Soil Microbial Community Responds to Elevation Gradient in an Arid Montane Ecosystem in Northwest China

This study sought to clarify the composition of soil fungal and bacterial communities along an elevation gradient in arid montane ecosystem as well influence environmental factors (soil properties, climate, topography, plant diversity) upon microbial community structures. Four vegetation types—montane desert steppe (mean elevation: 1761 m), shrub 2077 subalpine coniferous forest 2485 2903 m)—were sampled on western slope Helan Mountains. The 16SrRNA gene ITS1 were performed by single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing with PacBio platform. Chao1 Shannon–Wiener diversity fungi bacteria more diverse lower compared that upper one. Differences abundance among phyla found via One-way ANOVA(analysis variance), yet dominant (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota) (Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes) same across gradient. Pearson correlations redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated (Shannon–Wiener [H] Margalef richness [D]), solar radiation, mean annual temperature, organic matter, moisture content, slope, precipitation, all significantly influenced different phyla. Although affects diversity, results imply functional variation should not be ignored.