Differential distribution patterns and assembly processes of soil microbial communities under contrasting vegetation types at distinctive altitudes in the Changbai Mountain

Abstract

Diversity patterns and community assembly of soil microorganisms are essential for understanding soil biodiversity and ecosystem processes. Investigating the impacts of environmental factors on microbial community assembly is crucial for comprehending the functions of microbial biodiversity and ecosystem processes. However, these issues remain insufficiently investigated in related studies despite their fundamental significance. The present study aimed to assess the diversity and assembly of soil bacterial and fungal communities to altitude and soil depth variations in mountain ecosystems by using 16S and ITS rRNA gene sequence analyses. In addition, the major roles of environmental factors in determining soil microbial communities and assembly processes were further investigated. The results showed a U-shaped pattern of the soil bacterial diversity at 0–10 cm soil depth along altitudes, reaching a minimum value at 1800 m, while the fungal diversity exhibited a monotonically decreasing trend with increasing altitude. At 10–20 cm soil depth, the soil bacterial diversity showed no apparent changes along altitudinal gradients, while the fungal Chao1 and phylogenetic diversity (PD) indices exhibited hump-shaped patterns with increasing altitude, reaching a maximum value at 1200 m. Soil bacterial and fungal communities were distinctively distributed with altitude at the same depth of soil, and the spatial turnover rates in fungi was greater than in bacteria. Mantel tests suggested soil physiochemical and climate variables significantly correlated with the β diversity of microbial community at two soil depths, suggesting both soil and climate heterogeneity contributed to the variation of bacterial and fungal community. Correspondingly, a novel phylogenetic null model analysis demonstrated that the community assembly of soil bacterial and fungal communities were dominated by deterministic and stochastic processes, respectively. The assembly processes of bacterial community were significantly related to the soil DOC and C:N ratio, while the fungal community assembly processes were significantly related to the soil C:N ratio. Our results provide a new perspective to assess the responses of soil microbial communities to variations with altitude and soil depth.

The Composition and Assembly of Soil Microbial Communities Differ across Vegetation Cover Types of Urban Green Spaces

“…Understanding how soil microbial communities are assembled is essential for comprehending the generation and maintenance of terrestrial microbial diversity [57,58]. In this study, we found that the assembly of microbial communities in the soil of urban green land was dominated by stochastic processes (Figure 4), which is different from previous findings reporting that soil microorganisms in grasslands and forests are dominated by deterministic processes [59,60]. In addition, we observed that stochastic processes were stronger in the grasslands than in the shrublands and woodlands (Figure 4).…”

Rare microbial taxa as the major drivers of nutrient acquisition under moss biocrusts in karst area

“…Community assembly describes how different ecological processes shape the composition and structure of microbial communities ( Ning et al, 2024 ). Studying the effects of environmental factors on the assembly of microbial communities is critical to understanding microbial biodiversity and ecological function ( Kang et al, 2023 ). The present study found that the community assembly of both abundant and rare microbes was mostly influenced by stochastic processes.…”

Vertical Variation in Temperature Sensitivity of Soil Organic Carbon Mineralization in Changbai Mountain, China: A Microcosm Study

“…This phenomenon is especially significant at high altitudes and latitudes in cold regions. In a previous study, Kang et al (2023) [34] found that compared to other vegetation zones, the tundra has a greater peat soil content and exhibits a less sensitive response to temperature changes due to lower microbial diversity resulting from the colder temperatures in the tundra.…”