State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 4888 Shengbei Street, Changchun, 130102, China.
State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; College of Resources and Environment, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, 830052, China.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Nov;370:122977. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122977. Epub 2024 Oct 21.
Soil salinization is a critical environmental issue that limits plant productivity and disrupts ecosystem functions. As important indicators of soil environment, soil microbes play essential roles in driving nutrient cycling and sustaining ecosystem services. Therefore, understanding how microbial communities and their functional potentials respond to varying levels of soil salinization across different land use types is crucial for the restoration and management of salt-affected ecosystems. In this study, we randomly selected 63 sites across the Hetao Plain, covering an area of ∼2500 km. Our results showed that both salinity- and fertility-related soil parameters were significantly correlated with bacterial and archaeal diversities, with soil salinity emerging as the stronger predictor of prokaryotic diversity. Intriguingly, bacterial and archaeal communities were tightly interlinked but displayed opposite trends in response to environmental factors, indicating a clear microbial niche differentiation driven by soil salinity. Moreover, the generalist functions of bacteria and archaea (e.g., chemoheterotrophy) exhibited contrasting responses to environmental parameters, while their specialist functions (e.g., nitrification) responded consistently. These findings highlight the pivotal role of soil salinity in shaping the niche differentiation of bacterial and archaeal communities in saline soils, providing insights to guide salinity-centered restoration strategies for effective marginal land management.
土壤盐渍化是一个严重的环境问题，限制了植物的生产力，并破坏了生态系统的功能。土壤微生物作为土壤环境的重要指标，在驱动养分循环和维持生态系统服务方面发挥着重要作用。因此，了解微生物群落及其功能潜力如何响应不同土地利用类型下不同程度的土壤盐渍化，对于盐渍化生态系统的恢复和管理至关重要。在这项研究中，我们随机选择了河套平原的 63 个地点，覆盖面积约为 2500 平方公里。我们的研究结果表明，与土壤盐度和肥力相关的土壤参数与细菌和古菌多样性均呈显著相关，而土壤盐度是原核生物多样性的更强预测因子。有趣的是，细菌和古菌群落紧密相连，但对环境因子的响应呈相反趋势，表明土壤盐度驱动的微生物生态位分化明显。此外，细菌和古菌的一般功能（如化能异养作用）对环境参数的响应存在差异，而它们的专业功能（如硝化作用）的响应则一致。这些发现突出了土壤盐度在塑造盐渍土壤中细菌和古菌群落生态位分化方面的关键作用，为指导以盐度为中心的恢复策略提供了思路，以实现有效的边缘土地管理。
