Temporal dynamics of soil physicochemical properties and bacterial community assembly during 12-year vegetation by planting Paspalum wettsteinii on degraded mountainous

BackgroundIn the severely eroded red soil regions of southern China, characterized by significant ecological degradation, there is an urgent need for effective vegetation restoration techniques.MethodA space-for-time substitution approach was employed, wherein three 20 m × 20 m quadrats were established at each of the Paspalum wettsteinii restoration sites (1-, 6-, and 12-year-old) and a control bare land. Soil samples were collected for physicochemical characterization and 16S rDNA sequencing a