Pedosphere (3): 475--489, 2025
ISSN 1002-0160/CN 32-1315/P
©2025 Soil Science Society of China
Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science Press
| Assembly processes of rare and abundant microbial taxa are closely related to bacterial and fungal functionality during desert vegetation reestablishment |
Zhouchang YU1, Wei ZHANG1, Pian DUO1,2, Ying ZHANG1, Xingfang TIAN1, Lin SUN1, Yuzheng GU1, Junhong ZHANG1, Jiaxing SONG1, Ahejiang SAILIKE1, Yujie LIANG1, Rong FU1, Zhiguo XIE3, Peizhi YANG1 |
1 College of Grassland Agriculture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100 (China);
2 Institute of Grassland Science, Tibet Academy of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Science, Lhasa 850000 (China);
3 Shaanxi Academy of Forestry, Xi'an 710082 (China) |
| ABSTRACT |
| Effective vegetation reconstruction plays a vital role in the restoration of desert ecosystems. However, in reconstruction of different vegetation types, the community characteristics, assembly processes, and functions of different soil microbial taxa under environmental changes are still disputed, which limits the understanding of the sustainability of desert restoration. Hence, we investigated the soil microbial community characteristics and functional attributes of grassland desert (GD), desert steppe (DS), typical steppe (TS), and artificial forest (AF) in the Mu Us Desert, China. Our findings confirmed the geographical conservation of soil microbial composition but highlighted decreased microbial diversity in TS. Meanwhile, the abundance of rare taxa and microbial community stability in TS improved. Heterogeneous and homogeneous selection determined the assembly of rare and abundant bacterial taxa, respectively, with both being significantly influenced by soil moisture. In contrast, fungal communities displayed stochastic processes and exhibited sensitivity to soil nutrient conditions. Furthermore, our investigation revealed a noteworthy augmentation in bacterial metabolic functionality in TS, aligning with improved vegetation restoration and the assemblage of abundant bacterial taxa. However, within nutrient-limited soils (GD, DS, and AF), the assembly dynamics of rare fungal taxa assumed a prominent role in augmenting their metabolic capacity and adaptability to desert ecosystems. These results highlighted the variations in the assembly processes and metabolic functions of soil microorganisms during vegetation reestablishment and provided corresponding theoretical support for anthropogenic revegetation of desert ecosystems. |
| Key Words: deterministic processes|metabolic function|microbial community assembly|rare microbial taxa|revegetation|stochastic processes |
| Citation: Yu Z C, Zhang W, Duo P, Zhang Y, Tian X F, Sun L, Gu Y Z, Zhang J H, Song J X, Sailike A, Liang Y J, Fu R, Xie Z G, Yang P Z. 2025. Assembly processes of rare and abundant microbial taxa are closely related to bacterial and fungal functionality during desert vegetation reestablishment. Pedosphere. 35(3): 475-489. |
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