10.6084/m9.figshare.12154689.v1
I. Moroenyane
I.
Moroenyane
B.M. Tripathi
B.M.
Tripathi
J.M. Adams
J.M.
Adams
S. Chen
S.
Chen
Y. Steinberger
Y.
Steinberger
Slope aspect influences soil microbial community structure and composition in the Israel arid Mediterranean
Brill Online
2020
Mediterranean ecosystem
16S rRNA gene
ITS region
slope aspect
Galilee Mountains
community structure
Evolutionary Biology not elsewhere classified
2020-05-11 06:48:33
Journal contribution
https://brill.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Slope_aspect_influences_soil_microbial_community_structure_and_composition_in_the_Israel_arid_Mediterranean/12154689
<p>Microbial biogeographical patterns in Mediterranean
ecosystems are becoming widely documented; however, the influences of slope
aspect on the microbial community composition and structure are poorly
understood. This study tested the hypotheses that slope aspect and organic
matter content would influence microbial diversity patterns and distribution.
Sets of five soil samples were collected from different slope aspects (north
slope, south slopes, and valley bottom) and bacterial and fungal communities
were examined using the 16S rRNA gene and ITS1 region sequencing, respectively,
on the Illumina HiSeq platform. Organic matter and soil moisture varied
significantly across all sites but did not influence microbial diversity
patterns. Community structure (Bray-Curtis dissimilarity) indicated that each
site had a distinct microbial community, and soil moisture along with organic
matter modulated the community structure. Relative abundance of key bacterial
taxa (<i>Actinobacteria </i>and <i>Bacteriodetes </i>) and fungal taxa (<i>Ascomycota</i>
was significantly influenced by slope aspect. Our results show, for the first
time, that the often reported slope aspect dynamics of the soil microbiomes do
in fact influence bacterial and fungal community composition and structure. Overall, taken together with previous studies from the
region, this study provides novel insight on the physio-chemical properties
that modulate the biogeographical patterns of soil microbes and contributes to
our knowledge of factors that mediate microbial ecology in Mediterranean
ecosystems. </p>