As an important bridge connecting aboveground communities and belowground biological processes, soil microorganisms play an important role in regulating belowground ecological processes. The altitudinal changes and driving factors of soil microbial community in mountain ecosystem in arid region are still unclear. We measured soil physicochemical properties at seven altitudes in the range of 1300-2800 m in Helan Mountains, and investigated the understory community composition, soil physicochemical properties, and soil microbial community. The driving factor for soil microbial community was explored by variance partitioning analysis and redundancy analysis. The results showed that the total amount of soil microorganisms and bacterial biomass first increased and then decreased with the increases of altitude, fungi, actinomyces, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Gram-positive bacteria, and Gram-negative bacteria groups showed a gradual increase. The variation of fungal-to-bacterial ratio (F/B) along the altitude showed that the cumulative ability of soil bacteria was stronger than that of fungi at low altitudes, while the pattern is opposite at high altitudes. The ratio of Gram-positive bacteria to Gram-negative bacteria (GP/GN) showed an overall decreasing trend with the increases of altitude, indicating that soil bacteria and organic carbon availability changed from "oligotrophic" to "eutrophication" and from "low" to "high" transition as the altitude increased. Vegetation properties, soil physical and chemical properties jointly accounted for 95.7% of the variation in soil microbial community. Soil organic carbon (SOC), soil water content (SWC), and total nitrogen (TN) were significantly correlated with soil microbial community composition. Our results revealed the distribution pattern and driving factors of soil microbial communities at different elevations on the eastern slope of Helan Mountain, which would provide theoretical basis and data support for further understanding the interaction between plant-soil-microorganisms in arid areas.
土壤微生物作为连接地上植物群落和地下生物过程的重要桥梁,在调控地下生态学过程中扮演着重要角色。然而,我们对旱区山地生态系统沿海拔梯度上的土壤微生物群落变化特征及其驱动因素尚不清楚。本研究以贺兰山1300～2800 m范围内7个海拔的土壤为研究对象,揭示贺兰山林下植物群落组成、土壤理化性质、土壤微生物群落海拔分布格局,采用方差分解和冗余分析探明影响土壤微生物群落的驱动因素。结果表明: 随着海拔上升,土壤微生物总量和细菌生物量呈先增加后降低的变化趋势,真菌、放线菌、丛枝菌根真菌、革兰氏阳性菌和革兰氏阴性菌生物量呈现逐渐增加的变化趋势。真菌细菌比(F/B)显示,低海拔土壤细菌的积累能力强于真菌,而在高海拔则相反。革兰氏阳性菌与阴性菌比例(GP/GN)随海拔上升呈逐渐减小的趋势,表明随海拔上升土壤细菌和有机碳可利用度分别发生由“寡”到“富”和由“低”到“高”转变。植被属性、土壤物理和化学属性共同解释土壤微生物群落变异的95.7%。土壤有机碳(SOC)、土壤含水率(SWC)和全氮(TN)显著影响土壤微生物群落组成。本研究揭示了贺兰山东坡土壤微生物群落沿海拔梯度的分布模式及其驱动因素,可为深化认识旱区山地生态系统植物-土壤-微生物间的相互作用提供理论依据和数据支撑。.
Keywords: elevational gradient; microbial community; mountain ecosystem; phospholipid fatty acid; soil microorganism.