Sun Kai, Yang Rong, Liu Jiliang, Zhao Wenzhi, Li Xiaojun, Wang Yongzhen, Song Shujun
Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Environ Res. 2025 Apr 1;270:120958. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2025.120958. Epub 2025 Jan 27.
Understanding the responses of desert microbial communities to escalating precipitation changes is a significant knowledge gap in predicting future soil health and ecological function. Through a five-year precipitation manipulation experiment, we investigated the contrasting eco-evolutionary processes of desert bacteria and fungi that manifested in changes to the assembly and potential functions of the soil microbiome. Elevated precipitation increased the alpha diversity and network complexity of bacteria and fungi, proportion of non-dominant phyla, and abundance of carbon- and nitrogen-fixing bacteria and saprophytic, symbiotic, and pathogenic fungi. Conversely, decreased precipitation reduced the alpha diversity and network complexity of bacteria and fungi while increasing the proportion of non-dominant phyla, stability of the network, and abundance of functional genes related to carbon and nitrogen degradation, nitrification, and ammonification. This suggests that soil microbes may attenuate the negative effects of reduced precipitation by streamlining communities, enhancing carbon and nitrogen acquisition, and promoting nitrogen cycling. Furthermore, we revealed that soil properties and vegetation attributes explained approximately 27.86%-37.75% and 17.76%-22.84% of the variation in bacterial and fungal communities, respectively. Finally, we demonstrated that precipitation-driven soil nutrient content and vegetation attributes are the potentially critical factors in shaping the soil microbial assembly and functions. These findings provide a foundation for understanding the response of desert soil microbes to escalating climate change.
了解沙漠微生物群落对降水变化加剧的反应，是预测未来土壤健康和生态功能方面的一个重大知识空白。通过一项为期五年的降水控制实验，我们研究了沙漠细菌和真菌截然不同的生态进化过程，这些过程体现在土壤微生物群落的组装和潜在功能的变化上。降水增加提高了细菌和真菌的α多样性和网络复杂性、非优势门的比例，以及固碳和固氮细菌以及腐生、共生和致病真菌的丰度。相反，降水减少降低了细菌和真菌的α多样性和网络复杂性，同时增加了非优势门的比例、网络的稳定性，以及与碳氮降解、硝化作用和氨化作用相关的功能基因的丰度。这表明土壤微生物可能通过精简群落、增强碳氮获取和促进氮循环来减轻降水减少的负面影响。此外，我们发现土壤性质和植被属性分别解释了细菌和真菌群落变异的约27.86%-37.75%和17.76%-22.84%。最后，我们证明降水驱动的土壤养分含量和植被属性是塑造土壤微生物组装和功能的潜在关键因素。这些发现为理解沙漠土壤微生物对气候变化加剧的反应提供了基础。
