Niu Xiaofeng, Ren Wenjing, Xu Congjun, Wang Ruilong, Zhang Jingwei, Wang Huan
School of Marine Biology and Fisheries, State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan, China.
Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2024 Feb 28;15:1367773. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1367773. eCollection 2024.
Microorganisms are important members of seagrass bed ecosystems and play a crucial role in maintaining the health of seagrasses and the ecological functions of the ecosystem. In this study, we systematically quantified the assembly processes of microbial communities in fragmented seagrass beds and examined their correlation with environmental factors. Concurrently, we explored the relative contributions of species replacement and richness differences to the taxonomic and functional β-diversity of microbial communities, investigated the potential interrelation between these components, and assessed the explanatory power of environmental factors. The results suggest that stochastic processes dominate community assembly. Taxonomic β-diversity differences are governed by species replacement, while for functional β-diversity, the contribution of richness differences slightly outweighs that of replacement processes. A weak but significant correlation ( < 0.05) exists between the two components of β-diversity in taxonomy and functionality, with almost no observed significant correlation with environmental factors. This implies significant differences in taxonomy, but functional convergence and redundancy within microbial communities. Environmental factors are insufficient to explain the β-diversity differences. In conclusion, the assembly of microbial communities in fragmented seagrass beds is governed by stochastic processes. The patterns of taxonomic and functional β-diversity provide new insights and evidence for a better understanding of these stochastic assembly rules. This has important implications for the conservation and management of fragmented seagrass beds.
微生物是海草床生态系统的重要成员，在维持海草健康和生态系统生态功能方面发挥着关键作用。在本研究中，我们系统地量化了碎片化海草床中微生物群落的组装过程，并研究了它们与环境因素的相关性。同时，我们探讨了物种替代和丰富度差异对微生物群落分类和功能β多样性的相对贡献，研究了这些组成部分之间的潜在相互关系，并评估了环境因素的解释力。结果表明，随机过程主导着群落组装。分类β多样性差异由物种替代决定，而对于功能β多样性，丰富度差异的贡献略大于替代过程。分类和功能方面的β多样性的两个组成部分之间存在微弱但显著的相关性（<0.05），几乎未观察到与环境因素的显著相关性。这意味着微生物群落分类存在显著差异，但功能趋同和冗余。环境因素不足以解释β多样性差异。总之，碎片化海草床中微生物群落的组装受随机过程控制。分类和功能β多样性模式为更好地理解这些随机组装规则提供了新的见解和证据。这对碎片化海草床的保护和管理具有重要意义。
