Diversity characteristics and driving factors of soil protist communities in subalpine meadow at different degradation stages

doi:10.17520/biods.2023136

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims: Protists play an important role in nutrient cycling, microbiome stability and soil fertility maintenance. Compared with bacteria and fungi, the change characteristics and driving factors of soil protist community composition and diversity in degraded grassland ecosystems remain unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the community dynamics of soil protists during the degradation of subalpine meadow in Mount Wutai and its driving factors, and to provide basic data and decision-making references for further research on subalpine meadow ecosystem health monitoring and ecological restoration.
Methods: In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to study the change characteristics and environmental driving factors of soil protist community composition and diversity in subalpine meadow of Mount Wutai under nondegraded (ND), lightly, moderately and heavily degraded (LD, MD and HD) conditions. The α diversity of community was analyzed by Shannon-Wiener index and richness index. Non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis (NMDS) based on Bray-Curtis distance was used to assess the overall structural changes of the protist community. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) combined with LEfSe analysis was used to determine the biomarkers of statistical difference among four different degradation stage of subalpine meadows. The relationship between protist community structure and environmental variables were analyzed by redundancy analysis (RDA). Variance partitioning analysis (VPA) quantified the effects of soil physicochemical properties and plant variables on the changes of protist community structure.
Results: The results showed that the dominant phyla (relative abundance > 1%) of soil protist in subalpine meadows were Cercozoa, Ochrophyta, Ciliophora, Lobosa, Conosa, Chlorophyta and Apicomplexa. There were significant differences in the relative abundances of Ciliophora, Lobosa, Chlorophyta, Choanoflagellida and Perkinsea among the four different degradation stage of subalpine meadows (P < 0.05). LEfSe showed that the ND meadow was mainly enriched with the phylum Perkinsea group, the LD meadow was enriched with the order Scuticociliatida group, the MD meadow was enriched with the Tubulinea and Oomycota groups, and the HD meadow was mainly enriched with the phototrophs, the Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta groups. The α diversity of soil protists decreased with the deterioration of subalpine meadow (P < 0.05). NMDS results indicated that there were significant differences in the community structure of soil protists in four degradation stages of subalpine meadow (P < 0.05). Total nitrogen, plant Shannon-Wiener index, aboveground biomass, soil water content and ammonium nitrogen were identified as the top predictors for the composition of protist communities (P < 0.05). VPA showed that both physicochemical factors and vegetation parameters jointly accounted for 38.44% of the variation of the protist community, and soil physicochemical factors (20.69%) had a greater explanation than vegetation parameters (7.85%).
Conclusion: The diversity and community structure of soil protists have changed obviously in the process of subalpine meadow degradation in Mount Wutai. Soil environmental factors are important factors affecting the changes of the protist community structure. The results of this study strengthen the potential of protists as indicators of grassland degradation and provide experimental data for scientific and comprehensive evaluation of soil ecosystem health in subalpine meadow.

Key words: subalpine meadow, grassland degradation, protist community, microbial diversity, high-throughput sequencing

Zhengming Luo, Jinxian Liu, Bianhua Zhang, Yanying Zhou, Aihua Hao, Kai Yang, Baofeng Chai. Diversity characteristics and driving factors of soil protist communities in subalpine meadow at different degradation stages[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2023, 31(8): 23136.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.17520/biods.2023136

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2023/V31/I8/23136

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Sketch map of sampling location and area of Mount Wutai. ND, Nondegraded meadow; LD, Lightly degraded meadow; MD, Moderately degraded meadow; HD, Heavily degraded meadow.

Fig. 2 Relative abundance of dominant (a) and significantly differentially dominant (b) phyla of soil protist in subalpine meadow at different degradation stages. ND, Nondegraded meadow; LD, Lightly degraded meadow; MD, Moderately degraded meadow; HD, Heavily degraded meadow. P value indicates the level of difference in relative abundance of soil protists among subalpine meadows at different stages of degradation, and * indicates a significant difference (P < 0.05).

Fig. 3 LEfSe analysis showing soil protist community differences in subalpine meadow at different degradation stages. ND, Nondegraded meadow; LD, Lightly degraded meadow; MD, Moderately degraded meadow; HD, Heavily degraded meadow. Each circular ring deposit all taxa within a taxonomic level, the circular ring from inside to outside represents supergroup, phylum, class, order and family, respectively. The node on the circular ring represents taxon, affiliating within the taxonomic level. The diameter of each node is proportional to the abundance of the group. Taxa that had significantly higher relative abundance in a certain treatment within each meadow degradation type were color-coded within the cladogram.

Fig. 4 The α diversity indices of soil protist communities in subalpine meadow at different degradation stages. ND, Nondegraded meadow; LD, Lightly degraded meadow; MD, Moderately degraded meadow; HD, Heavily degraded meadow. Data that do not share a lowercase letter are significantly different (P < 0.05).

Fig. 5 Non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) (a) and dissimilarity analysis (based on Bray-Curtis distance) (b) of soil protist communities in subalpine meadow at different degradation stages. The r = 0.577, P < 0.001 are the ANOSIM test results of protist community similarity between subalpine meadows in different degradation stages. ND, Nondegraded meadow; LD, Lightly degraded meadow; MD, Moderately degraded meadow; HD, Heavily degraded meadow.

Fig. 6 Correlation of environmental factors and Mantel analysis of relationship between environment and soil protist communities. SWC, Soil water content; Clay, Clay content; Silt, Silt content; Sand, Sand content; TN, Total nitrogen; TC, Total carbon; C/N, Carbon nitrogen ratio; SOM, Soil organic matter; NO3--N, Nitrate nitrogen; NO2--N, Nitrous nitrogen; NH4+-N, Ammonium nitrogen; AP, Available phosphorus; AK, Available potassium; Coverage, Vegetation coverage; Height, Vegetation height; AGB, Aboveground biomass; Plant richness: Plant richness index; Plant Shannon, Plant Shannon-Wiener index.

Fig. 7 Relationships between soil protist community structure and environmental variables based on redundancy analysis (a) and variation partitioning analysis (b). TN, Total nitrogen; Plant Shannon, Plant Shannon-Wiener index; AGB, Aboveground biomass; SWC, Soil water content; NH4+-N, Ammonium nitrogen. ND, Nondegraded meadow; LD, Lightly degraded meadow; MD, Moderately degraded meadow; HD, Heavily degraded meadow.

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