Abstract:Soil microbial diversity is closely related to soil quality and one of research hotspots in soil science. In this study, 9 surface soils (0—20 cm) were collected from 9 typical chestnut orchard gardens in Beijing. Carbon catabolic diversity of the soils was measured by BIOLOG Eco plate containing 31 substrates. Our aim was to compare the difference in carbon catabolic diversity of the 9 soils. The results showed that the 9 soils could be classified into three groups of (1) soil No. 1, 6 and 9, (2) soil No. 2, 5 and 7, (3) soil No. 3, 4 and 8. The carbon catabolic diversity of the soils in same group was similar, but significant different among each group. Soil No. 1, 6 and 9 had more microbes metabolizing D-malic acid and another 6 substrates, but less in using glucose-1-phosphate and another 14 substrates. In contrary, soil No. 2, 5 and 7 had a reverse pattern of metabolizing the 31 substrates. Soil No. 3, 4 and 8 had similarity in using D-malic acid and another 6 substrates, but much less microbes in using i-erythritol, D-xylose, 2-hydroxy-benzoic acid. Currently, we have less knowledge on the roles and importance of carbon catabolic diversity in soil sustainable management. Further work may be particularly necessary to understand the links of this functional diversity of soil microbial community with soil microbiological processes of C, N, P transformation.