Associations of soil bacterial diversity and function with plant diversity in tussock wetland.

Some species of can form tussocks, which are usually distributed in valleys and flood plains. The soil microbial community diversity and function of micro-habitats formed by tussocks are associated with plant diversity, and research on these associations can guide tussock wetland restoration. In this study, we selected tussock wetlands dominated by , including natural wetlands (), artificially restored wetlands (), and naturally restored wetlands (), and investigated plant diversity. Soil samples were collected from the quadrats of each sample plot with the maximum (), median (), and minimum () plant Shannon index values, and high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the bacterial community composition, diversity, and functions. The plant diversity indexes of neither nor significantly differed from that of , but the companion species in were hygrophytes and mesophytes, in contrast to only hygrophytes serving as companion species in and . The soil bacterial communities at the operational taxonomic unit level of the nine quadrats with different plant Shannon index values significantly ( < 0.01) differed. The relative abundances of the dominant phyla (Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Bacteroidetes) and the dominant genera (, , and except for unassigned genera) significantly ( < 0.05) differed under the different levels of plant diversity. The plant Shannon index, soil moisture content, total organic carbon, N, and P were significantly ( < 0.05 or  < 0.01) correlated with the bacterial Shannon index. The phylogenetic diversity of the bacterial community in was significantly ( < 0.0001) different from those in and , and that in was also significantly ( < 0.05) different from that in . The functional groups of bacterial communities associated with plant diversity. In the , , and bacterial communities, the relative proportions of functional groups related to soil N cycle were higher, but those related to soil S and C cycles were lower. Considering the rehabilitation of both plant and microbial communities, the methods used for establishing the are recommended for tussock wetland restoration.