The role of halophyte-induced saline fertile islands in soil microbial biogeochemical cycling across arid ecosystems

作者：Shuai Zhao, Marcel G. A. van der Heijden, Samiran Banerjee, Junjie Liu, Haidong Gu, Na Zhou, Chuanhua Yin, Bin Peng, Xu Liu, Baozhan Wang, Changyan Tian · 发表于：Communications Biology · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1038/s42003-024-06741-1 · 被引用次数：24 · 研究领域：Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology、Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics、Polar Research and Ecology

Halophyte shrubs, prevalent in arid regions globally, create saline fertile islands under their canopy. This study investigates the soil microbial communities and their energy utilization strategies associated with tamarisk shrubs in arid ecosystems. Shotgun sequencing revealed that high salinity in tamarisk islands reduces functional gene alpha-diversity and relative abundance compared to bare soils. However, organic matter accumulation within islands fosters key halophilic archaea taxa such as Halalkalicoccus, Halogeometricum, and Natronorubrum, linked to processes like organic carbon oxidation, nitrous oxide reduction, and sulfur oxidation, potentially strengthening the coupling of nutrient cycles. In contrast, bare soils harbor salt-tolerant microbes with genes for autotrophic energy acquisition, including carbon fixation, H2 or CH4 consumption, and anammox. Additionally, isotope analysis shows higher microbial carbon use efficiency, N mineralization, and denitrification activity in tamarisk islands. Our findings demonstrate that halophyte shrubs serve as hotspots for halophilic microbes, enhancing microbial nutrient transformation in saline soils. Halophyte shrubs serve as hotspots for halophilic microbes, enhancing microbial nutrient transformation in saline soils.