How microhabitat affects bacterial communities in a semi-arid ecosystem

Known as the living skin of dryland ecosystems, biocrust contains diverse soil microorganisms that are essential to biocrust formation and the maintenance of multiple ecological functions.

Biocrust modulates soil microbiomes, however, little is known about how local microhabitat conditions affect biocrust adaptation and subsequently alter soil microbiomes.

Researchers from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources and the Institute of Soil and Water Conservation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences collected biocrusts and soil samples from eight representative microhabitats and investigated the response of biocrusts and their bacterial communities to microhabitat variations in plant canopy coverage, slope aspect, and slope gradient in a semi-arid climate of the northern Loess Plateau in China.

Related findings were published in Plant and Soil.

They found that microhabitat factors could strongly influence soil bacterial communities through changes in locally adapted biocrust traits and soil properties.

Bacterial communities of biocrusts in the microhabitats under plant canopy and on shady or gentle slopes of fixed dunes were characterized by a higher taxonomic richness and more complex community networks, indicating that the presence of the plant canopy has huge influence on biocrust bacterial communities.

In addition, indirect effect of microhabitat on biocrust also depended on the bacterial metric. Bacterial richness was strongly affected by microhabitat-induced changes in soil properties, and bacterial network connectivity was strongly affected by microhabitat-induced changes in biocrust traits and soil properties.

"This study facilitates a deeper understanding of the intricate relationships among soil microbiomes, biocrusts, and diverse local microhabitats in dryland ecosystems," said Wang Yanfeng from NIEER, first author of the study.