Ben Gurion University of the Negev Sede Boqer Campus, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Beer Sheva, 84990, Israel.
Soil and Terrestrial Environmental Physics (STEP), Department of Environmental Systems Sciences (USYS), ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2017 Apr 6;7:45735. doi: 10.1038/srep45735.
Life in desert soil is marked by episodic pulses of water and nutrients followed by long periods of drought. While the desert flora and fauna flourish after rainfall the response of soil microorganisms remains unclear and understudied. We provide the first systematic study of the role of soil aqueous habitat dynamics in shaping microbial community composition and diversity. Detailed monitoring of natural microbial communities after a rainfall event revealed a remarkable decrease in diversity and a significant transition in community composition that were gradually restored to pre-rainfall values during soil desiccation. Modelling results suggest a critical role for the fragmented aqueous habitat in maintaining microbial diversity under dry soil conditions and diversity loss with wetting events that increase connectivity among habitats. This interdisciplinary study provides new insights into wetting and drying processes that promote and restore the unparalleled microbial diversity found in soil.
沙漠土壤中的生命以间歇性的水和养分脉冲为特征，随后是长时间的干旱。虽然沙漠动植物在降雨后会蓬勃生长，但土壤微生物的反应仍不清楚，也没有得到充分研究。我们首次对土壤水生生境动态在塑造微生物群落组成和多样性方面的作用进行了系统研究。对降雨后自然微生物群落的详细监测显示，多样性显著下降，群落组成发生显著变化，在土壤干燥过程中逐渐恢复到降雨前的水平。模型结果表明，在干燥土壤条件下，碎片化的水生生境在维持微生物多样性方面起着关键作用，而随着增加栖息地连通性的湿润事件则会导致多样性丧失。这项跨学科研究提供了对促进和恢复土壤中无与伦比的微生物多样性的湿润和干燥过程的新见解。
