Climate regulates the geographical distribution pattern of soil
microorganisms in lakeshore wetlands by influencing edaphic properties
and plant diversity
Abstract
Soil microbes are key players in wetland ecosystems. The biogeography of
bacterial and fungal communities and their underlying mechanisms for
generating and maintaining lakeshore wetlands are important in microbial
ecology but remain unclear. Here we investigated the biogeographical
patterns and the factors shaping bacterial and fungal communities in
lakeshore wetland soils at a regional scale in northern China. Our
results revealed that the diversity of soil bacterial and fungal
communities in lakeshore wetlands had significant geographical
distribution patterns in both longitude and latitude gradients; and
notably the geographical distribution pattern of α-diversity is mainly
manifested in species richness. Climate, edaphic properties, and plant
diversity together determined the geographical distribution patterns of
bacterial and fungal community diversity, contributing 66.05% and
49.66% of the diversity variation, respectively. As droughts intensify,
the assembly of bacterial communities is gradually dominated by
deterministic processes dominated of habitat filtration, while fungal
communities are dominated by random processes of species dispersal.
Structural equation modelling revealed that the differences in
temperature and precipitation originating from geographical distances
directly modulated the geographical distribution of fungal community
diversity, while bacteria were indirectly regulated by influences of
local soils and plants. Our findings highlight that different
sensitivity of soil bacteria and fungi to climate change and different
responses to soil communities in lakeshore wetlands may have profound
implications for the stability and functioning of wetland ecosystems.