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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1404602
Deterministic processes influence bacterial more than fungal community assembly during the development of biological soil crusts in the desert ecosystem
Provisionally accepted- 1 Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University, Xining, Qinghai Province, China
- 2 School of Environment and Energy, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
- 3 Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) constitute a crucial biological component of the soil surface in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Understanding the variations in soil microbial community assembly across biocrust successional stages is essential for a deeper comprehension of microbial biodiversity and desert ecosystem functioning. However, knowledge about the mechanisms of microbial community assembly and the factors influencing its development remains limited. In this study, we utilized amplicons sequencing to assess the compositions of bacterial and fungal communities in bare sand and three types of biocrusts (light cyanobacterial biocrusts, dark cyanobacterial biocrusts, and moss crusts). Subsequently, we analyzed the ecological processes shaping microbial community composition and structure, along with the influencing factors. Our results revealed a significant increase in bacterial diversity and no significant changes in fungal diversity during biocrust development. The relative abundances of the copiotrophic bacteria (e.g., Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidetes) showed significant increases, while oligotrophic bacteria (e.g., Proteobacteria and Firmicutes) decreased over time. Moreover, the relative abundances of Ascomycota, which exhibit strong resistance to adverse environmental conditions, significantly decreased, whereas Basidiomycota, known for their ability to degrade lignin, significantly increased throughout biocrust development. Additionally, stochastic processes (dispersal limitation and drift) predominantly drove the assemblies of both bacterial and fungal communities. However, the relative importance of deterministic processes (homogeneous selection) in bacterial assembly increased during biocrust development. Structural equation modelling indicated that bacterial community assembly was primarily related to soil water content, whereas fungal community assembly was primarily related to total organic carbon. These findings provide a scientific foundation for investigating the formation and development of biocrusts, and further insights into the conservation and sustainable management of biocrust resources under future climate change scenarios.
Keywords: biological soil crusts, Bacterial and fungal communities, community assembly, Illumina sequencing, Semi-arid regions
Received: 21 Mar 2024; Accepted: 13 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Zhou, Yu, Deng, Wu and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ying Gao, Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China
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