Changes in the soil microbial community of Castanopsis fargesii along an elevation gradient in a Chinese subtropical forest

Castanopsis fargesii is the dominant species in the southeastern forest ecosystem in China. However, little is known about the soil microbial community in the stands of Castanopsis fargesii along the elevation gradient. In this study, we collected topsoil (0-10 cm) under five small-scale altitudinal gradients (from 500 to 900 m above mean sea level) in a Chinese subtropical forest to measure its physicochemical properties and performed Illumina high-throughput sequencing to analyse microbial diversity and community composition change characteristics.

栲树（Castanopsis fargesii）是中国东南部森林生态系统的优势树种。然而，目前对沿海拔梯度分布的该栲树林分下的土壤微生物群落尚缺乏深入研究。本研究在中国亚热带森林中设置了5个小尺度海拔梯度（海拔500至900米），采集对应样地的表层土壤（0-10厘米）以测定其理化性质，并通过Illumina高通量测序技术分析微生物多样性与群落组成的变化特征。