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Soil compactness predicts above-below ground community structure, but not nematode microbiome patterns in desert habitats
  • Tiago Pereira,
  • Alejandro De Santiago,
  • Holly Bik
Tiago Pereira
University of Georgia
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Alejandro De Santiago
University of Georgia
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Holly Bik
University of Georgia

Corresponding Author:hbik@uga.edu

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Abstract

Soil microorganisms, including prokaryotes and eukaryotes, represent a large fraction of global terrestrial biodiversity. These organisms and their microbiomes play critical roles in ecosystem functioning and services and are essential to soil health. Soil biodiversity is governed by above-ground and below-ground factors, which create specific habitat conditions that structure soil communities. However, the compounded effects of such environmental drivers are often understudied, thus limiting our understanding of processes governing soil biodiversity, especially in desert habitats. Here we show that above- and below-ground factors shape prokaryotic and microeukaryotic communities, but these environmental factors do not appear to structure invertebrate-associated microbiomes. By integrating metabarcoding and morphological datasets, we found that soil compactness is a major factor structuring prokaryote and microeukaryote assemblages and influences the abundance of genes involved in nutrient cycling and organic matter decomposition. Despite having lower nitrogen levels, compacted soils displayed significantly higher alpha-diversity than uncompacted habitats across datasets. Different bacterial clades were enriched within specific nematode lineages (Plectids and Tylenchids) highlighting potentially new species-specific nematode-associated taxa. The data suggests that nematode microbiomes are less impacted by the same environmental drivers of the soil bacterial community and respond to microscale variations among sampling sites. The prevalence of functionally diverse invertebrate-associated bacteria (Mycobacterium) in the nematode microbiome suggests that these microbial communities benefit the host. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing above- and below-ground effects to elucidate patterns of microbial community assembly in terrestrial habitats, and how fine-scale analyses are critical for understanding patterns of host-associated microbiomes.
Submitted to Molecular Ecology
08 Mar 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
04 Jul 20241st Revision Received
05 Jul 2024Submission Checks Completed
05 Jul 2024Assigned to Editor
05 Jul 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
05 Jul 2024Reviewer(s) Assigned
22 Jul 2024Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
02 Aug 20242nd Revision Received
05 Aug 2024Submission Checks Completed
05 Aug 2024Assigned to Editor
05 Aug 2024Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
07 Aug 2024Editorial Decision: Accept