TY - JOUR
T1 - Microbial community assembly in soil aggregates
T2 - A dynamic interplay of stochastic and deterministic processes
AU - Dong, Menghui
AU - Kowalchuk, George A.
AU - Liu, Hongjun
AU - Xiong, Wu
AU - Deng, Xuhui
AU - Zhang, Na
AU - Li, Rong
AU - Shen, Qirong
AU - Dini-Andreote, Francisco
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 41977044 ), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities ( KJQN201921 and KYXK202009 ), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province ( BK20180539 and BK20200562 ), the Priority Academic Program Development of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), the Innovative Research Team Development Plan of the Ministry of Education of China ( IRT_17R56 ), and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province ( KYCX17_0583 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/7
Y1 - 2021/7
N2 - Understanding how distinct processes operate in mediating community assembly is a long-standing theme in (microbial) ecology. Particularly in soil microbial communities, we still lack a fundamental appreciation of how assembly processes structure communities at the fine-scale level of soil aggregates. In this study, samples from a long-term agricultural field subjected to different fertilization regimes were used to quantify the relative influences of stochastic and deterministic processes on soil bacterial community assembly. First, we found bacterial communities to be more phylogenetically clustered in larger soil aggregates comparatively to small aggregates (Spearman's r = −0.366, P < 0.05). Second, we found the overall relative influence of selection to gradually decrease with an increase of aggregate size (Mantel r = 0.161, P < 0.01). By partitioning aggregate sizes and fertilization regimes, we found that sites subjected to fertilization (including chemical, organic, and bio-organic fertilizers) displayed a stronger relaxation of selection and an increased influence of stochasticity with an increase in aggregate size; a pattern not significantly observed at the control (unfertilized) treatment. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of evaluating community assembly at the fine-scale levels of soil aggregates and illustrate how regional level disturbances (i.e., agricultural management) exert an influence on the dynamic interplay of stochastic and deterministic processes.
AB - Understanding how distinct processes operate in mediating community assembly is a long-standing theme in (microbial) ecology. Particularly in soil microbial communities, we still lack a fundamental appreciation of how assembly processes structure communities at the fine-scale level of soil aggregates. In this study, samples from a long-term agricultural field subjected to different fertilization regimes were used to quantify the relative influences of stochastic and deterministic processes on soil bacterial community assembly. First, we found bacterial communities to be more phylogenetically clustered in larger soil aggregates comparatively to small aggregates (Spearman's r = −0.366, P < 0.05). Second, we found the overall relative influence of selection to gradually decrease with an increase of aggregate size (Mantel r = 0.161, P < 0.01). By partitioning aggregate sizes and fertilization regimes, we found that sites subjected to fertilization (including chemical, organic, and bio-organic fertilizers) displayed a stronger relaxation of selection and an increased influence of stochasticity with an increase in aggregate size; a pattern not significantly observed at the control (unfertilized) treatment. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of evaluating community assembly at the fine-scale levels of soil aggregates and illustrate how regional level disturbances (i.e., agricultural management) exert an influence on the dynamic interplay of stochastic and deterministic processes.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.103911
DO - 10.1016/j.apsoil.2021.103911
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100438875
SN - 0929-1393
VL - 163
JO - Applied Soil Ecology
JF - Applied Soil Ecology
M1 - 103911
ER -