Biodiv Sci ›› 2025, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (10): 25236.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2025236  cstr: 32101.14.biods.2025236

• Original Papers: Microbial Diversity • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of synergistic development between vegetation and biological soil crusts on soil bacterial communities in the wind-sandy area of northwestern Shanxi Province

Shangxuan Li1,2, Jiao Ming1,2, Genjuan Chen1,2, Jie Wu1,2, Bingchang Zhang1,2,*()   

  1. 1 School of Geographical Sciences, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030031, China
    2 Ecological Environment Research Center of the Middle Yellow River, Shanxi Normal University, Taiyuan 030031, China
  • Received:2025-06-20 Accepted:2025-09-08 Online:2025-10-20 Published:2025-11-21
  • Contact: * E-mail: zhangbch@sxnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(42271067);National Natural Science Foundation of China(32571921);Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Soil and Water Conservation and Desertification Control(Z2010025001-KJ2517)

Abstract:

Aims: Soil bacteria are key components in biological soil crusts (BSCs). They play irreplaceable functional roles in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. Wind-sandy area of northwestern Shanxi Province is typical fragile ecosystem. However, the effects of vegetation and BSCs on soil bacterial diversity in this area remain unknown.

Methods: Algal and moss crusts under three vegetation types (grassland, shrubland, and woodland) were chosen in this area. Soil bacterial community and their key environmental regulating factors were explored by high- throughput sequencing and environmental analysis.

Results: (1) Vegetation and BSCs jointly affected soil nutrients. Shrubs and woodland had significant enrichment effects on soil nutrients. BSCs succession significantly increased the nutrient content in the soil but decreased the soil pH value. (2) Both the BSCs and vegetation types influenced on the α diversity, relative abundance of key species, and community structure of bacterial communities. Higher species richness was observed in woodlands for both algal and moss crusts. For the same BSC type, significant differences in bacterial relative abundance at the phylum and order levels were observed between grasslands and shrublands (P< 0.05). (3) Mantel tests revealed soil pH, total soil organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) showed significant relation with bacterial community dissimilarity (P < 0.05), while α diversity of bacterial community represented strong association with organic carbon and ammonium nitrogen (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: Vegetation and BSCs co-modulate soil nutrients and bacterial diversity in northwestern area of Shanxi Province, with pH, TOC, TN and NH4+-N being key community drivers. The results enhance our understanding of bacterial diversity in BSCs and provide scientific evidence for a deeper comprehension of ecosystem biodiversity and functional stability in this area.

Key words: wind-sandy area, vegetation change, biological soil crusts, bacterial community diversity, environmental factors