Archaea play crucial roles in geochemical cycles and influence the emission of greenhouse gases in acidic soils. However, little is known about the distribution pattern of total archaeal diversity and community composition with increasing elevation, especially in acidic agricultural ecosystems. Terraces, characterized by vertical climate changes and unique hydrological properties, are "natural experiments" to explore the spatial distribution of microorganisms along elevation in paddy soils. Here we investigated the diversify and structure of soil archaeal communities in nine increasingly elevated acidic paddy soils of the Yunhe terrace, China. Archaeal communities were dominated by Methanomicrobia of Euryarchaeota (38.5%), Group 1,1a-associated cluster (SAGSCG-1) of Thaumarchaeota (22.0%) and Subgroup-6 (previously described as crenarchaeotal group 1.3b) of Bathyarchaeota (17.8%). The archaeal phylotype richness decreased with increasing elevation. Both the species richness and phylogenetic diversity of the archaeal communities were significantly negatively correlated with soil available phosphorus (AP) content according to linear regression analyses. The archaeal communities differed greatly between soils of increasing elevation, and were roughly clustered into three groups, mostly in relation to AP contents. A variation partitioning analysis further confirmed that edaphic factors including the content of AP (17.1%), nitrate (7.83%), soil organic carbon (4.69%), dissolved organic carbon (4.22%) and soil pH (4.07%) shaped the archaeal community. The variation of soil properties were probably induced by elevation. The co-occurrence network indicated a modular structure of the archaeal community. Overall, our results emphasized that soil AP content. was the best predictor of archaeal diversify and community structure, and the impacts of elevation on soil archaeal communities were no diminished by long hum rice cultivation, although minor compared with the effects of soil properties. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1.Zhejiang Univ, Inst Soil & Water Resources & Environm Sci, Coll Environm & Resource Sci, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, Peoples R China 2.Zhejiang Univ, Zhejiang Prov Key Lab Agr Resources & Environm, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, Peoples R China
Recommended Citation:
Zhang, Qian,Li, Yong,Xing, Jiajia,et al. Soil available phosphorus content drives the spatial distribution of archaeal communities along elevation in acidic terrace paddy soils[J]. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT,2019-01-01,658:723-731