Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;85(2):628-641.
doi: 10.1007/s00248-021-01949-8. Epub 2022 Jan 27.

Vertical Distribution of Soil Bacterial Communities in Different Forest Types Along an Elevation Gradient

Qiuxiang Tian  1   2 , Qinghu Jiang  1   2 , Lin Huang  1   3 , Dong Li  1   3   4 , Qiaoling Lin  1   3 , Zhiyao Tang  5 , Feng Liu  6   7
Affiliations

Vertical Distribution of Soil Bacterial Communities in Different Forest Types Along an Elevation Gradient

Qiuxiang Tian et al. Microb Ecol. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Microorganisms inhabit the entire soil profile and play important roles in nutrient cycling and soil formation. Recent studies have found that soil bacterial diversity and composition differ significantly among soil layers. However, little is known about the vertical variation in soil bacterial communities and how it may change along an elevation gradient. In this study, we collected soil samples from 5 forest types along an elevation gradient in Taibai Mountain to characterize the bacterial communities and their vertical patterns and variations across soil profiles. The richness and Shannon index of soil bacterial communities decreased from surface soils to deep soils in three forest types, and were comparable among soil layers in the other two forests at the medium elevation. The composition of soil bacterial communities differed significantly between soil layers in all forest types, and was primarily affected by soil C availability. Oligotrophic members of the bacterial taxa, such as Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae, and AD3, were more abundant in the deep layers. The assembly of soil bacterial communities within each soil profile was mainly governed by deterministic processes based on environmental heterogeneity. The vertical variations in soil bacterial communities differed among forest types, and the soil bacterial communities in the Betula albo-sinensis forest at the medium elevation had the lowest vertical variation. The vertical variation was negatively correlated with mean annual precipitation (MAP), weighted rock content, and weighted sand particle content in soils, among which MAP had the highest explanatory power. These results indicated that the vertical mobilization of microbes with preferential and matrix flows likely enhanced bacterial homogeneity. Overall, our results suggest that the vertical variations in soil bacterial communities differ along the elevation gradient and potentially affect soil biological processes across soil profiles.

Keywords: Depth decay; Soil bacterial community; Soil carbon availability; Soil layer; Vertical spatial variation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Schimel JP, Schaeffer SM (2012) Microbial control over carbon cycling in soil. Front Microbiol 3:348. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00348 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Wagg C, Bender SF, Widmer F, van der Heijden MGA (2014) Soil biodiversity and soil community composition determine ecosystem multifunctionality. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 111:5266–5270. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1320054111 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Barberán A, Bates ST, Casamayor EO, Fierer N (2012) Using network analysis to explore co-occurrence patterns in soil microbial communities. ISME J 6:343–351. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2011.119 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lauber CL, Hamady M, Knight R, Fierer N (2009) Pyrosequencing-based assessment of soil pH as a predictor of soil bacterial community structure at the continental scale. Appl Environ Microbiol 75:5111–5120. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.00335-09 - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Shen C, Xiong J, Zhang H, Feng Y, Lin X, Li X, Liang W, Chu H (2013) Soil pH drives the spatial distribution of bacterial communities along elevation on Changbai Mountain. Soil Biol Biochem 57:204–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.07.013 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources