Labile fractions of soil nutrients shape the distribution of bacterial communities towards phosphorus recycling systems over elevation gradients in Gongga Mountain, SW China

• Published in: Journal of Mountain Science
• Main Authors: Sun Hongyang, Wu Yanhong, Zhou Jun, Bing Haijian, Chen Yang, Li Na
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ELSEVIER FRANCE-EDITIONS SCIENTIFIQUES MEDICALES ELSEVIER 2020
• Subjects: BPRS communities; Soil nutrient fractions; Elevational pattern; Subalpine and alpine soils; Illumina miseq sequencing; PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZATION; CYCLING RATES; NITROGEN; SEQUENCES; CARBON; TUNDRA; GENETICS; LITTER; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; Agriculture; Ecology; Soil Science; Tundra
• Online Access: http://ir.imde.ac.cn/handle/131551/34631; https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-019-5871-3

Bacterial communities are major participant in the alpine biogeochemical phosphorus (P) cycle. However, shifts in the main bacteria towards phosphorus recycling systems (BPRS) over elevation gradients and their driving factors are poorly understood. In this work, BPRS were associated with bacterial sequences according to Illumina sequencing and a published dataset of BPRS orders. BPRS communities over an altitudinal gradient from 3000 to 4300 m were investigated. The results showed that BPRS communities were dominated by Acidobacteriales, Rhizobiales, Solibacterales, Xanthomonadales, and Actinomycetales, and the BCPRS groups accounted for 32-61% of all the bacterial sequences. Most of the BPRS communities showed different distribution trends with increasing elevation, including increasing, hump-backed and hollow trends. The total BPRS composition showed significant clustering in relation to the vegetation landscape. Compared with the total amount of soil nutrients (TOC, TN and TP), the labile fractions of these nutrients played a more important role in shaping the distribution patterns of BPRS communities. Moreover, our results suggest that soil C availability wields much influence on the BPRS communities by enhancing the availability of soil N and P. The most likely explanation for this conclusion is that the labile C fractions (representing soil C availability) provided the energy and C feedstock for synthesis of enzymes related to N and P mineralization to lead to enhance the availability of soil N and P. Our study highlight that the labile fractions of soil nutrients are substantive factors controlling the elevational distribution of BPRS communities over elevation gradients in Gongga Mountain, SW China.