Effect of plant species and soil depth on bacteria and fungi in a coastal wetland

The invasion of Spartina alterniflora has seriously threatened the sustainability of native ecosystems worldwide. However, how Spartina alterniflora invasion influence bacterial and fungal community structure, assembly processes and functionality remain largely unclear. Here, we characterize the diversity, community structure, assembly processes and functional guilds of bacteria and fungi underneath five plant species and a bare tidal flat at three soil depths in an estuarine wetland. We found that plant species play a more important role than soil depth in mediating the bacterial and fungal community structure. Our results suggest that Spartina alterniflora invasion increases bacterial alpha diversity, alters bacteria community structure, promotes stochastic processes in bacterial community assembly, and changes the nitrogen and sulfur cycling functional profiles, which might subsequently alter the soil biogeochemical processes in coastal wetlands.