about traffic simulator in Methods section in line 115-123.
- Response to comment: Please explain in detail regarding temp., the amount of rainfall, etc. And the authors need to analyze the relationship between those and bacterial communities.
Response: Thank you very much for your kind suggestion. We have added information about temp., the amount of rainfall in Fig.2. We also have discussed the relationship between those and bacterial communities in line 464-472.
Finally, we appreciate for Editors and Reviewers’ warm work earnestly, and hope that the correction will meet with approval.
Once again, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
