Soil pH dominates elevational diversity pattern for bacteria in high elevation alkaline soils on the Tibetan Plateau

ABSTRACT Although studies of elevational diversity gradient for microbes have attracted considerable attention, the generality of these patterns and their underlying drivers are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated bacterial distribution across a high elevational gradient (4328−5228 m a.s....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:FEMS microbiology ecology 2019-02, Vol.95 (2), p.1
Main Authors: Shen, Congcong, Shi, Yu, Fan, Kunkun, He, Jin-Sheng, Adams, Jonathan M, Ge, Yuan, Chu, Haiyan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alkaline soils
Altitude
Bacteria
Bacteria - classification
Biodiversity
Community composition
Composition
Distribution
Ecology
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Elevation
Environmental aspects
Humans
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Mountains
pH effects
Phylogeny
Physiological aspects
Soil - chemistry
Soil acidity
Soil Microbiology
Soil pH
Soils
Structural analysis
Temperature
Tibet
Trees
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Summary:ABSTRACT Although studies of elevational diversity gradient for microbes have attracted considerable attention, the generality of these patterns and their underlying drivers are still poorly understood. Here, we investigated bacterial distribution across a high elevational gradient (4328−5228 m a.s.l.) along the Nyainqêntanglha mountains on the Southwestern Tibetan Plateau. We found a decreasing diversity trend with increasing elevation, with pH contributing most to the diversity variation, followed by elevation and mean annual temperature (MAT). Bacterial community composition differed taxonomically and phylogenetically with elevation. Furthermore, partial Mantel analyzes showed that bacterial community composition was significantly influenced by elevation, pH and MAT. Phylogenetic structure analysis indicated that deterministic processes (related to pH) determined bacterial community assembly along this elevation gradient. Our results reinforce the observed rule that pH is of foremost importance in driving bacterial elevational diversity patterns. We also suggest that absence of tree cover and of human disturbance might be important in allowing an underlying elevational trend to reveal itself. Review of other studies suggests that the trend of decreasing diversity at higher elevations might be generally true above the tree line. Soil pH dominates elevational diversity pattern for bacteria in high elevation alkaline soils on the Tibetan Plateau.
ISSN:1574-6941
0168-6496
1574-6941
DOI:10.1093/femsec/fiz003