Large ‐scale distribution of bacterial communities in the Qaidam Basin of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Our study of the large ‐scale distribution of bacterial communities in the Qaidam Basin of Qinghai–Tibet plateau showed that the most dominant and cosmopolitan phyla in all the samples and both the local environment and spatial distance influence the microbial spatial pattern. AbstractMany studies have investigated patterns of soil microbial communities over large spatial scales. However, these studies mainly focused on a few sites. Here, we studied the near ‐surface (0–30 cm) soil microbial communities of 35 soil samples collected from most of the areas of the Qaidam Basin, which is the largest basin on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. A total of 32 phyla and 838 genera were detected from all the samples, in which Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Bacte roidetes, and Acidobacteria were the most dominant and cosmopolitan phyla. The most abundant phyla (relative abundance >  5%) detected in all 35 soil samples were also the most dominant, which could be explained by their great dispersal ability. The microbial community structures correlated strongly with variations in pH and Mg2+ and were distinct between the high Mg2+ content (>20  g/kg) samples and other samples (Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi were significantly less abundant in the high Mg2+ content group, but the abundance of Firmicutes was significantly greater). Finally, the microbial spatial pattern was influenced by both the local environment and spatial distance, but environmental factors ...
Source: MicrobiologyOpen - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research